God of the Old Testament

L. Moberly R. W.

Description

Walter Moberly is a top Old Testament theologian known for his creative, accessible, and provocative writing. His Old Testament Theology has been well received. This book, written in a similar vein, combines biblical criticism with constructive theology and engages both Jewish and Christian interpretations. Moberly offers robust readings of eight pivotal Old Testament passages that unpack the nature of God in Christian Scripture, demonstrating a Christian approach to reading the Old Testament that holds together the priorities of both scholarship and faith.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 17 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493428380
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

© 2020 by R. W. L. Moberly
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2838-0
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
To Richard Briggs
In friendship, and with gratitude for many years of drinking coffee and talking about the interpretation of Scripture

And in memory of Kesolenuo Suokhrie
Assistant professor of Old Testament theology at Oriental Theological Seminary, Langham scholar, and doctoral student at Durham University, whose service on earth was cut short in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Wise God: The Depths of Creation in Proverbs 8
2. The Mysterious God: The Voice from the Fire in Exodus 3
3. The Just God: The Nature of Deity in Psalm 82
4. The Inscrutable God: Divine Differentials and Human Choosing in Genesis 4
5. The Only God: Surprising Universality and Particularity in 2 Kings 5
6. The Trustworthy God: Assurance and Warning in Psalm 46, Jeremiah 7, and Micah 3
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings
Cover Flaps
Back Cover
Preface
I n the course of the academic year 2019–2020, on six consecutive Wednesdays in January to March 2020, it has been my privilege to deliver the Hulsean Lectures at Cambridge University. This is the book of those lectures.
The relationship between book and lectures is not entirely straight forward. The six chapters here correspond to the six lectures delivered, but each chapter is much longer than each lecture. It is not that the lectures have been worked up into a book. Rather, the material has been written as a book, with the lectures in mind. Each draft chapter was pared down so as to produce a second text of a suitable length for a lecture, and was then revised in light of the lecture and responses to it.
I appreciate that some readers might have preferred the more succinct presentation of the lectures to be their enduring form in print! However, for better or worse, I decided that a fuller form of argument would better help clarify the often-problematic interrelationship of Old Testament interpretation with the disciplines of the secular academy and with the priorities of Christian life and thought.
For the record, and in case some might be interested in what could be alternative titles for the chapters of this book, the titles of the lectures were (1) “God, Wisdom, and the World”; (2) “The Voice from the Fire”; (3) “God and the Twilight of the Gods”; (4) “Divine Favoring and Hard Choices”; (5) “Monotheism and Its Teasing Logic”; and (6) “Stability and Danger in the City of God.”
Most of the work for the book and lectures was done in the course of a research leave in the academic year 2018–2019, and I am grateful to my colleagues in the Durham department of theology and religion for taking over my regular responsibilities of administration and undergraduate teaching during that time. As ever, I did not travel for my research (though I enjoyed a fruitful week of lecturing and library browsing at the hospitable École Biblique et Archéologique in Jerusalem), but savored the context of my office on Palace Green. I am grateful also to Brandon Hurlbert, my diligent research assistant, who made numerous library trips for me and helped with various tasks.
My time in Cambridge while I was delivering the lectures was a delight. My thanks to Peter Harland and Jane Wallace for their efficient organization and hospitable welcome. Colleagues wined and dined me generously. Happily, it was possible to complete the lecture series just before the coronavirus restrictions became operative.
I have benefited greatly from the insights of friends who read all the chapters in draft. Lunchtime discussions with David Day helped with reshapings, especially in the introduction. Julie Woods improved my sentences and saved me from some improprieties. Over coffee, Richard Briggs contributed many points both of detail and structure. Patrick Morrow offered stimulating reflections, many of which have become part of my text. Members of the Durham Old Testament research seminar, and also on one occasion the theology research seminar, sat through dry runs of the lectures and gave much incisive feedback. Particular mention must be made of Chris Insole for sharpening my focus in chapter 1, of Rory Balfour for helping me see more clearly what I shouldn’t be arguing in chapter 4, and of Andrew Mein for helping me out of a hole in an initially confused version of chapter 6. Nathan MacDonald and Brent Strawn also contributed to individual chapters.
I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Jim Kinney and his colleagues at Baker Academic, who have been willing to produce the book on a tight schedule. This meant that the book (whose manuscript I delivered late) could reflect input from my lectures in January to March and still be published by the beginning of November to meet the deadline for the periodic review of university research sponsored by the British Government, REF 2021. As with my previous two books, the process of publishing with Baker Academic has enhanced the end result. Jim’s ability to envisage a book as a whole, and to see what needs to be done to shape it accordingly, is second to none. Tim West is the meticulous and thoughtful copyeditor an author hopes to have: I think that my sentences and paragraphs are clear and well structured—until Tim points out how they are not! Between them, Jim and Tim have significantly improved this book.
If there are still deficiencies and defects in the book, I can only say that there would have been many more without the input of all these friends and colleagues.
Finally, my wife, Jenny, has put up with my ups and downs that have accompanied the writing, has been patient with my moans about what often felt like endless distractions during my research leave, and has helped with fluent translations of German. I owe her so much. She has helped make the writing of the book possible.
Abbreviations
AB
Anchor Bible
ABD
Anchor Bible Dictionary . Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
ACCSOT
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament
A.J.
Josephus, Antiquitates judaicae ( Jewish Antiquities )
ANET
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament . With Supplement. Edited by James B. Pritchard. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
AOTC
Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries
AT
author’s translation
ATR
Anglican Theological Review
ATSAT
Arbeiten zu Text und Sprache im Alten Testament
AYB
The Anchor Yale Bible
BBC
Blackwell Bible Commentaries
BBRS
Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplements
BCOTWP
Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms
BDB
Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament .
BHQ
Biblia Hebraica Quinta . Edited by Adrian Schenker et al. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004–.
BHS
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia . Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1983.
BTCB
Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible
BZ
Biblische Zeitschrift
BZAW
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ca.
circa , about
CBC
Cambridge Bible Commentary
CC
Continental Commentaries
CCT
Challenges in Contemporary Theology
CEB
Common English Bible
ch(s).
chapter(s)
CSCD
Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine
CTS
Calvin Translation Society
DNEB
Die Neue Echter Bibel
Eng.
English
esp.
especially
ET
English translation
ETS
Erfurter Theologische Studien
FAT
Forschungen zum Alten Testament
Gk.
Greek
GKC
Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar . Edited by Emil Kautzsch. Translated by Arthur E. Cowley. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1910.
HAT
Handbuch zum Alten Testament
HCOT
Historical Commentary on the Old Testament
Heb.
Hebrew
HTKAT
Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament
HTR
Harvard Theological Review
HUCA
Hebrew Union College Annual
IBCTP
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
ICC
International Critical Commentary
IEJ
Israel Exploration Journal
JBL
Journal of Biblical Literature
JEC
Journal of Ecumenical Studies
JM
Joüon, Paul, and Takamitsu Muraoka. A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew . Subsidia Biblica 27. Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2003.
JNSL
Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages
JSNTSS
Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series
JSOT
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSS
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
JSS
Journal of Semitic Studies
JTI
Journal of Theological Interpretation
JTIS
Journal of Theological Interpretation Supplements
JTS
Journal of Theological Studies
KJV
King James Version
LBS
Library of Biblical Studies
LCL
Loeb Classical Library
LHBOTS