Theologies of the Old Testament - Book Review

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter, 2002 by Roland E. Murphy

Among the many current questions that G. raises is liberation theology. He quotes a few lines from a popular Brazilian song: "We want our land here on earth--we already have it in heaven," and he remarks that there is more theology in these lines than in many a scholarly monograph. "Precious--the certainty about the next life, serving as a basis for asserting oneself in this life" (p. 231). He sees this attitude as relativizing the final Judgment (Matthew 25), and in fact his study simply bypasses the question of a future life (or better, it simply stays with the Old Testament understanding).

He returns to the four phases with which he began. Each has a relative value, but for our times a theology for the individual and the globe is desirable. He favors micromanagement rather than macromanagement, provided that it contributes truly to human living. His remarks about history and the eschaton are short but to the point. The liturgical calendar features feasts that betray a "cyclical" understanding of time. But in the historical works there are past, present, and future, and so a "linear" view of time. We are already in the eschaton, and that should make us cautious about speaking of the end of history in apocalyptic accents. Finally, what pictures of God are suitable for our time? G. thinks of God on a personal level but admits that many of the traditional labels, such as love, justice, and so forth, depend much on the individual worshipper. For him, God is not the transcendent or totally Other. Rather, God is suffering and compassionate. The final page conveys a touching (if incomplete) description of Christian faith in God. He is optimistic about the "dynamic" that faith produces.

An appendix carries Gersenberger's final lecture (July 23, 1997), "God in Our Time." It highlights many of the points made in the above summary of the book, from Genesis to the Globe.

Strengths and Weaknesses

It may be said that this reaction is merely a euphemism for yes and no, agreements and disagreements. But that is not my real intention. I hope readers are prompted to take a position on the many issues that this stimulating book gives rise to.

The Strengths.

1. The study focusses on a theology as lived out by people across many centuries. It is not the tidy description that academic theology provides; there is a surfeit of books that do that. So the volume is not "academic theology," but only an academic could have written it.

2. Gerstenberger's interpretation of the Old Testament adds correctives to the Christian mentality as it has progressed through history. Suffice it to say that the Christian doctrine of life beyond death cannot be allowed to cover over the injustices suffered in the here-and-now.

3. I do not know of any other studies of Old Testament theology that make as many connections with the current age. Gerstenberger has a way of putting questions to the text that few have been able to emulate.

The Weaknesses

1. Hypotheses. These are spread throughout the phases. Perhaps that is the price to be paid for replacing a static and uniform theology of traditional themes with a vivid description of a practical theology as it was lived out by the people of God. