"This is an important book, not only as a contribution to the study of Jewish origins . . . but more, for the author's approach to the Hebrew Bible as canon. . . . Blenkinsopp has applied the insights of sociological studies, particularly those of Max Weber and Otto Plöger, to the study of canon. In showing that canon functions at the very center of one of the most basic conflicts in a religious community, and in fact functions to preserve tension rather than to settle the conflict, Blenkinsopp has made an important contribution to the study of canon." —Journal of Biblical Literature
"Joseph Blenkinsopp dives head on into the question. He portrays the prophets in a very authentic role of interpreting earlier laws and traditions so that these continue to be normative and unifying guides amid new problems and possibilities." —The Bible Today
"This study is systematic in approach and yet views the Old Testament from within itself and not from purely Christian perspectives. . . . It forms an imaginative and scholarly reconstruction of the process of canonization that provides a badly-needed ecumenical dimension to the question of scriptural authority." —Theological Studies
"An imaginative work, informed by the social sciences, which argues that the tripartite form of the Hebrew Bible mirrors tensions among rival claimants to interpret common religious tradition. The law (Pentateuch) developed in response to claims put forth by institutionally unattached prophets; in a counterdevelopment, the prophetic writings came to assert a balance between this free prophecy and the priestly-scribal order that lay behind the normative Pentateuch. Finally, the writings reflect various ways in which prophecy was absorbed, transformed, and contained within developing priestly-scribal theocracy. Blenkinsopp conludes with brief theological reflections based upon his argument. This is a major statement, reordering perspectives on the Hebrew Bible, and standing at the heart of modern attempts to recover the dynamic process by which tradition became scripture." —Choice
