Richard Nelson examines the books of Kings and treats the text as theological literature, emphasizing the literary impact of this important part of the Old Testament canon. Nelson recognizes King's as a useful though uncritical source of historical information, its purpose to transform the beliefs of its first readers, to get them to re-evaluate their identity before God.

Richard D. Nelson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and W. J. A. Power Professor of Biblical Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. He is also an ordained pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.