Books in the Overtures to Biblical Theology S. series

In these outstanding studies, Phyllis Bird retrieves the identities of women in ancient Israel through penetrating investigations of Israelite religion, the creation stories in Genesis, harlots and hierodules, and the interpretation and authority of the Bible.

In this comprehensive and thought-provoking study, Terence Fretheim focuses on the theme of divine suffering, an aspect of our understanding of God which both the church and scholarship have neglected. Maintaining that "metaphors matter," Fretheim carefully examines the ruling and anthropomorphic metaphors of the Old Testament and discusses them in the context of current biblical-theological scholarship. His aim is to broaden our understanding of the God of the Old Testament by showing that "suffering belongs to the person and purpose of God".