The Book That Breathes New Life: Scriptural Authority and Biblical Theology

8. Contemporary Old Testament Theology: A Contextual Prospectus

Contemporary฀Old฀Testament฀ Theology A฀Contextual฀Prospectus White฀folks฀call฀their฀experience฀“tradition”; they฀call฀our฀tradition฀“experience.” ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ —Will฀Coleman I฀ wish฀to฀reflect฀upon฀recent฀developments฀in฀Old฀Testament฀theology฀ in฀context฀at฀the฀end฀of฀the฀century,฀of฀course฀paying฀some฀attention฀ to฀my฀own฀efforts฀at฀the฀project.฀Old฀Testament฀theology฀is,฀in฀principle,฀ problematic฀because฀the฀text฀itself฀is฀not฀intentionally฀“theological”฀in฀any฀ recognizable฀or฀conventional฀sense,฀and฀because฀those฀of฀us฀who฀work฀at฀ it,฀characteristically฀Christian,฀are฀inevitably฀caught฀and฀pulled฀(either฀ attracted฀or฀repelled),฀between฀the฀immense,฀undeniable฀diversity฀of฀the฀ texts฀themselves,฀and฀the฀consolidating฀claims฀of฀theology฀that฀are฀habitual ,฀or฀between฀the฀pulls฀of฀a฀history-of-religions฀approach฀and฀what฀has฀ come฀to฀be฀called฀a฀“canonical”฀approach฀that฀reads฀by฀the฀“rule฀of฀faith.”฀ In฀my฀judgment,฀moreover,฀no฀more฀than฀a฀provisional฀settlement฀of฀these฀ matters฀is฀ever฀possible,฀because฀these฀pulls฀and฀tensions฀are฀inherent฀in฀ the฀task฀even฀as฀they฀are฀intrinsic฀to฀the฀material฀itself.฀Thus฀all฀our฀proposals ฀might฀properly฀have฀a฀modesty฀about฀them฀because฀having฀finished,฀ we฀must฀always฀begin฀again. The฀1970s:฀Unraveling฀the฀Previous฀Historical฀Synthesis It฀is฀well฀known฀that฀Old฀Testament฀theology฀reached฀a฀more-or-less฀ stable฀point฀in฀the฀mid-twentieth฀century฀with฀the฀great฀accomplishments฀ of฀Walther฀Eichrodt฀in฀the฀1930s฀and฀Gerhard฀von฀Rad฀in฀the฀1950s,฀with฀ chapter฀ eight 117 BookThatBreathes.finalinterior.indd 117 10/5/04 5:23:16 PM 118฀฀฀The฀Book฀That฀Breathes฀New฀Life G.฀Ernest฀Wright฀being฀the฀most฀dominant฀and฀influential฀interpretive฀ voice฀in฀the฀critical฀context฀of฀the฀United฀States.1 ฀The฀gains฀of฀these฀moreor -less฀synthetic฀achievements฀are฀immense;฀they฀provide฀a฀baseline฀for฀all฀ subsequent฀work,฀though฀the฀problematic฀character฀of฀their฀accomplishments ฀becomes฀increasingly฀evident฀at฀a฀distance. In฀retrospect฀it฀is฀now฀clear฀that฀the฀synthesis,฀which฀seemed฀so฀settled,฀ had฀by฀1970฀already฀begun฀to฀unravel.฀Inside฀the฀field,฀we฀can฀notice฀the฀ emergence฀of฀a฀“theology฀of฀blessing”฀by฀Claus฀Westermann,฀a฀recovery฀ of฀wisdom฀as฀a฀theological฀datum฀by฀von฀Rad฀himself฀and฀H.฀H.฀Schmid,฀ and฀a฀drastic฀recharacterization฀of฀the฀subtle฀relationship฀between฀the฀ Bible฀and฀the฀Ancient฀Near฀East,฀especially฀by฀Frank฀Moore฀Cross.2 ฀All฀of฀ these฀interpretive฀moves฀together฀made฀the฀single฀line฀of฀“God’s฀Mighty฀ Deeds฀in฀History”—focused฀as฀it฀was฀on฀Israel’s฀historical-theological฀distinctiveness —less฀and฀less฀compelling฀as฀a฀reference฀point฀for฀theological฀ interpretation. These฀interpretive฀moves฀were฀matched,฀by฀the฀1970s,฀by฀a฀larger,฀changing ฀interpretive฀context.฀Inside฀the฀interpretive฀community฀of฀Old฀Testament ฀study,฀there฀was฀within฀the฀decade฀an฀explosion฀of฀a฀new฀pluralism฀ of฀perspectives฀and฀methods,฀soon฀followed฀by฀quite฀distinct฀communities฀ of฀interpretation฀reflective฀of฀new฀vested฀interests,฀new฀self-consciousness,฀ and฀new฀methods.฀The฀newness฀included,฀of฀course,฀feminist฀perspectives฀ and฀a฀host฀of฀liberationist฀approaches฀that฀refused฀any฀longer฀to฀submit฀to฀ the฀old฀dominant฀patterns฀of฀interpretation. One฀outcome,฀it฀cannot฀be฀doubted,฀was฀the฀loss฀of฀a฀long-established฀ coherence฀in฀the฀field,฀the฀loss฀of฀a฀pattern฀of฀hegemonic฀interpretation฀ that฀trickled฀down฀from฀oracular฀centers฀of฀scholarly฀authority.฀New฀ approaches฀have฀focused฀upon฀contextualism3 ฀(especially฀social฀sciences฀ and฀especially฀sociology)฀and฀imaginative฀construal฀(especially฀literary฀and฀ rhetorical฀criticism),฀all฀of฀which฀exposed฀old฀claims฀of฀“objectivity”฀to฀be฀ less฀than฀persuasive,฀that฀is,฀a฀general฀rejection฀of฀what฀had฀been฀taken฀as฀ “the฀established฀givens”฀of฀the฀field.฀Within฀a฀decade฀it฀became฀unmistakably ฀clear฀that฀what฀had฀passed฀for฀“objectivity”฀was฀mostly฀unchallenged ,฀monolithic฀dominance฀that฀appealed฀to฀the฀“historical”฀as฀a฀basis฀of฀ “proof.”4 ฀The฀newer฀approaches฀are฀largely฀unimpressed฀by฀such฀“historical฀ appeals,”฀holding฀in฀various฀ways฀that฀“historical”฀is฀an฀interpretive฀construal ฀driven฀by฀and฀filtered฀through฀an฀angle฀of฀vision.5 ฀Indeed,฀the฀newer฀ perspectives฀will฀not฀accept฀that฀there฀is฀any฀angle฀of฀vision฀that฀is฀not฀in฀ some฀way฀also฀an฀angle฀of฀interest. BookThatBreathes.finalinterior.indd 118 10/5/04 5:23:16 PM Contemporary฀Old฀Testament฀Theology฀฀฀119 This฀deep฀change฀within฀the฀discipline฀is฀matched฀by฀a฀deeply฀changed฀ interpretive฀world฀all฀around,฀to฀which฀the฀scholarly฀field฀itself฀is฀not฀ immune.฀In฀the฀United฀States,฀the฀enduring฀conflicts฀over฀civil฀rights,฀ Vietnam,฀and฀Watergate—matched฀by฀the฀student฀revolts฀in฀Paris฀in฀1968฀ and...