This final book published in the series collects together for the first time in English translation a selection of essays on central themes and texts in Old Testament criticism and exegesis by Rudolf Smend, one of the world's most eminent senior scholars in the field.

This final book published in the Ashgate SOTS monograph series collects together for the first time in English translation a selection of important essays on central themes and texts in Old Testament criticism and exegesis by Rudolf Smend, one of the world's most eminent senior scholars in the field. The essays focus on key topics such as Moses, covenant, history, Old Testament theology, the state, Elijah, Amos, and major movements in the history of the discipline over the past three centuries. All are marked by penetrating exegetical and critical insight as well as by an unrivalled knowledge of the history of Old Testament scholarship, and many of them have already made highly-respected and influential contributions. Their publication will serve to make the range and vitality of Smend's work more widely known to English-speaking readers.

'Even among a highly distinguished generation of Old Testament scholars in Germany and beyond, Rudolf Smend is a quite outstanding figure. His work from its beginnings reveals three interests that continue to mark it to this day: the theology of the Old Testament; the history of the composition of the biblical text; and the history and rationale of biblical scholarship. This volume contains contributions in all these areas, until now available only in German. It will introduce to Anglophone readers a scholar whose work is not known sufficiently to many in the UK and North America.' John Barton, University of Oxford, UK