Earth Bible Research Articles

Enoch’s Green Apocalypse: The Source Material of Aronofsky’s Noah

Abstract A cataclysmic event, often spelling disaster for the environment, is an essential element to the backstory of any post-apocalyptic tale. In these stories, the presupposed ecological tragedy may have severely altered the environment, but it has not annihilated it. In fact, what has happened is that the apocalyptic catastrophe has neutralized the ecological threats that were the original catalysts for the devastation in the first place, resulting in an opportunity for the environment to rebound once its abusers have faced judgment. In other words, Earth may get beaten black-and-blue, yet the final effect is a green apocalypse—an event that rids Earth of its destructive inhabitants or at least counterbalances their negative effects, giving the global ecosystem a chance to renew. In this article I offer readings of two apocalyptic stories—1 Enoch and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. My approach to these stories utilizes elements from a method of ecological hermeneutics that has been developed by Norman Habel and others from the Earth Bible team. The Noahic flood story is one of the earliest examples of a “green” apocalypse, in which the penultimate event may have been devastation on the planet, but the ultimate end was a renewal of Earth. It is my hope that these ecological readings with their attention to the concept of a green apocalypse may be useful in appreciating the possibility of eco-friendly interpretations of apocalyptic texts.

The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading by Valerie M. Billingham

Reviewed by: The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading by Valerie M. Billingham Amy J. Erickson valerie m. billingham, The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading (HBM 95; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2021). Pp. x + 271. £65/$85/€70. With this volume, Valerie M. Billingham adds her contribution to the growing field of performance criticism studies. This work is not a complete commentary. Instead, B. focuses her attention on eleven performance texts from the book of Jeremiah, all taken from the first nineteen of fifty-two chapters. Although this puts a considerable limit on the scope of her analysis and lends a feel of fragmentation, the advantage is that it permits her ample margin to focus and develop her methodology. The opening section offers an illuminative orientation to B.’s approach and influences. Here she reviews the major tenets of performance-critical approaches. This includes the working premise that the majority of biblical texts originated in oral rather than written form; it also resolves to attend to the imaginative, as opposed to the merely cognitive, dimensions of the text. Yet B. helpfully clarifies her own stance: instead of interpreting the biblical text with an eye to its potential for future performance, she instead opts to “work with certain passages in Jeremiah as scripts in their own right” (p. 15). Billingham enlists several other interpretive postures for her aims. She appeals to rhetorical criticism’s techniques and, accordingly, commits to a synchronic, rather than diachronic, approach to the text. She also aligns with the Earth Bible team’s foundational interpretive principles, which yields renewed attention to the land as an actor and agent in its own right. What is perhaps her strongest contribution to scholarship on the text is her contention that Jeremiah improvises a number of Israelite traditions in order to appropriate them to his particular context of invasion and exile. This de facto places B. well within the orbit of canonical criticism, as she sensitively tunes to Jeremiah’s unique riffs of themes that reverberate elsewhere in the canon. (This attunement is on impressive display in the list of references in the biblical index at the back.) Billingham’s synthetic approach yields unique attention to and insights about Jeremiah’s creative engagement with other Israelite traditions, to the emerging (and fusing) voices in the text, and to the unique and active role of the land. Instead of exhaustively [End Page 133] summarizing B.’s analysis, I will draw attention to just a few of these respective insights as exemplary. In her analysis of Performance 3 (Jer 5:1–31), B.’s combined canonical sensitivity and commitment to an Earth Bible–inspired interpretation yields recognition of what she labels an “aquatic” script. The sin of the people whom Jeremiah addresses overturns the script found elsewhere in Scripture that Yhwh will honor the seasons of rain in accordance with the people’s fidelity (e.g., Deut 11:23–24); their iniquity has, instead, overturned this divine order—and to their detriment. Elsewhere, B.’s eye for performance creatively identifies voices within the biblical text. In Performance 4, for example, she identifies Jer 6:4–5 as belonging to the intervening voice of the attacking foreign army, which underscores the divine warning that precedes it. In Performance 5, she points out the telling absence of one voice—that of the priests—and surmises, “perhaps their glaring absence is a deliberate snub” that points to their failure to guide and teach the people of Israel (p. 127). On more than one occasion B. refrains from defining a particular voice, opting instead to retain interpretive ambiguity, for example, Yhwh and/or the people (p. 102) or Yhwh and/or Jeremiah (p. 140). One agent who receives foregrounded attention in her account is that of the earth itself, even when it is not assigned a direct script. The title of one scene in Performance 3, for example, is “Earth Knows the Terms of the Covenant but the People Don’t” (p. 78). Occasionally one wonders if this intent to elevate the role of the earth is somewhat forced. In the interpretation of Jeremiah’s instruction to bury a loincloth, for example, it is averred...

