The Theology of the Book of Ruth

Abstract

The publication of new Theologies of the Old Testament 1) again raises the question of the methodology of such a Theology. This article represents an effort to illustrate the issue and to carry the debate further by means of a study in depth. The word theology is not used here in the sense of a systematized doctrine. The Old Testament as such, in any case, does not provide us with a doctrine about God, but it bears witness to the deeds and acts of Yahweh towards people (especially towards Israel) under various circumstances and during different times. Therefore, one can agree in principle with Westermann when he states, ,,Eine Theologie des Alten Testaments hat die Aufgabe, zusammenzufassen und zusammenzusehen, was das Alte Testament als Ganzes, in allen seinen Teilen von Gott sagt (p. 5). The Theology of the Old Testament as discipline cannot dissociate itself from the Vorverstdndnis that the Old Testament as canon forms a complete interwoven unit which testifies about the same God, viz. Yahweh. The Theology of the Old Testament should not make itself guilty of an artificial systematization, or a subjective search for a Mitte. The Old Testament is neither a systematic treatise on theology, nor a chronological handbook of history. A starting point which links up with one of the approaches mentioned above ought to be avoided. When it is stated that the Theology of the Old Testament has as its task to indicate by way of a summary what the Old Testament as a whole has to say about God, this goal can be achieved only when attention has been paid beforehand to the various parts of the Old Testament. One thus has to work with properly demarcated sections while literary and historical criteria have also to be taken into account. Such a demarcated section could be examined in a synchronic manner,