An Introduction to the Five Scrolls: Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther is a comprehensive introduction to the Megilloth, an important but often neglected minor collection of books in the Hebrew Bible. Using contemporary critical methods, each chapter explores title, authorship, provenance, place and time of composition, literary development, intended audience, literary structure, form, and style, literary and traditional sources, the contents and theological contribution, canonicity, and liturgical reception of the scrolls in both Jewish and Christian traditions. An Introduction to the Five Scrolls is the first comprehensive, critical introduction to the Five Scrolls to appear in English in recent scholarship.