Reading Biblical Narratives

It's too rare to get a book on Old Testament interpretation that was actually written in Hebrew! Amit deals topically with major aspects of biblical criticism such as plot structure, character development, chronology and geography. She gives diagrams and overviews of major plot-types as well as saying how to identify each character type. Everything she says deals directly with the unique character of biblical narratives. \\r\\n\\r\\nShe illustrates her points with examples and 'repeats' certain stories (such as 'Judah and Tamar') in multiple chapters, giving a sense of how it can be analysed in different ways. What function does each character play? How is the flow of time managed or subverted? It makes you want to reread every biblical story there is and apply each of her tools to really understand them richly. \\r\\n\\r\\nRather than looking for what we 'want' the text to say, Amit lets the Bible speak by attending to what is there. 'Reading Biblical Narratives' stays 'on target' throughout, giving us literary-rhetorical criticism, but the author does emphasise that we need to do textual, redactive, historical and theological work to get the 'whole picture'. You'll need other books to learn about those techniques. Personally, I'd love for this to be """"Part 2"""" of a big 700 page text-book that begins with Textual Criticism (Part 1) and then goes into historical and archaeological matters (Part 3). That would be a dream, but for what we have here, I can't fault it. It's a…