For the past half-century, David Noel Freedman has had an enormous impact on the study of the Bible, both as an author and as an editor of the writings of others. As his colleagues note in their comments at the beginning of this volume, "You are quintessentially the man of the book. And perhaps what impresses us most is that your bibliography of hundreds of books is not limited to the extraordinary number of important books that you've written yourself. It also contains the books that you've edited for others. And we know what it means to have David Noel Freedman as one's editor. For every page of manuscript that the author sends you, you send back almost an equal number of pages of advice, criticism, corrections, and improvements. You can make a bad book good, and a good book better. And you can make its author a better scholar and a better writer." In this volume, his compatriots at the University of California, San Diego, contribute eight varied essays in celebration of his impact on them and in honor of his varied contributions to biblical studies. |