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Understanding the Old Testament . Fourth Edition. By Anderson Bernhard W.. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. xv + 685 pages. $29.95.

Like earlier editions of this work, the present volume is comprehensive and lucid. Beginning students will appreciate the brief treatments of several key ideas (e.g., "covenant," "holy war") and technical matters (e.g., "form criticism," "halaka and haggada") which are attractively set apart from the text in specially marked boxes throughout the volume. Teachers and advanced students will benefit from the thoroughly updated bibliography. The language is more inclusive. Thus, B.C. and A.D. have been replaced with B.C.E. andC.E. and "patriarchs" are now called "ancestors." "Man" and masculine pronouns referring to the Divinity are gone except in those instances where the author judged that fidelity to the biblical text did not warrant inclusive translation. Those familiar with the third edition will find few substantive changes in the content of this work, although slight additions and modifications appear in several sections. More attention has been given to modern theories of the conquest. Those influenced by newer methodologies like sociological and feminist approaches will find that, although there are references to recent studies in these areas, the approaches have no significant impact on Anderson's overall presentation. Two changes are noteworthy, however. The first is that Anderson has reversed his earlier view on the relative chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah so that he now places Ezra's reform prior to Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem. A second modification is that the distinctive contribution of the Yahwist (referred to as "one of the most creative literary artists of Israel" in the third edition, p. 204) all but disappears in Anderson's repeated stress that the core of the Pentateuchal story (including the primeval history of Genesis 2-11) had beginnings in the tribal confederacy. Thus, what was formerly called the "national epic" is now referred to as the "all-Israelite epic," and Anderson treats it before instead of after the chapter on David. In the shift, facile distinctions between oral tradition and the Yahwist's work are blurred. J, E, D and P are described as "traditions" (not "sources") which contemporized the Pentateuchal story over the course of generations. Anderson's volume is a classic and those who grew up with earlier editions may not be able to imagine being without the fourth, even though they might have looked forward to more newness. Teachers who are eager to provide students with "hands-on" experience of the Old Testament should be aware of two possible pitfalls before using this work as a textbook for introductory classes. First, Anderson's clarity may tempt some students to rely on the textbook rather than struggle with the biblical writers' foreignness. Second, the comprehensiveness of this volume may well tempt even the most talented and motivated student, when pressed for time, to read the textbook instead of the biblical readings cited at the beginning of each chapter.