This... is a brilliant work." --Choice [Sternberg] has written a very important book, both for his comprehensiveness and for the clearly-avowed faith stance from which he understands and interprets the strategies of the biblical narratives.... a superb overview... " --Theological Studies ... rated very highly indeed. It is a book to read and then reread." --Modern Language Review ... Sternberg has accomplished an enormous task, enriching our understanding of the theoretical basis of biblical narrative and giving us insight into a remarkable number of particular texts." --Journal of the American Academy of Religion ... an important book for those who seek to take the Bible seriously as a literary work because it shows, more clearly and emphatically than any book I know, that the Bible is a serious literary work--a text manifesting a highly sophisticated and successful narrative poetics." --Adele Berlin, Prooftexts