Ronald Youngblood’s concise guide to the central themes of the Old Testament has served students for thirty years. Now this frequently used textbook is available in a new edition, featuring updated text, refined arguments, and two new indexes (subject and Scripture).

In The Heart of the Old Testament Youngblood demonstrates the thematic unity of the Bible by tracing the development of nine key concepts through the Old Testament and into the New: monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith, and redemption. These concepts constitute the very heart of the Old Testament.

Youngblood writes, "We have attempted in each case to define the concept, describe the cultural setting in which it arose in ancient Israel, delineate the various stages through which God’s people passed as they grew in their understanding of it, and discuss briefly its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. By so doing we earnestly hope that we shall help our readers to see more clearly the fact that the Word of God is essentially one Book."

It would be hard to imagine a better summary of the key themes of the Old Testament than the one found in this book. Dr. Youngblood blends an extraordinary knowledge of the Old Testament with an uncanny abilityto express concepts clearly. The chapters are succinct, but filled with helpful background material and theological insight. This book comes from the pen of one America’s finest Old Testament scholors.–Herb Wolf

As the author himself observes in the preface, ‘One means by which to demonstrate the basic oneness of the Scriptures is to trace the development of certain key ideas from one end of the Bible to the other. The purpose of this book is to do just that with nine of the themes that constitute the heart of the Old Testament.’ The nine themes are monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith, and redemption. Dr. Ron Youngblood has achieved his purpose admirably by laying out before us theheart of the Old Testament in a careful and practical manner. I strongly recommend this book.–Kenneth Barker: