No one in the 21st century understands the Jewish context of the Bible (including the N.T.). If you read the Bible at all you need this book to understand what many things mean. It will clear up the idea of Soul Sheol Life etc... Get it, you will gain new insight into the life of all the Bible folks, even Jesus. So there you go! Get it!

This is the definitive book of Old Testament anthropology. I first saw this book referred to as a primary source by several scholarly works, and decided to read the book myself. This book does clearly explain the visually expressive way the Ancient Hebrews viewed the world. Nouns often represented an action: "hands" represented doing, "breath" represented living, "tongue" represented speaking, and "feet" represented moving.

Also Wolff creates a compelling argument that the Old Testament Hebrews literally saw the soul as an actual physical member deep within their bodies. "Sheol" and the afterlife, and many other topics are also discussed and explained. This book strongly influenced the way I read the entire Bible, because I feel more able to view the words from the perspective in which the words were originally written.

The Vitality of Old Testament Traditions is a collection of essays written by Walter Brueggemann and Walter Wolff. The subject of these essays is concerned with interpreting the text of the Pentateuch. These essays expand on the Documentary Hypothesis approach established by Julius Wellhausen, the theory that the text is a composite of documents from various time periods. The authors feel that Wellhausen and others were too concerned with scientific methodology and historical facts while dissecting the Pentateuch (or Hexataeuth, on up to the Enneateuch). The mood of the scholarship used by many in analyzing the hypothesis left the text with little authority and vitality, transforming the Bible into a lifeless specimen. Brueggemann hopes to avoid that tendency with his approach by sustaining the original vitality of the text. The essays by Wolff explore the kerygmatic focus of the J, D, and E sources, while Brueggemann makes use of Wolff's methods in his essay on the P source. Brueggemann's analysis of the central kerygma comes out of the narrative texts, while Wolff stresses law and genealogy portions of the text. Brueggemann writes with poetic style and his writing is rhetorically powerful. His, and Wolff's, Christian perspective is clear.