The bride as a ‘locked garden’: An eco-sustainability retrieval of nature metaphor in Song of Songs 4:12–15

Song 4:12–15 depicts the body of the bride as a ‘locked garden’ filled with fruits, exotic and medicinal plants and abundant freshwater. These luxuries are said to be plentiful and appealing but carry with them the threat of spoiling. In this way, the garden is ready for enjoyment, but forbidden (locked) at the same time. The geo-metaphor of the bride fits perfectly with the ancient belief of Mother Earth and resists the dominion drive of the Anthropocene. Dominance is alien to Canticles. The Book pledges that we can rediscover the lost paradise of Genesis 2 through love and partnership, not dominion. This article investigates which assumptions about nature are reflected in the author’s use of nature metaphors to describe the sensual body of the bride. It makes use of insights of ecological sustainability, the principle of intrinsic worth from the six eco-justice principles of the Earth Bible Project and elements of historical-critical approaches to retrieve the ecological significance of Song 4:12–15.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article explores whether the insights of eco-sustainability can be fruitfully used to retrieve ecological wisdom from the metaphor of Song 4 depicting the bride as a locked garden. It involves the disciplines of biblical exegesis, elements of ecological hermeneutics and insights from sustainability theories.

Preaching Addressing Environmental Crises through the Use of Scripture: An Exploration of a Practical Theological Methodology

This article considers the critical roles of preaching in addressing the environmental crises by way of engaging with Paul Ballard’s work as a particular practical theological methodology, namely the use of Scripture. This methodological consideration is followed by highlighting the work of the Earth Bible Team, which compliments Ballard’s work. Both works are used as an example of a homiletical practice as well as a learning exercise, demonstrating how Scripture can be used as a homiletical resource of and hermeneutical source for doing practical theology with an eye to address environmental crises.

Partnership Remembered: Erets Canaan as Co-Provider and Co-Enforcer in H

The article contrasts two views of “land” in two texts which both originated in priestly circles. The first text is the Priestly creation narrative, and here the article leans heavily on the work of Norman Habel and the Earth Bible Project. For Habel, Genesis 1 is the story of the loss of partnership between God and Earth. The article then describes the portrayal of the “land of Canaan” or “Erets Canaan” in the Holiness Legislation and shows how the old partnership is remembered and rekindled. In the second part of the article the earlier work of Esias Meyer is used. The objective of this article is to contrast these two views of relationship to land and to make clear that the Holiness Legislation is much less anthropocentric than its Priestly predecessor in Genesis 1.

Humans and Non-humans as נפש ח;ה and Ntu-beings: Ecological Appraisal of Gen 2:7 and 19 in Dialogue with African-Bantu Indigenous Cosmology

The Hebrew text of Gen 2:7, 19 describes both humans and animals as nephesh hayya' (living being). However, a large number of contemporary influential Bible translations render this expression differently for humans and animals. It is translated living being for humans (v.7), but living thing/creature for animals (v.19). This is however not justified by any clue in the text, which views humans and non-humans as both adamah-beings and nephesh hayyah. Likewise, African-Bantu cosmology depicts humans and non-humans as ntu-beings (muntu: human being; kintu: non-human being; hantu: place and time; kuntu: means or approach).The root ntu in the word kuntu implies that the way muntu (human being) interacts with other beings (kintu, hantu) must be informed by a vision of nature not as a "thing" but a living being. In addition to elements of socio-historical approaches and African-Bantu indigenous cosmology, this study makes uses of a hermeneutics of suspicion and the Earth Bible principle of mutual custodianship to retrieve ecological wisdom of Gen 2 in the African context.

