Inicios, Paradigmas y Fundamentos: Estudios Teológicos y Exegéticos en el Pentateuco (review)

Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 402 Reviews INICIOS, PARADIGMAS Y FUNDAMENTOS: ESTUDIOS TEOLÓGICOS Y EXEGÉTICOS EN EL PENTATEUCO. Edited by Gerald A. Klingbeil. Pp. xxvi + 264. Entre Ríos, Argentina: Editorial Universidad Adventista del Plata, 2004. Paper, $24.95. This interesting book marks the inaugural volume of a new monograph series to be published by the theological faculty of the Adventist University of the Plata, Argentina under the editorship of Professor Gerald A. Klingbeil. Fittingly, the series’ first volume begins, as does the Hebrew Bible itself, with the Pentateuch, offering a collection of theological and exegetical studies relating to it. In his preface, the editor states the purposes of the volume (and series): to provide a means for Adventist scholars to interact with the larger scholarly world (pp. xxi–xxii) and to give a hearing to “South American theological scholarship” in “the international academic dialogue” (p. xxiii). This latter point apparently aims to redress the usual dominance of such scholarship by Europeans and North Americans. The volume contains essays in both English and Spanish (six and five, respectively ), so its contents will chiefly benefit bilingual readers. But the editor wisely provides his introduction in both languages and also an introductory bilingual summary of contents with each essay. Further, the often pro-forma initial list of abbreviations (here, “Abreviaturas”) proves genuinely helpful in this case, since many contributors cite journals not commonly cited in scholarly literature (e.g., Adventist publications, journals published by the author’s university, etc.). Three equally helpful indices with Spanish titles list the volume ’s citations of authors, scripture references, and references to extrabiblical texts. Many essays include helpful illustrative charts or graphs to reinforce specific points visually, a rare feature in scholarly monographs. The diverse backgrounds of the eleven contributors are also striking. Granted, except for a French Benedictine monk (Lucien-Jean Bord), all are Adventists, but two are Americans (William H. Shea and Roy E. Gane), one is an Austrian who studied and lives in the United States (Gerhard Pfandl), three have roots in Germany (Gerald and Martin Klingbeil and Martin Pröbstle), and apparently four are Latin Americans (Merling Alomía [teaching in Peru], Raúl Kerbs, Carlos Elías Mora [teaching in Chile], and Laurentiu Ionescu [born in Romania]). Eight have doctorates, one is a doctoral candidate at Andrews University (Pröbstle), and two are doctoral students at Adventist University of the Plata (Ionescu, Mora). It appears that none of the contributors is a woman. Structurally, the book comprises three main parts. The first (Pentateuch and Methodology) offers three essays: Kerbs critiques the philosophical presuppositions of pentateuchal criticism (Spanish); a pre-Mosaic Semitic inscrip- Hebrew Studies 46 (2005) 403 Reviews tion near Thebes leads Shea to propose that the patriarchs may have passed on their biographies to Moses in writing (English); and Martin Klingbeil’s study of seams linking poems to their pentateuchal narrative contexts highlights their contribution to the Pentateuch’s structure and plot (Spanish). Part two (Pentateuch and Exegesis) comprises five exegetically-oriented studies: Mora exegetes the theological themes of Exodus 40 (Spanish); Gerald Klingbeil compares Leviticus 8 and Emar 369 to show the importance of ritual participants as clues to ancient religious life (English); Ionescu’s exegesis distinguishes three sections in Leviticus 26, the last being the thematic highpoint (Spanish); Gane proposes a nuanced, persuasive spectrum of intentional/unintentional moral faults based on applicable Old Testament texts (English); and Bord invokes ancient Near Eastern comparisons to interpret the sense of Deut 24:10–11 (English). The final section (Pentateuch and Theology) has three essays: Pröbstle argues for a tiqqun sopherim in Gen 18:22 (English); Alomía surveys the theme of the firstborn in the Old Testament and the ancient Near East (Spanish); and Pfandl interprets the Old Testament asylum institution comparatively and theologically (English). Of necessity the present review of this topically wide-ranging volume limits itself to an assessment of how well it lives up to the editor’s stated purposes . How “interactive” is it with Old Testament scholarship? As with any such volume, the quality of scholarship varies from essay to essay, with some very carefully argued and more conversant with current scholarship (e.g...