The Origin and Permanent Value of the Old Testament by Kent, Charles Foster, 1867-1925

As the repository of a great and varied literature, as a record of many of the most important events in human history, and as a concrete revelation of God's character and will through the life and experiences of a race and the hearts of inspired men, the Old Testament has a vital message marvellously adapted to the intellectual, moral, social, and spiritual needs of to-day and supremely fitted to appeal to the thought and imagination of the present age.

This little volume is intended to be simply a very informal introduction to it. Since of the two Testaments the New is by far the more easily understood and the better known, it is made the point of departure in the approach to the more complex field represented by the Old. Many unexpected analogies will aid in understanding the intricate literary history of the older Scriptures. The point of view assumed throughout is that of the busy pastor, missionary, Sunday-school teacher, and scholar, who have little time for technical study, but who are not afraid of truth because it is new and who firmly believe that God is ever revealing himself more fully to men and that his truth shall make us free. It is hoped that this general survey will prove for them but an introduction to a far deeper and more profitable study.

To the Reverend J.F. McFarland, D.D., of the Bible Study Union, to the Reverend S.A. Cooke, D.D., of the Methodist Book Concern, to Mr. John H. Scribner of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sunday-school Work, to the Reverend M.C. Hazard, D.D., of the Pilgrim Press, and to the Reverend F.K. Sanders, Ph.D., of the Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society, who have generously read the manuscript of this book, I am deeply indebted, not only for their valuable suggestions, but also for their strong expressions of personal interest in the practical ends which it seeks to conserve, I am also under great obligation to the Reverend Morgan Miller, of Yale, for his untiring vigilance in revising the proof of a volume written within the all too brief limits of a Christmas vacation.

C.F.K.

YALE UNIVERSITY,

January, 1906.

CONTENTS

I. THE ECLIPSE AND REDISCOVERY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

II. THE REAL NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

III. THE EARLIEST CHAPTERS IN DIVINE REVELATION

IV. THE PLACE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN DIVINE REVELATION

V. THE INFLUENCES THAT PRODUCED THE NEW TESTAMENT

VI. THE GROWTH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC HISTORIES

VII. THE HISTORY OF THE PROPHETIC SERMONS, EPISTLES, AND APOCALYPSES

VIII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER OLD TESTAMENT LAWS

IX. INFLUENCES THAT GAVE RISE TO THE PRIESTLY LAWS AND HISTORIES

X. THE HEBREW SAGES AND THEIR PROVERBS

XL THE WRITINGS OF ISRAEL'S PHILOSOPHERS

XII. THE HISTORY OF THE PSALTER

XIII. THE FORMATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON

XIV. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EARLY NARRATIVES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

XV. PRACTICAL METHODS OF STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT

XVI. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION--THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM OF TO-DAY

I

THE ECLIPSE AND REDISCOVERY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

[Sidenote: _Jesus' study of the Old Testament_]