Psalms Book 2: An Earth Bible Commentary: “As a Doe Groans”. By Arthur Walker-Jones

<i>Psalms Book 2: An Earth Bible Commentary: “As a Doe Groans”</i>. By <scp>Arthur Walker-Jones</scp>

Towards a hermeneutics of sustainability in Africa: Engaging indigenous knowledge in dialogue with Christianity

Today there are a number of ecological hermeneutics, such as the Exeter project (UK), the Earth Bible project (Australia), the anti-ecological readings and the eco-feminist readings. Whilst these trends provide Christianity with valuable ecological insights, they tend to be more global than specific. The Exeter project claims even to search for the ‘universal’ eco-meaning of the scriptures. Thus, every community should learn from them and try to develop its ecological hermeneutical framework, which can sustainably address its contextual issues. This article explores whether elements of traditional Africa can be transformed into a valuable hermeneutical framework of ecological sustainability for Christianity in Africa. African traditional societies were built upon a threefold worldview, namely (1) the sacredness of all life (moral or spiritual dimension of nature), (2) the pre-eminence of the community over individual interests and (3) the cosmological dimension of the chieftaincy (governance). In the process of the Christianisation of Africa, this framework by which African people make sense of the world became so impaired that the Africans ceased to understand their world through their own cultural systems. With a proper re-configuration in dialogue with a sound biblical green theology, this triad can be turned into an effective hermeneutical vehicle of African churches’ engagement for a sustainable life in Africa.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article explores whether elements of traditional Africa can be transformed into a valuable hermeneutical framework of ecological sustainability for Christianity in Africa. It draws on ecological hermeneutics that exist in the theological disciplines. It involves the disciplines of biblical exegesis and ecological hermeneutics, African hermeneutics and insights from sustainability theories.

The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics: Humans, Non-humans, and the Living Landscape by Mari Joerstad

Reviewed by: The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics: Humans, Non-humans, and the Living Landscape by Mari Joerstad Deryn Guest mari joerstad, The Hebrew Bible and Environmental Ethics: Humans, Non-humans, and the Living Landscape (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019). Pp. viii + 247. $99.99/£75. Engaging us from the opening page, the author's friendship with two magnolia trees prompts her to consider whether they have a relationship with her in return. What would a genuine intimacy between humans and trees be like? This segues into: How should we [End Page 307] interpret biblical texts that tell us that landscape, flora, and fauna can speak, rejoice, mourn, praise? If we resist the temptation to explain such things away as poetic license or exuberance, do biblical texts show us a profound interrelationship between authors and nature? Have scholars glossed too readily over the evidence that biblical writers "viewed nonanimal nature as active and alive, that is, as persons" (p. 2)? Acknowledging that attributing the word "person" to mountains, stones, trees, will discomfort some readers, she confirms that is her intent. In fact, it proves to be a justified choice of terminology, enabling readers to think more humbly, respectfully, about the landscape in which we are enmeshed. Joerstad's first aim is exegetical: to interpret the personalistic nature texts across the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Writings. The second is ecological: "to consider how engaging with the Bible's active understanding of nonhuman nature might influence our ethics in the scope and nature of contemporary environmental actions" (p. 3). She succeeds in both. While not part of the Earth Bible Commentary series, this book provides a focused study of how one might listen to and interpret the voice of Earth without creating empathetic, imaginative speeches by trees, rivers, animals, and so forth. In chap. 2, J. presents the theoretical underpinning of the book. It includes engagement with the work of Cora Diamond; with New Animism, a field that highlights different ways of interpreting the world around us by people such as the Ojibwe; and with metaphor theory. Metaphors have been viewed as reading human experience into nature, so references to trees clapping are taken as an expression of human joy and celebration projected onto the trees. But "Isaiah attributes mood to trees, mood, and historical awareness" (p. 40). What he meant by doing that is her pressing question. In chap. 3, J. discusses how Earth and ground are active characters in the Torah, able to witness, devour, swallow, rest, expel, vomit, consume. The chapter closes with J.'s thoughts on how this might encourage readers to take seriously their human responsibilities for the land and its inhabitants. Torah texts critique "elite land grabbing" and are aware of "inequalities" (p. 98), something that J. applies to the way climate change causes and effects are not evenly distributed. Chapter 4 broadens the range of persons to include rivers, trees, fields, mountains, and stars, as J. turns to the Former and Latter Prophets. The chapter is organized into five themes: (1) War: texts include Judges 5; Joshua 10; and 2 Samuel 1 and 18. (2) Theophanies in Habakkuk 3; Joel 2 and 4; and Micah 1. There is an intriguing pondering of nature's "interiority," a quality no longer solely bestowed on humans. It results in these memorable lines: "Perhaps even describing human experiences of meeting YHWH is so difficult that it requires drawing on more than everyday emotions and terms. How do I feel when YHWH arrives? I feel like the storm clouds, like the moon in eclipse, like the tremors of a quake, like rock blistering into lava" (p. 115). (3) Address, which notes the device known as apostrophe (often ignored by biblical commentators), followed by sections on (4) joy and (5) grief. J. concludes that the prophetic challenge is to "live in such a way so as not only to stave off ecological apocalypse, but so that animals, trees, and pasture lands may be pleased to host us, to live alongside us" (p. 155). The Writings are discussed in chap. 5. Reading this chapter reminded me afresh of how noisy the Psalms are! The dialogue between Job and his friends is noted for...

