Using contemporary literary approaches and the most recent historicalscholarship, this fully revised and updated introduction to the HebrewScriptures provides a thorough and coherent approach to the basic human issuesof the Scriptures. It emphasizes the meanings that the Hebrews gave to personsand events in their attempts to manage life's struggles, and provides textualaids that help students understand these ideas and apply them to contemporaryissues. After an initial presentation on the nature of biblical literature, theBook of Genesis is treated as a theological prelude to Israel's story.Subsequent chapters are organized around epochs in Hebrew life. Throughout thebook the authors stress the human issues at stake in Israel's memory and thepreservation of its history, and how circumstances and thoghyt influenced theHebrew perceptions and undersatnding of God.Accessible and stimulating to students with a wide range of academic andreligious backgrounds, People of the Covenant is grounded in the best scholarlymethodologies, respect for the rich literary values of the Old Testament, andconcern for its enduring religious relevance.