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Archive for September, 2007

He who stays calm the longest wins: Ecclesiastes 10

Posted in clarity, textures, tagged , , on September 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »

According to the most plausible reading of this taxing work, Qohelet encourages his readers to understand that much can be known by the powers of human observation. Yet this potent capacity of studying how things work here ‘under the sun’ cannot relieve us of our despair.

By these lights, Ecclesiastes represents a subset of the human condition: we are glorious knowers indeed, yet even vanity threads its despairing weave through our lives’ intelligence so long as our perspective fails to access YHWH’s deeper purpose. That achievement is in truth a gift. It depends upon a relationship with one’s Creator that cannot be instigated or managed by the natural means available to women and men who crash against the sour limits of life here below. (more…)

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a must read for any scholar of Jewish and/or Christian messianism: William Horbury, Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , on September 17, 2007| 2 Comments »

Four densely argued chapters argue for a coherent and pervasive messianic concept in the Old Testament and subsequent Jewish literature in a way that cuts across recent trends in the field. Horbury’s first chapter (“Messianism and the Old Testament”) lays out the case for a messianism that grows organically out of the Old Testament materials from earliest times. While not rigid, a coherent messianic myth probably existed from the early monarchy. Far from being an insignificant concept, the ‘widespread currency of the unexplained technical term’ for ‘Messiah’ together with fuller designations had spread across several languages by at least the second century BC, coherently referring to a ‘rightful ruler of Israel … the coming Davidic king’. This chapter complements analysis of the textual inventory with attention to ‘landmarks in the study of the origins of messianism.’ The argument is advanced that the supposed mutual incompatibility between God’s unmediated rule and Messiah’s rule which has much occupied scholars is a false dichotomy, since the texts show little concern to exclude one while focussing upon the other. The editing of the individual biblical books reflects a messianic preoccupation that encourages finding in the canon a ‘coherent series of messianic prophecies’. This circumstance fomented both the reading of still further oracles in this light and greater specificity as the tradition advanced. Such a development of the tradition will have been influenced by forms familiar to Israel’s cultural neighbours, as by the presence of ‘messianic prototypes’ within the Bible itself (Moses, David, et al.). (more…)

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an old standard on a perennially important topic: Gerhard von Rad, Holy War in Ancient Israel

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Von Rad’s venerable and seminal treatment of the topic, now made available in an inexpensive reprint, is considerably enhanced for modern readers by B.C. Ollenburger’s introductory essay, ‘Gerhard von Rad’s Theory of Holy War.’ This version of what has become a classic point of departure for studies of warfare and the Divine Warrior figure in the Old Testament’ is further complemented by J.E. Sanderson’s ‘War, Peace, and Justice in the Hebrew Bible: A Representative Bibliography.’ Approaching the topic with an ethical concern that is not given broad expression in Von Rad’s monograph, Sanderson appends her annotated bibliography ‘as a contribution to the advancement of peace’ from the pen of ‘someone with a lifelong fascination for the Bible as well as a commitment to peacemaking.’ (more…)

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a preacher looks at an enigmatic biblical book: James A. Wharton, Job (Westminster Bible Companion)

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

An emeritus professor of homiletics introduces Job in this study guide, which belongs to a series that is intended to help the church’s laity read the Bible more clearly and intelligently. Wharton mentions issues that occupy academic scholars only where these are deemed to illuminate the reading of the book’s final form. The guide’s introduction treats the book’s function, structure, the names of God in Job, and the concept of Job as the Lord’s servant (Nebucha\drezzar appears for Cyrus in his mention of Isa 45). In his exposition, ‘hassatan’ of the prologue is not God’s archenemy of later theology, but his denial that disinterested piety exists may be ‘satanic’. It is hinted that the relationship between prologue, epilogue, and the poetic centre may be explained by a reworking of a pre-existing and simplistic Job tale, one which in its original form would have satisfied the certainties of Job’s counsellors. The poetic reworking forcefully rewrites the story as a challenge to religious truisms. Because the wisdom of Job’s friends has deep roots in Jewish and Christian piety, Wharton attempts a sympathetic hearing of Eliphaz by allowing him to develop his argument in chs 4-5, 15, and 22 without the interruption of Job’s responses and other interlocutions. The nine basic elements of Eliphaz’ case are at home in the piety of Judaism and Christianity. (more…)

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helpful introduction to the Bible as literature: John C. Gibson, Language and Imagery in the Old Testament

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Even if John C.L. Gibson admits that the OT is “capable of causing not a little embarrassment to the two religions which have adopted it as their Scriptures”, he finds it also “seductive”, “moving” and “illuminating”. His little book is meant to guide the reader to fuller appreciation of the latter qualities and in this he must be judged to have succeeded. His first of seven well-written chapters, entitled “The Energies of the Hebrew Language”, presents the lack of abstract terms and the linking together of clauses by “and” as the “two basic characteristics of biblical Hebrew.” The picture is filled out by several not unimportant features: prominence of direct speech, cosmological descriptions of heaven and Sheol, the extravagance of Semitic address, folk etymologies, figurative language, hyperbole, personalisation, irony, et al. Throughout this chapter Gibson indicates the considerable distance which separates theological language from that of the OT. (more…)

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sumptuous and dark writing: Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran. A Memoir in Books

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Just when the Police were winning a Grammy with a song that included the allusive line `just like the old man in that book by Nabakov’, it was a crime to read Lolita in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Azar Nafisi’s spendidly-titled book chronicles one woman’s experience of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s long descent into decadent darkness. (more…)

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practical training for non-profit execs and board members: Steven H. Berger, Understanding Nonprofit Financial Statements

Posted in clarity, reseña, tagged , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

BoardSource (formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards) has distinguished itself as the premier source for high-quality, practical materials designed to equip nonprofit board members and officers to fulfill their considerable and evolving responsibilities. Though pricey, its products represent high value. This book is no exception. For the board member or executive without business training, seven well-illustrated chapters serve as both a primer and a reference work that will be consulted often and profitably. (more…)

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vintage García Márquez in short form: Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

García Márquez did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature and become Colombia’s favorite son by accident. This book, among his best, anchors his reputation as one of Latin America’s greatest novelists. (more…)

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Israel’s closest call?: Howard Blum, The Eve of Destruction. The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War

Posted in reseña, tagged , , , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

The Israeli swagger that became a regional pose following the military victories of 1948 and 1967 quickly became a limp following near defeat at the hands of Egypt and Syria in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Howard Bloom’s appropriately-titled chronicle of that October surprise reads like a novel, complete with an amorous young couple whose honeymoon was rudely interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities and a mysterious double agent called ‘the In-Law’. Yet the events he describes were all too real. (more…)

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modern land conflict through the lens of ancient texts: Robert P. Gordon, Holy Land, Holy City. Sacred Geography and the Interpretation of the Bible

Posted in denkschrift, reseña, tagged , , , , on September 17, 2007| Leave a Comment »

The trajectory of this thoughtful book begins in the primeval history of Genesis, continues through texts of both Old and New Testaments, and finishes in the heated context of the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the belligerent use that is frequently made of these same biblical sources. Holy Land, Holy City is well suited to the reader who is willing to engage complex argument on her way to a better understanding of the biblical and theological underpinnings of ‘land theology’ and contemporary conflicts over land. R.P. Gordon is the Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge and a highly regarded linguist and biblical interpreter. (more…)

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