This handsomely produced book is the first of a series of volumes tracing developments in biblical interpretation through the centuries. The ‘ancient period’ is understood to extend roughly from the period of the writing of the OT documents in the first millennium bc to the middle of the fifth century ad. Projected volumes will deal with the medieval and Reformation periods; the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and the twentieth century. This volume is composed of sixteen essays. First, the editors provide a helpful introduction to the key issues and to the essays which follow. The remaining essays address issues of biblical interpretation with respect to ‘Inner-Biblical Exegesis in the Tanak’, the Septuagint, Philo, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic Midrash, the canon of the ‘Tanak’, the Pseudepigrapha, the NT, the Apostolic Fathers and Apologists, Alexandrian and Antiochene exegesis, Jerome, Augustine, the NT canon, the Apocrypha and Gnostic writings, The contributors, including internationally recognised scholars such as Peder Borgen, Martin McNamara, James H. Charlesworth and Frances Young, are well qualified to provide an authoritative account of their particular area of specialism. Evangelical scholars are not well represented. While this is generally of relatively minor significance, it is more significant in the discussions of canon which allow for more fluidity until a later date than I would favour.

The essays are clearly presented. There are no footnotes and references to secondary literature in the body of the text are generally used quite sparingly. A bibliography is provided at the end of each essay. Most of the essays are pitched at a level that would be accessible to a serious reader without technical training, or at least to an undergraduate student with some basic theological orientation, although occasionally technical language and discussion make the reading harder going. Most of the chapters include plenty of examples to illustrate the discussion and there are extended quotations of some of the less familiar ancient literature which should enable readers to get some orientation to the literature.

This is a valuable resource for readers who wish to reflect on the way that Scripture has been interpreted.

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