The Writings

Abstract

The Writings Bradley C. Gregory, Brent A. Strawn, Stephen D. Ryan, and Christopher T. Begg 773. [Wisdom Literature] O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of Wisdom: A Redemptive-Historical Exploration of the Wisdom Books of the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017). Pp. xxi + 407. Paper $19.99. ISBN 978-1-62995-291-8. R.'s book examines the OT wisdom literature redemptive-historically as both providing insight into the great questions of human life and as pointing toward Christ. The first chapter introduces readers to the terminology of wisdom, its background in the ANE, and its literary forms. Subsequent chapters discuss standard introductory topics as well as the contents of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Song of Songs. R. adopts traditional notions of authorship, arguing that Jeremiah wrote Lamentations and ascribing the other four books to the time of Solomon.—B.C.G. 774. Lance R. Hawley, Metaphor Competition in the Book of Job (JAJ Sup 26; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018). Pp. 256. $113. ISBN 978-3-525-53135-8. H.'s monograph, originally a dissertation at the University of Wisconsin (advisor: Ron Troxel) furthers some ideas put forward by Carol Newsom in her The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imaginations (see OTA 27 [2004] #708) by investigating how the metaphors used by Job, his friends, and God compete in the book. In this way, H.'s study "seeks a way forward for understanding the nature of the Joban discourse by assessing the interlocutors' use of metaphor, examining their patterns of cognition as they depict their understanding of the world and Job's particular situation via metaphor" (p. 15). The first chapter, "The Book of Job as a Conceptual Network," introduces the study and the notion of the Book of Job as a network of signified concepts operating on both literary and cognitive discourse levels. This is followed by a second chapter dealing with method and theory: "Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Joban Discourse." Chap. 3, "Speech Metaphors in the Joban Dialogue," treats a metaphorical target domain, i.e., that of speech (including a treatment of silence), while chap. 4, "Animal Metaphors in the Joban Discourse," takes up the metaphorical source domain of animals. Chap. 5, "Yahweh's Animal Images as a Response to Job," argues that the divine speeches are not metaphorical per se but that Yhwh's constant employment of animal imagery "removes the ground from Job's understanding of the world. One might suppose that this act of reframing necessarily sets off a chain reaction of conceptual reorganization in Job's brain, but his brief and ambiguous response to the divine speeches is insufficient evidence of this" (p. 209). A final chapter concludes the study ("Conclusion: Dynamics of Metaphor Coherence in the Joban Discourse") and summarizes H.'s results with regard to metaphorical coherence (perceptible or otherwise) and the three primary ways metaphor competition functions in Job: elaboration, extension, and questioning. A list of Works Cited and four indexes (ancient sources, authors, subjects, and conceptual metaphors) round out the volume.—B.A.S. 775. [Psalms] Christina Kumpmann, Schöpfen, Schlagen, Schützen: Eine semantische, thematische und theologische Untersuchung des Handelns Gottes in den Psalmen (BBB 177; Göttingen: V&R unipress/Bonn: Bonn University Press, 2016). Pp. 466 + 4 col. graphs. €75. ISBN 978-38471-0530-5. K.'s semantic, thematic, and theological study of the actions of God in the Book of Psalms is a revised version of her 2015 University of Bonn dissertation directed by Ulrich [End Page 248] Berges. In ten chapters K. analyzes the 1,767 psalmic verses in which God is the subject of a finite verb or participle. The textual basis of her study is the literal Elberfelder German translation of the Psalter checked against the Masoretic Text. The study is precisely focused and excludes consideration of stative or passive verbs and of the larger context of the psalm. With the aim of better understanding the portrayal of God in the Psalms K. treats in turn ten principal categories of divine action: verbs for doing or acting (handeln), creating (schöpfen), ruling (König sein/herrschen), acting powerfully or violently...