Bryan D. Estelle - Echoes of Exodus: Tracing a Biblical Motif

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C limbing a major mountain is a joint venture requiring the greatest degree of interdependence and trust. So also is writing a book like this. Climbers know that each peak has unique challenges. Every ascent involves hard work and a willingness to undergo a suffer fest. An eight-thousand-meter peak requires years of apprenticeship, knowledge of altitude and how it affects the human body, and lots of endurance. A rock and ice face like Cerro Torre or Fitzroy in Patagonia, or a Grade VI multiday ascent on Half Dome or El Capitan in Yosemite, demands a different set of technical skills and lots of experience, perhaps even more so than an eight-thousand-meter-peak in the Himalayas. Solo climbers are a rare breed. They take on greater risks without the psychological support and mental fortitude that comes through sharing climbing adventures with others. After all, courage is contagious. Writing a scholarly book should not be a solo endeavor. The margins for risk and death are too great. No wonder Flannery OConnor described writing a book as giving birth to a sideways piano.

Westminster Seminary in California (WSC) provided sources of funding that allowed me to work on this project. First, therefore, I am thankful especially to the board of trustees at WSC. This project was researched and written over a couple of sabbaticals but especially the last one. The board of trustees is very gracious with their sabbatical policy, and I hope that the support of board members is rewarded in some slight way when they take up this book and read. Additionally, I am indebted to the library staff at WSC, especially James Lund, Katherine VanDrunen, John Bales, and Brian Hecker. I appreciated their goodwill, competence, and forbearance especially with each new interlibrary loan request. They resupplied my research constantly by retrieving numerous books and articles quickly and efficiently.

It causes me mental anguish to try to recall all the people who helped me write this book and imparted the courage to attempt to do so. I owe a great debt of gratitude to so many. Harold Bloom said (roughly) years ago: teaching is a three in one with reading and writing. Hes right. Some people may look at the footnotes and think they are weighted too heavily with my colleagues work at WSC as if it is some kind of mutual congratulatory love-fest, but that has not been my aim. I have merely learned so very much from them that I wanted to acknowledge a debt of gratitude. Im sure they deserve more attribution than I have given in places. Moreover, many other colleagues from other sympathetic institutions (and nonsympathetic ones) will recognize their names in the footnotes as well.