Theology of the Hebrew Bible, volume 1: Methodological Studies

Abstract

Marvin Sweeney and his fellow authors have made an important contribution to the field of biblical theology (BT) with this volume. Biblical theology in its academic form has historically, for the most part, been the purview of Christian scholars. Sweeney, however, is a leading Jewish contributor to the discipline. The present volume, largely the fruit of papers from the SBL Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures section between 2013 and 2016, collects a wide variety of traditions to advance the discussion, including an introduction by Sweeney and 10 essays representing a range of (non)religious, geographical, and gender perspectives. The volume concerns methodological matters (e.g., disputed issues, definitions, dialectics, diversity, descriptive/prescriptive), though some essays focus on topical matters (e.g., creation, shame, land). As Sweeney notes (p. 9), all essays address some facet of the question “What is biblical theology?”Sweeney’s introduction surveys the history of the discipline of BT with special attention to the post–World War II Christian/Jewish dynamic and then summarizes each of the book’s chapters.Georg Fischer addresses disputed issues in BT, noting the centrality of God to the endeavor and the necessity of accounting for both divine love and violence, and then discusses seven particular issues. He concludes (pp. 26–27), in part, that BT is necessary, plural, should focus on God and start with the Jewish canonical order, that a faith perspective is appropriate and that Exod 34:6–7 is a good starting point for a Mitte.Sweeney’s essay overlaps with some of Fischer’s discussions (e.g., what is BT, which canon, and dialogical elements) and then turns to the question of theodicy and uses a formal analysis of Song of Songs as a case study for God’s absence. He notes the collapse of the field in the mid-20th century and suggests that, moving forward, the discipline must embrace the diversity of canons and theological presentations, as well as learn to challenge the Bible’s lessons and question implications for Christian theology.Julia O’Brien questions the ways that Jewish, Christian, and critical contexts shape readers and readings of BT. Against scholars such as Richard Hays, O’Brien seeks to challenge Christian reading traditions of the OT. She advocates for a combination of critical and postmodern approaches that opposes supersessionist, anti-Jewish readings of the Bible and is oriented toward ethical implications.Dalit Rom-Shiloni advocates for a Jewish, non-religious, critical-descriptive Hebrew Bible theology which “should be an integral part of the modern academic critical study of the Hebrew Bible” (p. 95). She gives special attention to the problems of corpus and of finding new (non-Christian) terminology. For the former, she offers a schema for various (primarily Jewish) approaches to BT; for the latter, an extended discussion problematizing Eichrodt’s discussion of biblical anthropomorphism.Wonil Kim challenges the descriptive/normative binary and advocates for a move beyond a dialogical approach to BT and into a dialectical model influenced by Knierim. This approach both embraces the historical nature of the task and is unafraid to challenge its perspectives because (paraphrasing Perdue) “an unchallenged Bible ultimately leads to demonic behavior” (p. 113). This approach also acknowledges the contradictions within the Bible and permits its “positive/constructive” offerings to critique the “negative/destructive” offerings.Andrea Weiss advocates for a more robust and methodologically informed place for metaphor in BT. After surveying BT among Jewish scholars and metaphor among theologies, the bulk of her work turns to metaphors in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Hosea to demonstrate that no single metaphor sufficiently describes God and that metaphors appear in many forms (not only as nouns). Biblical theologians, she argues, must attend to this metaphorical variety with more nuance.Jacqueline Lapsley turns to a more topical focus and offers soundings of a BT of creation. She begins with methodological reflections, including rejecting the notion that BT is a Christian endeavor outlining the history of redemption. Instead, she provides reflections on a theology of creation that emphasizes the dignity and responsibilities that humans (as part of creation) have in partnering with God to care for creation.David Frankel continues this topically focused approach with Jewish reflections on a BT of the land. He opposes ultranationalist Jewish views that claim that rule of the land is necessary to the Jewish faith in this messianic age. Frankel advocates for a nonmessianic Jewish theology of the land, which returns to Buber’s religious humanism and advances pragmatism, accommodation, and tolerance.Benjamin Johnson applies Bakhtin’s dialogical model to a theology of divine repentance in 1 Sam 15. Johnson argues that 1 Sam 15 presents an intentional dialogical chiasm: 1 Sam 15:11 and 35 (God repents) are the beginning and end, with 1 Sam 15:29 (God does not repent) at the center. Thus, both statements are true, open to misinterpretation, and necessary to limit the other. God is responsive and unpredictable, but also reliable and unchanging.Soo Kim offers a theology of shame arising from the book of Ezekiel. The book, she argues, centers on the repeated failure of the ancestors and the shame this brings even for the present generation. Ezekiel’s generation is invited to acknowledge that shame as “the gate of the new world” (p. 239) and thereby to enter into a knowledge of God and eternal life.The volume as a whole is well-executed, with a good overview in the introduction, clear organization and clean editing throughout, including Bible and author indexes. As a collection of essays, the book does not offer a comprehensive or cohesive reflection on methodology. Rather, the strength of this volume is in its particulars. Readers will find this work helpful to the extent that they are interested in the unique focuses of each chapter. Unfortunately, this also means there can be a fair amount of repetition between essays, as most seek to survey and contribute to methodological issues (e.g., the questions of descriptive/normative BT and which canon are visited repeatedly). Nonetheless, as BT is recognized to be pluriform and manifest in a variety of scholarly forms beyond the comprehensive monograph, this volume makes important, and increasingly specific, contributions in moving the discussion forward.