There is much to be commended in this edited volume by Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson, with particular regard to the careful attention to literary cues suggestions and possibilities examining characters and characterizations in the books of Kings. The continued maturation and new positive or constructive directions of literary approaches to reading biblical texts (particularly texts of the OT) is demonstrated through the varying approaches and possibilities of the essays of this volume. As is true of all such collections, the varying angles, approaches, methodologies, and attention to details of the texts vary from chapter to chapter, allowing for the unique contributions of its diverse authorship and the many characters and their characterizations that are expounded.
John Barton opens the volume with his essay “Characterization and Ethics” that provides a broad sketch sifting through the book of Kings overall. Chapter 2 is A. Graeme Auld’s essay on Ahaz...
