In contrast to The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, I was rather disappointed by this handbook. It is probably on the weaker side of Oxford Handbooks that I’ve read to date (see, for instance, my reviews of The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology and The Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic Studies)).

In short, every essay in this book approaches the Bible–encompassing both the Old and New Testaments–through the lens of storytelling or narrative. What do these stories tell us about numerous different themes, whether they are about ancient peoples or even how we ought to live our lives today? It is certainly scholarly and learned, and the introductory chapter does a particularly good job of reviewing the development of the literature, especially as it grew since the 1960s.

The problem is the individual essays: a lot of them left a great deal to be desired. Some were meaty and good, I was particularly impressed by Part 1 (“Overtures”), the chapters on Ruth, Esther, and Luke, as well as the chapters on animals, landscape, and “Characterizing God in His/Our Own Image.” But, I was floored by how weak other chapters were: the chapter on sustenance and survival seemed so surface-level as to be useless, for example.

For those interested in the topic, this may be an adequate book, merely because it has such range of coverage. However, those seeking depth should probably look elsewhere.