Ecclesiastes, an Earth Bible Commentary: Qoheleth's Eternal Earth by Marie Turner

Reviewed by: Ecclesiastes, an Earth Bible Commentary: Qoheleth's Eternal Earth by Marie Turner Deryn Guest Marie Turner, Ecclesiastes, an Earth Bible Commentary: Qoheleth's Eternal Earth (Earth Bible Commentary; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017). Pp. 131. $75.99. This is an important commentary that challenges readers to realign their priorities so that ecojustice becomes the primary yardstick for the use and interpretation of biblical texts. It belongs to a commentary series that broadly adopts an interpretative vantage point that attempts to speak on behalf of the Earth and its nonhuman occupants. For those not familiar with the Earth Bible Commentary series, some further clarification of what is meant by the Earth's "voice" is needed, especially as Turner's readers are enjoined to reflect on how their acts of biblical interpretation can help "envisage a new world where Earth can make its voice heard" (p. 11). Unless one is already familiar with the work of Norman C. Habel, who pioneered the Earth Bible Project, how one gains access to a distinguishable voice of the Earth other than through the biblical narrator's voice and/or the commentator's views remains somewhat unclear. T. suggests that the Earth's scarcely discernible voice can be detected amid/between the ponderings of Qoheleth. For example, "When Qoheleth claims that it is a world crooked and lacking, he is not passing judgement on God or Earth. Instead Qoheleth's Earth might counsel us to live within the uncertainty, enjoy what can be enjoyed and endure what is painful" (p. 35). This counsel thus emerges from the play between the narrator's voice and the reality of the created world he describes, but how this actually works seems rather mystical. Readers might appreciate more critical discussion of how this hermeneutic strategy operates and greater acknowledgment of the role of the commentary writer in producing the Earth voice. In chap. 2, for example, S. comments on the horticultural practices of the book's persona—King Solomon. The descriptions of his vineyards, gardens, trees, and so forth, demonstrate, in her view, "care for Earth's commodities so that waste does not occur. Solomon does not treat Eternal Earth as a limitless resource, but by his works he ensures there is plenty to be left for the generations that come after him" (p. 38). Maybe so, but readers might wonder if Solomon would have behaved so responsibly had he not been limited by [End Page 717] the tools and human labor resources of his time. T. sees the best in the text's descriptions and uses the material as a springboard to comment appreciatively on the sourcing of fresh, seasonal, local food without the use of harmful plastic packaging. She acknowledges Solomon's pursuit of wealth, but the verdict that this is ultimately a chasing after the wind is left for the reader to ponder. An introductory chapter sets out the specific goals of the commentary, gives a preliminary comment on the recurring refrains of the text, and provides a summary of current views on date and context. The subsequent eight chapters share a common structure: the NRSV translation of the passage to be discussed, a summary of contents, a (very) short outline of structure, an analysis that highlights the key themes of the passage, closing with a few pages dedicated to "hearing Qoheleth's Earth." T. provides a commentary on the whole text, but there is justified focus on two key concepts: the way that the Earth is represented as standing forever, and the oft-repeated but variously translated references to hebel (vanity, futility, enigma, breath). The voice of Earth is contrasted with the voice of the economy. The latter is a persistent, practical, occasionally mocking voice. T. interprets it as the voice "of human fortune," which encourages building, farming, and earthly endeavors but "reminds us that life is full of caprices and vagaries, which cause distress when people are left without economic benefits" (p. 119). The economy's voice is "subtly in conflict" with the voice of Earth, and T. believes the tension is "the source of Qoheleth's perplexities. On the one hand Qoheleth believes he has been given the legitimation by God...

