The Law and the Prophets: A Study in Old Testament Canon Formation

This watershed book presents an alternative perspective in the ongoing debate about the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Marshaling all of the important counterarguments to the standard theory of Old Testament canon formation, Stephen Chapman shows how the Pentateuch and the Prophets developed more or less simultaneously and mutually influenced each other over time. This North American edition includes an updated bibliography and a new postscript reflecting on how the study of the Old Testament canon has developed over the last twenty years.

"The canon of the Old Testament has become a central issue in contemporary Old Testament scholarship. . . . [This book] deserves to be a major landmark within the debate. . . . Chapman illuminatingly analyzes both scholarly debate and key biblical texts and persuasively contests received wisdom."
--Walter Moberly, Expository Times

"An important and learned book. . . . [Chapman] succeeds in raising large questions about many traditional assumptions, and his book deserves to be widely and carefully read, since it contains many important insights."
--J. Barton, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

"Chapman should be commended for questioning linear models of canonical formation that offer a too simplistic and teleological understanding. Such reexamination of traditions has informed our understanding of monotheism, law, and other categories in the progress of Israelite history and theology."
--J. Edward Owens, OSST, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

"An important and readable book. It shows that both the Law and the Prophets are authoritative Scripture that are aware of and play off each other. It is not a case of Torah priority or of the Prophets being before and the source of the Law, as some critics hold. This book should be in all academic theological libraries."
--David W. Baker, Ashland Theological Journal

"Chapman undoubtedly makes one of the fullest and most interesting contributions to the discussion and to the whole attempt to use canon as a simple arbiter of authority. . . . A fine piece of work, which is all the more welcome in that it raises further issues for examination."
--R. E. Clements, Journal of Theological Studies

"A fine study on the intriguing question of the biblical canon. Chapman offers an alternative model of the origin of Law and Prophets. . . . No serious future study can afford to overlook Chapman's insights."
--Anselm C. Hagedorn, Journal of Religion