The reissue of Gerhard von Rad's Old Testament Theology is a most welcome event, as welcome as it is important to us. It is clear that von Rad (1901-1971), long-time professor in the University of Heidelberg, is the defining and preeminent interpreter of the Christian Old Testament in the twentieth century, and that this two-volume work is the most definitive publication in his long, prolific scholarly career. Von Rad's work occupies such a dominant place in twentieth-century theological exposition that it is possibile and useful to trace theological interpretation in the twentieth century in terms of periods 'pre-von Rad, von Rad, and post-von Rad.' While that sequence has already become 'history' for us at the outset of the twenty-first century, it is clear that the turn von Rad has wrought in expository method and horizon continues to inform our work in decisive ways and will continue to do so for years to come.
