The comparative method continues to mature and shed greater light as our knowledge and self-awareness increase, and this new volume carries that conversation forward. Students of the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East will benefit from exploring its case studies alongside Schreiner and Holland.

Christopher B. Hays, Fuller Theological Seminary

The authors are to be commended for this innovative and thought-provoking approach to comparative work on the Hebrew Bible. Their methodological framework holds theory and practice together by combining the new form criticism with a contextual-comparative approach. The individual case studies demonstrate the value of this approach. This volume is an important resource for all students and scholars investigating the message of the Hebrew Bible in light of its ancient Near Eastern surroundings.

Bill T. Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary

Silhouettes of Scripture contributes to several important, ongoing conversations regarding method in biblical studies, especially comparative method. Illustrating time and again the utility of form criticism and the contextual approach toward an ethical and fruitful comparative process, Holland and Schreiner give their readers much to consider about the place of the Hebrew Bible within the vast body of literature known from the ancient Near East. The essays included in this book provide snapshots of the biblical authors as they interacted with their worlds, giving us a glimpse into the various intellectual processes by which the Bible was composed, written, and compiled over many centuries, making it simultaneously unique among the literatures of the ancient world and at home in its ancient Near Eastern setting.

Amy L. Balogh, Regis University