Ecological Hermeneutics and the Interpretation of Biblical Texts Yesterday, Today and Onwards: Critical Reflection and Assessment

This article critically explores various approaches in which interpreters operate in recent attempts to apply ecological hermeneutics to biblical texts. It engages with the strengths and weaknesses of the works of the apologetic readers (reading of recovery), the Earth Bible Project (reading of resistance 1), the anti-ecological reading (reading of resistance 2), the revisionist readers (mostly the Exeter Project), the Eco-Feminists and the Eco-theological voices of African scholars. Finally, the article draws critical evaluation, assessment and acknowledgment of the need of complementary insights from different reading stances. Finally, the article argues that, for a fruitful ecological reading of the Bible, one must admit that biblical texts were formulated in a world that knew nothing about modern ecological problems. Thus, the aim of a fruitful reading should direct the reader towards the critical power and relevant stimulus of biblical texts for our questions. In whichever reading, the interpreter is invited not to mix in one mould the biblical statements and his/her current realities. This means that our realities should never dictate the direction of biblical interpretation, but both worlds should remain in a constantly enriching dialogue.

John, An Earth Bible Commentary: Supposing Him to Be the Gardener by Margaret Daly Denton

John, An Earth Bible Commentary: Supposing Him to Be the Gardener by Margaret Daly Denton

Creation made into הָמְכָח: The eco-theological appraisal of the intrinsic worth of nature in Proverbs 3:19–20

This article explores the statement “creation made in wisdom” of Proverbs 3:19–20 as pointing to the Earth Bible’s principle of intrinsic worth/value of nature. This article argues that our contemporary societies need to adjust their development in harmony with the cosmic order as secured by God at creation through wisdom. Wisdom in creation constitutes the supreme ideal for living wisely, and for constructing a healthy society that is in harmony with creation.

About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke [Earth Bible Commentary 2]. By MichaelTrainor. Pp. xi, 324, Sheffield, Phoenix Press2017, £20.00.

The Heythrop JournalVolume 59, Issue 6 p. 1077-1078 Book Review About Earth’s Child: An Ecological Listening to the Gospel of Luke [Earth Bible Commentary 2]. By Michael, Trainor. Pp. xi, 324, Sheffield, Phoenix Press 2017, £20.00. Nicholas King, Nicholas King Campion Hall, OxfordSearch for more papers by this author Nicholas King, Nicholas King Campion Hall, OxfordSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 October 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.13049Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume59, Issue6November 2018Pages 1077-1078 RelatedInformation

Ecclesiastes: An Earth Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes: An Earth Bible Commentary

Book Review: John: An Earth Bible Commentary. Supposing Him to be the Gardener

Book Review: John: An Earth Bible Commentary. Supposing Him to be the Gardener

THE ROAD TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS

This article builds on a review essay on the Earth Bible project (Scriptura 85, 125133). It defends the creative role, indeed the necessity and inevitability of doctrine in biblical exegesis. It argues that the Earth Bible project assumes its own set of doctrinal presuppositions, that this forms the very core of its critical and creative impulse and that such presuppositions should be recognised and subjected to further critical reflection. This can provide a meeting place where mutually critical collaboration between biblical hermeneutics and constructive theology can become possible.

