Encountering the Book of Genesis

This book was required reading for me in Bible College. I found this book to be very helpful. As a beginner in studying Scripture, this book helped me to think about theological questions addressed in Genesis. The book deals with many questions from the first chapters including the doctrine of creation, the question of theistic evolution, the concept of sin etc. Each chapter is detailed in helping students encounter the text and think about it. This book also deals with the basics of Textual Criticism and the Liberal theology concerning the JEDP theory etc. Overall this was a great book for undergraduate study or someone who wishes to encounter Genesis in their own private study. It is not simply a commentary but a textbook style learning resource.

This book was published by Baker Academic, a responsible conservative publishing house, and serves as an excellent example of evangelical scholarship of that variety. It is a Bible college textbook, but serves as good general introduction for anyone interested in Genesis. The writing is very clear and succinct. "Encountering Genesis" deals with most of the issues that concern ordinary Christians from evolution to the remarkably long pre-flood life spans to issues of authorship and Biblical criticism. Were Adam and Eve historical people? Was Abraham? Did the big flood really happen? Who wrote Genesis? The author gives very traditional answers to these questions. Dr. Bill Arnold is Professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is a renown expert on Biblical Hebrew, comparative religion, and archaeology as related to Old Testament studies. He was involved in creating InterVarsity Press's series of dictionaries on the Old Testament, and now involved in the New Cambridge Bible Commentaries. He has written an in-depth volume on Genesis for that series, which is due for release in late October 2008. I am hoping that this introductory book will give me a good foretaste of the more detailed commentary coming in October. I recommend anything this author writes. By the way, "Encountering Genesis" has lots of great charts and photographs.