Old Testament Theology: Flowering and Future

562 Pages·2004·4.267 MB·English

by  Ben C. Ollenburger

Old Testament Theology:
Flowering and Future
Sources for Biblical and
Theological Study
General Editor:
David W. Baker
Ashland Theological Seminary
1. The Flowering of Old Testament Theology: A Reader in Twentieth-Century Old
Testament Theology, 1930–1990
edited by Ben C. Ollenburger, Elmer A. Martens, and Gerhard F. Hasel
Revised edition: Old Testament Theology: Flowering and Future
edited by Ben C. Ollenburger
2. Beyond Form Criticism: Essays in Old Testament Literary Criticism
edited by Paul R. House
3. A Song of Power and the Power of Song: Essays on the Book of Deuteronomy
edited by Duane L. Christensen
4. “I Studied Inscriptions from before the Flood”: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary,
and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1–11
edited by Richard S. Hess and David Toshio Tsumura
5. “The Place Is Too Small for Us”: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship
edited by Robert P. Gordon
6. Community, Identity, and Ideology: Social Science Approaches to the Hebrew
Bible
edited by Charles E. Carter and Carol L. Meyers
7. Israel’s Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography
edited by V. Philips Long
8. Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History
edited by Gary N. Knoppers and J. Gordon McConville
Old Testament Theology:
Flowering and Future
edited by
Ben C. Ollenburger
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
2004
Ç 2004 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flowering of Old Testament Theology
Old Testament theology : flowering and future / edited by Ben C.
Ollenburger. — 2nd rev. ed.
p. cm. — (Sources for biblical and theological study ; 1)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-57506-096-5 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T.—Theology. 2. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation,
etc.—History—20th century. I. Ollenburger, Ben C. II. Title.
III. Series.
BS1192.5.F564 2004
230u.0411—dc22
2004002309
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.†
04 05 06 07 08 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
CONTENTS
Series Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Editor’s Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Part 1
The Background
Ben C. Ollenburger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Old Testament Theology before 1933
Otto Eissfeldt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The History of Israelite-Jewish Religion and Old Testament
Theology
Walther Eichrodt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Does Old Testament Theology Still Have Independent
Significance within Old Testament Scholarship?
Part 2
Old Testament Theology’s Renaissance:
Walther Eichrodt through Gerhard von Rad
Introduction (Ben C. Ollenburger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Walther Eichrodt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Covenant
Theodorus C. Vriezen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The Nature of the Knowledge of God
George Ernest Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
God the Warrior
Gerhard von Rad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Eighth-Century Prophecy
Part 3
Expansion and Variety:
Between Gerhard von Rad and Brevard Childs
Introduction (Ben C. Ollenburger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Walther Zimmerli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Life before God
v
vi Contents
John L. McKenzie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Cult
Ronald E. Clements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Law and Promise
Walter C. Kaiser Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Promise
Samuel Lucien Terrien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Presence in Absence
Claus Westermann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
God’s Judgment and God’s Mercy
Elmer A. Martens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Land and Lifestyle
Part 4
From Brevard Childs to
a New Pluralism
Introduction (Ben C. Ollenburger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Brevard S. Childs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Canon
Rolf Knierim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Cosmos and History
Horst Dietrich Preuss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Exodus and Election
Walter Brueggemann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Israel’s Testimony
Paul R. House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Ruth in the Canon
Bernhard W. Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Royal Covenant
Erhard S. Gerstenberger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
One God, Changing Theologies
Part 5
Contexts, Perspectives, and Proposals
Introduction (Ben C. Ollenburger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Hartmut Gese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Tradition History
Phyllis Trible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Overture for a Feminist Biblical Theology
Jon D. Levenson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Creation and Covenant
Contents vii
John H. Sailhamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
Canon and Composition
Gunther Hermann Wittenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Contextual Theology and Resistance
James Barr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
“Real” Theology and Biblical Theology
R. W. L. Moberly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
The Bible, Theology, and Faith
Mark G. Brett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
The Future of Old Testament Theology
Appendix
Johann P. Gabler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
An Oration on the Proper Distinction between Biblical and
Dogmatic Theology and the Specific Objectives of Each
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Index of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
viii Contents
Series Preface
Old Testament scholarship is well served by several recent works which de-
tail, to a greater or lesser extent, the progress made in the study of the Old
Testament. Some survey the range of interpretation over long stretches of
time, while others concern themselves with a smaller chronological or geo-
graphical segment of the field. There are also brief entrées into the various
subdisciplines of Old Testament study included in the standard introductions
as well as in several useful series. All of these provide secondary syntheses of
various aspects of Old Testament research. All refer to, and base their discus-
sions upon, various seminal works by Old Testament scholars which have
proven pivotal in the development and flourishing of the various aspects of
the discipline.
The main avenue into the various areas of Old Testament inquiry, espe-
cially for the beginner, has been until now mainly through the filter of these
interpreters. Even on a pedagogical level, however, it is beneficial for a stu-
dent to be able to interact with foundational works firsthand. This contact
will not only provide insight into the content of an area, but hopefully will
also lead to the sharpening of critical abilities through interaction with vari-
ous viewpoints. This series seeks to address this need by including not only
key, ground-breaking works, but also significant responses to these. This al-
lows the student to appreciate the process of scholarly development through
interaction.
The series is also directed toward scholars. In a period of burgeoning
knowledge and significant publication in many places and languages around
the world, this series will endeavor to make easily accessible significant, but
at times hard to find, contributions. Each volume will contain essays, ar-
ticles, extracts, and the like, presenting in a manageable scope the growth
and development of one of a number of different aspects of Old Testament
studies. Most volumes will contain previously published material, with syn-
thetic essays by the editor(s) of the individual volume. Some volumes, how-
ever, are expected to contain significant, previously unpublished works. To
facilitate access to students and scholars, all entries will appear in English
and will be newly typeset. If students are excited by the study of Scripture
ix