Meet Tremper Longman III

(This is the second of a series of posts on professors / pastors / theologians that I respect and thank God for. Bios come from the home institution websites, and then are followed by my comments)

"Tremper Longman is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies. He came to Westmont in the 1998-99 school year after teaching for eighteen years at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. His teaching responsibilities at Westmont include Life and Literature of the Old Testament (a GE requirement) as well as various upper division classes. Representative of the latter is the course in Biblical Interpretation, Old Testament Psalms and Wisdom, the Pentateuch, and the Bible in Its Ancient Near Eastern Context. Dr. Longman has degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University (B.A.), Westminster Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Yale University (M.Phil.; Ph.D.). He has written a number of articles and books...At present, he is engaged in research on the history of Israel, the biblical genres in the light of ancient Near Eastern literature, as well as commentaries on Proverbs and Jeremiah. He has also been active in the area of Bible translation, in particular he serves on the central committee that produced and now monitors the New Living Translation. Tremper and his wife Alice have three sons. In his spare time, he watches movies and plays squash."

Longman, like Waltke, is a scholar with a pastors' heart. Though he is concerned with historical and literary questions, he is most concerned with the message of the text (and the God that we meet through the message). He has written excellent commentaries on Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Daniel. Most helpful to me, however, has been the book he co-wrote with Raymond Dillard: An Introduction to the Old Testament. (Carson and Moo wrote the volume on the New Testament). Considering that my OT profs in college had only one goal (to show that the OT is full of errors and historical inaccuracies), this book has helped me tremendously. More recently, I've been blessed by his book "Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel's Worship". I intend to use this one and Allen Ross' "Holiness to the Lord" next year when our church spends some time in Leviticus. Finally, last year I picked up the book Longman did with Provan and Long, "A Biblical History of Israel". This book was so helpful! It gives an overview of Israel's history built on the supposition that the Bible is true, but also addresses critical questions from archaeology and other historical disciplines (did I mention that the first 100 pages are on historical methodology? I know it sounds boring, but it really was a fascinating read. It was particularly helpful considering my OT classes in college - or did I mention that already?) To see more helpful comments, check out what others thought about the book on the amazon page. (But of course, buy from wtsbooks.)