SOTS Monographs


The SOTS Monographs series, published by Cambridge University Press, aims to publish new, original monographs exploring topics that belong to the field of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies. In parallel, there is scope for books which take a more interdisciplinary approach, as long as the key findings relate to biblical studies. For instance, studies that look at biblical texts from a comparative perspective, in dialogue with ancient Near Eastern studies or with modern literary theory, are welcome. Likewise, volumes that explore the reception history of a particular text or set of texts are encouraged.

The SOTS Monographs series seeks primarily to provide a high-profile venue for already established scholars in the field of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible studies to publish their second (or third or fourth etc.) monograph. Thus it does not entertain proposals to publish doctoral theses, nor collections of essays. Prospective contributors should also note that scholars published in the SOTS Monographs series are normally expected to be or to become members of the Society.

The editor, Anja Klein (Anja.Klein@ed.ac.uk), welcomes book proposals, which should contain the following:

  • A statement about the aims of the volume as a whole, including a paragraph which highlights how the proposed volume will fill a gap in scholarship / shed new and important light upon extant research in the field (minimum 250 words).
  • An outline of its content and structure.
  • An estimate of the length of the volume as a whole (maximum 120 000 words unless a good case can be made for exceeding this limit).
  • A date when the final manuscript will be submitted.
  • An extended abstract (ca 3000 words) which outlines and describes the various chapters.

The volumes in the series published to date (since its relaunch in 2017) are:

  • Katherine E. Southwood, Marriage by Capture in the Book of Judges: An Anthropological Approach (2017)
  • Deryn Guest, YHWH and Israel in the Book of Judges: An Object-Relations Analysis (2019)
  • Dan’el Kahn, Sennacheribs Campaign against Judah: A Source Analysis of Isaiah 36–37 (2020)
  • Collin Cornell, Divine Aggression in Psalms and Inscriptions: Vengeful Gods and Loyal Kings (2020)
  • Isabel Cranz, Royal Illness and Kingship Ideology in the Hebrew Bible (2020)
  • Brett Maiden, Cognitive Science and Ancient Israelite Religion: New Perspectives on Texts, Artifacts, and Culture (2020)
  • Daniel Stulac, Life, Land, and Elijah in the Book of Kings (2020)
  • Hanne Løland Levinson, The Death Wish in the Hebrew Bible: Rhetorical Strategies for Survival (2021)
  • Carly Crouch, Israel and Judah Redefined: Migration, Trauma, and Empire in the Sixth Century BCE (2021)
  • Andrew R. Davis, The Book of Amos and Its Audiences: Prophecy, Poetry, and Rhetoric (2023)

The volumes are available for purchase through the Cambridge University Press website.


Earlier series of SOTS Monographs

Six volumes of SOTS Monographs were published by Cambridge University Press in the 1970s, under the editorship of John Emerton and R.E. Clements. These volumes are available for purchase through the Cambridge University Press website.

  • R. Norman Whybray, The Heavenly Counsellor in Isaiah 40:13-14: A Study of the Sources of the Theology of Deutero-Isaiah (1971)
  • Joseph Blenkinsopp, Gibeon and Israel: The Role of Gibeon and the Gibeonites in the Political and Religious History of Early Israel (1972)
  • Patrick H. Vaughan, The Meaning of ‘bāmâ’ in the Old Testament: A Study of Etymological, Textual and Archaeological Evidence (1974)
  • David W. Gooding, Relics of Ancient Exegesis: A Study of the Miscellanies in 3 Reigns 2 (1976)
  • Graham I. Davies, The Way of the Wilderness: A Geographical Study of the Wilderness Itineraries in the Old Testament (1979)
  • John Barton, Amos’s Oracles against the Nations: A Study of Amos 1:3–2:5 (1980)

Sixteen volumes of SOTS Monographs were published by Ashgate in the first decade of the 2000s, under the editorship of Margaret Barker, and many of these volumes have subsequently been reissued in paperback editions by Routledge. To purchase copies, please visit the Routledge website.

  • Graeme Auld, Samuel at the Threshold: Selected Works of Graeme Auld (2004)
  • Michael D. Goulder, Isaiah as Liturgy (2004)
  • John B. Geyer, Mythology and Lament: Studies in the Oracles about the Nations (2004)
  • Norman Whybray, Wisdom: The Collected Articles of Norman Whybray (ed. Katharine J. Dell and Margaret Barker, 2004)
  • Nicolas Wyatt, ‘There’s such Divinity doth Hedge a King’: Selected Essays of Nicolas Wyatt on Royal Ideology in Ugaritic and Old Testament Literature (2005)
  • Simcha Shalom Brooks, Saul and the Monarchy: A New Look (2005)
  • Alice M. Sinnott, The Personification of Wisdom (2005)
  • John Job, Jeremiah’s Kings: A Study of the Monarchy in Jeremiah (2006)
  • Robert P. Gordon, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Versions: Selected Essays of Robert P. Gordon (2006)
  • John Barton, The Old Testament: Canon, Literature and Theology: Collected Works of John Barton (2007)
  • James R. Linville, Amos and the Cosmic Imagination (2008)
  • Peter Hatton, Contradiction in the Book of Proverbs: The Deep Waters of Counsel (2008)
  • Bernhard Lang, Hebrew Life and Literature: Selected Essays of Bernhard Lang (2008)
  • John W. Welch, The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple (2009)
  • Bertil Albrektson, Text, Translation, Theology: Selected Essays on the Hebrew Bible (2010)
  • Rudolf Smend, ‘The Unconquered Land’ and Other Old Testament Essays: Selected Studies by Rudolf Smend (ed. Edward Ball and Margaret Barker, 2013)

In even earlier times, the Society sponsored a series of ‘Old Testament Studies’ published by T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh. Three volumes appeared in that series:

  • James W. Jack, The Ras Shamra Tablets: Their Bearing on the Old Testament (1935)
  • Godfrey R. Driver, Problems of the Hebrew Verbal System (1936)
  • Godfrey R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends (1956, 2nd edn 1978)