A Question of Methodology: Albert Pietersma, Collected Essays on the Septuagint

Albert Pietersma has long been known as a champion of rigorous methodology. The present volume brings together under one cover his key papers on the critical study of the Septuagint. Together they present an evolving hermeneutic of translation that promises to reconcile descriptive analysis of the text (which aims at explanation) with the task of interpretation (which aims at understanding). The division of the volume into three parts corresponds roughly to three distinct stages in Pietersma’s published work. The text critical studies of Part I lay the foundations for the exegetical investigations of Part II, which in turn open onto the hermeneutic discussion of more recent years, represented in Part III. The bulk of the material deals with the Greek Psalter, which has been a primary focus for Pietersma. This gives the contents of the volume a high-degree of thematic unity; it will no doubt prove invaluable for those currently working on the Psalter. At the same time, the breadth of Pietersma’s scholarship, and the significance of the methodological and hermeneutic issues he addresses, will make the book an important resource for all biblical scholars and students of early Judaism and Christianity, especially those working on the Hebrew-Greek translations of antiquity.