Bluethread Resource Reviews
The Book of Genesis
An overview of some standard scholarly commentaries
IntroductionThe amateur Torah scholar will over time want to have conveniently available some discussions, reflecting customary scholarship, of each of the five books of Moses. This page suggests some of the commentaries on Genesis, each with a somewhat different approach, that Bluethread feels deserve serious consideration for inclusion in one's own library. The titles are in order of date of publication. Links are provided to a reproduction of one or two typical pages from each in PDF format. |
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Skinner,
John. A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis,
2d. ed. Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1930. 552 pp. (International
critical commentary). Skinner studied in Scotland and Germany at the
end of the 19th century. In the first decades of the 20th century,
at Westminster College, Cambridge, he became one of the earliest English-language
scholars to teach the documentary hypothesis. His book reviews the
structure and assumed sources of the text, brings out related Hebrew,
Greek, Aramaic, Arabic and other texts to clarify problems, and explains
where he differs from other interpretations. His discussion is the
most detailed of those on this page, and, perhaps because of the then
still-widespread disagreement over the documentary hypothesis, includes
extensive references to other proponents of it. No translation per
se is included.
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Speiser,
E. A. Genesis: translated and with an introduction and
notes. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1964. 378 pp. (Anchor
Bible commentaries). Speiser's research in Iraq prior to and following
World War II, and study in related Mesopotamian cultures, gave him
an unequalled understanding of and familiarity with the ancient Near
East. His pre-eminence in his field led to the culmination of his
lifelong interest: the debut volume of the Anchor Bible series, Genesis.
Speiser also was a principal member of the committee that created
the new JPS translation [link to Translations by the Jewish Publication
Society (Torah Research page)]. His Genesis looks at the sources of
the text and the stages through which it may have gone in its passage
to us. Extensive notes and commentaries explain the meaning and function
of many passages, and review problems in the text and in the principal
traditional and contemporary approaches to their resolution. This
may be the best one-volume overview reflecting mainstream scholarship
at present available. A new Anchor Genesis, by Ronald handel, and
reflecting discoveries and insights since 1964, is in preparation.
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Rad, Gerhard von. Genesis: a commentary, rev. ed. Philadelphia, Westminster Pr., 1972. 440 p. (Old Testament library). This is a translation of the 1972 German 9th edition; it uses the 1952 Revised Standard Version ("RSV") translation. Rad was the professor of Old Testament at the German universities at Jena, Goettingen and Heidelberg. Far more than the other authors on this page, he builds his commentary around the documentary hypothesis and the associated concerns of its several traditions as they relate to the various passages. He see those traditions as having created a Hexateuch comprised of the five books of Moses plus Joshua, and discusses Genesis in that context. The result is a presentation quite distinct from that of the other authors on this page.
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Sarna, Nahum. Genesis; the traditional Hebrew text with the new JPS translation; commentary. Philadelphia, 1989, 414 pp. (JPS Torah Commentary). This is the first volume of the Jewish Publication Society's commentaries on the Torah. Sarna was ordained as rabbi at Jews' College, London, the world's oldest rabbinic seminary (it is now part of the University of London), received his Ph.D. from Dropsie College, the first graduate school of Jewish studies in the U.S. (it is now part of the University of Pennsylvania), and has taught at those schools and at Columbia, Yale, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Brandeis and elsewhere. He is the author of many books on Biblical interpretation, and is the general editor of the JPS series and author of its Genesis and Exodus volumes. His commentaries are from a traditional Jewish perspective, exploring the text as a unity, not a compilation of different sources. Sarna includes discussions of the connotations of many of the key Hebrew words and phrases of the text, including many disagreements with the JPS translation; the historical and theological implications of many of the passages; and related matters in other Near Eastern cultures.
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Hamilton, Victor P. The book of Genesis. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans, 1990-95. 2 vols. (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Hamilton finds his calling in learning and teaching as Professor of Religion at Asbury College, Kentucky, a Wesleyan (Methodist) institution. His thoughtful translation and exploration of the text summarizes the views of many scholars, with some of whom he disagrees in arriving at his own views. He also briefly analyzes the relation of the text to later Christian writings. However, more than other titles on this page, Hamilton's presents at length alternative interpretations of the text in many passages (e.g., the opening verse of Genesis), along with their grammatical bases and theological implications.
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| Alter, Robert. Genesis: translation and commentary. New York, Norton, 1996. 324 pp. Alter is Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and has written extensively on literature in general and literary aspects of the Bible in particular. While recognizing that different sources contributed to the text of Genesis, he treats it as a coherent literary whole. His translation, more than that of others, uses the root meanings of the Hebrew words of the text. His brief commentary explains his choices and what it is that the writer of the Hebrew is trying to convey both directly and by allusion. This is very much a book for the reader who wants to enjoy the text as well as understand it. | ||
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