Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 4-5
Vetus
Testamentum
brill.com/vt
Prospect
“What can be new in the Old Testament?” is a question I frequently hear from
new students. The naiveté of the question is evident in the expectation that
study of the Old Testament should reinforce safe and familiar ideas and beliefs
rather than challenge them. Recently I had the opportunity to compare notes
with a younger scholar who received the same Jewish upbringing and education
as I. It seems that for about three generations the same textbook has been
in use to teach school children Hebrew and Bible stories. This book opens with
the engaging tale about young Abram who one day enters his father’s shop in
Ur of the Chaldees and smashes the idols sold there. Three generations of adults
who, when they later open a Bible—often within an academic setting—, are
surprised that the author of Genesis for some reason neglected this enjoyable
and educational story!
Even the most experienced scholars have been conditioned to some extent
by their early training, as becomes apparent when we compare our opening
premises. For example, within what literary and/or canonical context do we
view a text; and what version(s) provides the best point of departure for uncovering
the history of the text? Without appealing to the freedom of post-modern
reader response strategies, we have to admit that even within the stringent
framework of scholarly argument and discussion, more than one explanation
is frequently possible for a particular observable phenomenon, whether textual,
literary or historical. Anyone who has engaged in the task of peer review
has faced the challenge how to remain open to differing viewpoints without
compromising the standards of methodological argumentation. Over the years
Vetus Testamentum has successfully met this challenge and continues to provide
an international, multi-lingual platform for the exchange of ideas and the
debate of differing viewpoints.
The present volume offers a sampling of the best of sixty years of Vetus
Testamentum, much of which derives from a more leisurely period in which
scholars devoted several years to developing their theses. The current “publish
or perish” mentality fosters a much greater output at all levels of scientific
and academic endeavor. But the race to “publish or perish” sometimes seems
to produce much chaff and little wheat. In the coming decades I hope to see
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12341129