David Atkinson

Ballads are a fascinating subject of study not least because of their endless variety. It is quite remarkable that ballads taken down or recorded from singers separated by centuries in time and by hundreds of kilometres in distance, should be both different and yet recognizably the same. In The English Traditional Ballad, David Atkinson examines the ways in which the body of ballads known in England make reference both to ballads from elsewhere and to other English folk songs. The book outlines current theoretical directions in ballad scholarship: structuralism, traditional referentiality, genre and context, print and oral transmission, and the theory of tradition and revival. These are combined to offer readers a method of approaching the central issue in ballad studies - the creation of meaning(s) out of ballad texts. Atkinson focuses on some of the most interesting problems in ballad studies: the 'wit-combat' in versions of The Unquiet Grave; variable perspectives in comic ballads about marriage; incest as a ballad theme; problems of feminine motivation in ballads like The Outlandish Knight and The Broomfield Hill; murder ballads and murder in other instances of early popular literature. Through discussion of these issues and themes in ballad texts, the book outlines a way of tracing tradition(s) in English balladry, while recognizing that ballad tradition is far from being simply chronological and linear.

David Atkinson explores The Message of Proverbs, part of The Bible Speaks Today Old Testament series of commentaries.

The fact of suffering in the world challenges us with its questions. The book of Job is all about human suffering. We meet a man who is afflicted physically and emotionally. We encounter friends who do their best, but make things worse. We are brought face to face with intellectual puzzles. Above all this, and because of it, we find Job struggling with his faith in God. David Atkinson's compelling exposition shows the power of the book of Job to reach into our human situation, and to engage with our human needs. It offers, he believes, the strong sort of comfort which comes from knowing that someone else has been there before. His book is a pastoral exploration, providing help in the ministry of counselling.

The book of Ruth is a tale of charm and delight. Goethe called it the 'loveliest complete work on a small scale, handed down to us as an ethical treasure and an idyll'. Another writes, 'No poet in the world has written a more beautiful short story.' The books tells us about very ordinary people facing very ordinary events. We meet Naomi, who underwent hardship in famine and bereavement but eventually won peace and security. We meet Ruth, a young foreign woman from Moab who attached herself to her mother-in-law, Naomi and to Naomi's God. And we meet Boaz, who by marrying Ruth fitted into God's purposes for history. Both King David and Jesus are numbered among their descendants. Theologically, the story of Ruth is a story about God's providence. This David Atkinson demonstrates clearly in his passage-by-passage exposition.