Water as a Blessing and a Transient Resource: A Call to Re-Define Modern Attitudes towards Water in Light of Job 14:7–12

This article explores the ecological potential in Job 14:7–12. The metaphor in Job 14 praises the life-giving potential of water to revive a dead tree before presenting its transient character, similar to human life. The article investigates the question of why the author of Job finds it appropriate to use water and water-related images to contrast the potential of water to revive a dead tree with the transient mortals who disappear at death like great bodies of water in times of drought. Using elements of historical, critical, and literary approaches, as well as metaphor theory, and applying the Earth Bible Principle of intrinsic worth, this article argues that water should not be viewed as a limitlessly renewable resource, but a precious gift requiring responsible management.

Minor Prophets

Minor Prophets Christopher T. Begg 1934. [Hosea] Maria de Lourdes Correa Lima, “O livro de Oseias e sua leitura das tradições do êxodo-deserto [The Book of Hosea and Its Reading of the Exodus-Desert Traditions],” RevCT 24 (2016) 295–327. This article focuses on the use made of the traditions concerning the exodus and Israel’s time in the desert in the Book of Hosea. The article takes as its starting point the segment Hos 11:1–11, tracing, on the basis of the vocabulary used, the phases of Israel’s history to which this alludes, i.e., the exodus, the desert wanderings, life in the land, return to Egypt, and new exodus. On this basis, the article further studies the handling of the traditions in question in Hos 12:10, 13–14; 13:4–5; and 2:16–17. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1935. [Hos 6:1–3] Dennis Olson, “Emotion, Repentances, and the Question of the ‘Inner Life’ of Biblical Israelites: A Case Study in Hosea 6:1–3,” Mixed Feelings and Vexed Passions, 161–76 [see #2034]. O.’s essay provides a close reading of Hos 6:1–3 as a case study of the topic emotion and repentance in the HB. I will use this “return (šûb) of the Lord” text to interact with D. A. Lambert’s treatment of the passage is his 2016 work How Repentance Became Biblical (see OTA 39 [2016] #1529). I will then draw out some conclusions about larger issues involving emotion, repentance, the inner life of human beings, and future research on these topics (p. 161, adapted). A close reading of Hos 6:1–3 within the larger context of the Book of Hosea has suggested that at least some streams of tradition within the Hebrew Bible (HB) do indeed include some role for emotions and some notion of an inner self in texts [End Page 673] dealing with repentance. Lambert is correct to note a scholarly overuse of the “penitential lens” in interpreting some alleged “repentance” texts in the HB. He is also correct to underscore the multiple ways in which the HB typically portrays individuals and communities as always operating within a network of public and material “others,” including other human bodies, the divine “other,” and the larger culture and world of a given time and space in history. Here, however, I have suggested that at least one HB text, i.e., Hos 6:1–3, might be more adequately understood within a more integrative model that includes attention to the inner life of emotion and attitude of individuals and communities within a dynamic web of self, other selves (both human and divine), and the cultural world in which these texts are embedded (adapted from author’s conclusion, p. 175)—C.T.B. 1936. [Zeph 1:2–6] C. J. (Neels) Redelinghuys, “Creation Utterly Consumed? Towards an Eco-critical Rereading of Zephaniah 1:2–6,” OTE 30 (2017) 805–20. Few texts of the prophetic books evidence so disconcerting an ecological perspective as does Zeph 1:2–6. While the text itself has received only limited attention in publications dealing with the ecological interpretation of the Bible, it is clear that in the passage nature plays a multifaceted role that needs to be attended to. Consequently, in this article, R. presents a eco-critical rereading of the text on the basis of the ecojustice principles of the Earth Bible and Norman Habel’s tools for analysis—suspicion, identification, and retrieval. Such a rereading identifies various questions, problems, and challenges concerning the kinship between humans and nature. Due to its sustained attempt to avoid anthropocentrism and engage in dialogue with science, the approach of J. M. Gustafson offers a viable way of elucidating this complicated and often misrepresented relationship. Finally, R. argues that, comparatively speaking, a theocentric approach like that of Gustafson is to be preferred to the traditional stewardship approach when it comes to understanding and/or appropriating Zeph 1:2–6 in the contemporary context. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1937. [Mal 3:13–21] Vincenzo Lopasso, “Il principio della...

