Which Hebrew Bible textbook? (Or none?)

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YdNyMZZeL._SL160_.jpgBecause of my administrative schedule I do not teach often, usually once a year and for various other reasons this is the first time I have taught Intro to Hebrew Bible in four years. In the past I have used Barry Bandstra’s Reading the Old Testament: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. But this year I found out the list price was a whopping $121.95! The discounted Amazon price is only $109.75. That is just too much to ask of students. I considered many and then, since another section was being offered by a colleague I decided to follow their lead and use Michael Coogan’s The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures.This is still a bit pricey at just under $70. 1I also considered and will likely next time use John Collin’s Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. This looks to be very good and under $50, used for a little over $30.

So I thought I would reach out to this community and ask those of you who teach such a course what you use as a textbook. Or do you? I know many who feel that a textbook is in some way “cheating” and simply have their own lectures with extensive articles and secondary literature readings for the students. Please do give me your thoughts in the comments and I will post a summary of opinions and views once we have a critical mass.

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    I also considered and will likely next time use John Collin’s Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. This looks to be very good and under $50, used for a little over $30.

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