A Journey Through the Old Testament
Old Testament Survey - OTS101
Nate Jackson
Student # N1838-2219
June 12, 2011
Summary
The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics, philosophy, treatises, dramas, songs, epics, biographies, and letters. There have been many books written and published to survey, explain, and/or bring to light the Old Testament, but none more helpful to me than the review subject of this paper, the work of Dr. Elmer L. Towns, entitled “A Journey Through the Old Testament”.
The title gives a clue about the book, but a better glimpse of what the book is really about is found in the book’s subtitle, “The Story of how God Developed His People in the Old Testament”. Unlike most Biblical survey books, that provide the theme, outline, information about the author, and a commentary of the Old Testament content, Dr. Towns’ book focuses on the people who influenced the events of the Old Testament. It does more than pin the events and people to a timeline, it interprets the Old Testament through the sequential influence of those that made and helped form Bible history.
From the first pages of his book, Dr. Towns explains his purpose and reasoning behind his unique approach and style of writing for this work. He states, “God’s people want to know about God’s people… they will love reading about Old Testament people like themselves.…They have the same desires, family
Nate Jackson
Student # N1838-2219
June 12, 2011
Summary
The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics, philosophy, treatises, dramas, songs, epics, biographies, and letters. There have been many books written and published to survey, explain, and/or bring to light the Old Testament, but none more helpful to me than the review subject of this paper, the work of Dr. Elmer L. Towns, entitled “A Journey Through the Old Testament”.
The title gives a clue about the book, but a better glimpse of what the book is really about is found in the book’s subtitle, “The Story of how God Developed His People in the Old Testament”. Unlike most Biblical survey books, that provide the theme, outline, information about the author, and a commentary of the Old Testament content, Dr. Towns’ book focuses on the people who influenced the events of the Old Testament. It does more than pin the events and people to a timeline, it interprets the Old Testament through the sequential influence of those that made and helped form Bible history.
From the first pages of his book, Dr. Towns explains his purpose and reasoning behind his unique approach and style of writing for this work. He states, “God’s people want to know about God’s people… they will love reading about Old Testament people like themselves.…They have the same desires, family