The Writings

The Writings OP Carol J. Dempsey, Christopher T. Begg, Steven J. Schweitzer, and CSJ Lorenzo A. Tosco 1247. [Job] Norman C. Habel, Finding Wisdom in Nature: An Eco-Wisdom Reading of the Book of Job (Earth Bible Commentary Series 4; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2014). Pp. xii + 126. $70. ISBN 978-1-909697-62-1. This volume grew out of The Earth Bible project (2000–2002) and is part of the new Earth Bible Commentary series that moves beyond a study of and focus on ecological [End Page 398] themes to a more engaging process of listening to and identifying with the Earth as both a presence and/or a voice in the biblical text. This focus on Earth includes an examination of the oppressed, suppressed, or celebrated presence of the non-human members of Earth's community. The context for the series as a whole and the Book of Job in particular is the current environmental crisis and an ecological worldview. H.'s study employs first a hermeneutic of suspicion that exposes an anthropocentric bias on the part of authors, editors, and readers, and second, a hermeneutic of empathy/identification with the Earth, in an attempt to retrieve the voice of the Earth. These principles and steps guide H.'s approach to the Book of Job as he examines the diverse relationships between ecology and wisdom in seeking to provide an ecological reading of the text that begins with the study of Job 28 and continues with other selected chapters of the book.—C.J.D. 1248. [Job] Andrew Zack Lewis, Approaching Job (Cascade Companions 33; Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017). Pp. ix + 145. Paper $21. ISBN 978-1-42564-818-3. L.'s small volume provides readers with an orientation to the Book of Job and the many sorts of questions posed by it. Following an introduction, his presentation unfolds in four chapters: Content of the Book of Job; Structure and Critical Issues; Meaning in Individual Passages; and Some Theological, Pastoral, and Ethical Implications of the Book of Job. Each chapter comes with Review Questions. The volume concludes with a bibliography and indexes of names and ancient documents.—C.T.B. 1249. [Job] Victor Morla, Libro de Job: Recóndita armonía (Estella [Navarra]: EVD, 2017). Pp. 1550. €95. ISBN 978-84-9073-230-4. M. provides an extensive commentary on the Book of Job, focusing on the theological and philosophical tensions that permeate the book. With attention also to text-critical issues and variant readings, M. proceeds sequentially through the book, demonstrating the literary and theological connections across its component parts, in an effort to bring disparate material together. He concludes that the tensions present in the book are not meant to be resolved by the reader. Rather, chaos and harmony, hope and despair, faith and doubt, creation and destruction all do in fact, and perhaps must, coexist in the human understanding of the nature of reality, according to the Book of Job. A bibliography and an author index are included.—S.J.S. 1250. [Job 38:1–42:6] Chol-Gu Kang, Behemot und Leviathan: Studien zur Komposition und Theologie von Hiob 38,1–42,6 (WMANT 149; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017). Pp. xiii + 361. $75. ISBN 978-3-7887-3053-6. The segment Job 38:1–42:6 with its double discourse of Yhwh and double response by Job has long prompted puzzlement since it does not seem to "solve"—or even acknowledge—the urgent theological problems raised in what proceeds. In this 2013/2014 Tübingen dissertation (B. Janowski, director), K. seeks to provide a comprehensive treatment of the above segment in which he addresses in turn its text, translation, composition, exegesis, form- and tradition-criticism, and cosmology, theology, and anthropology. Throughout, K. stresses that in his words to Job Yhwh endeavors to move him beyond his self-focused, anthropocentric perspective that gives rise to his complaints and accusations against God by opening his eyes to the immensity of the cosmos, to the astonishing variety of its non-human [End Page 399] inhabitants, and above all to the divine wisdom, power, and solicitude displayed...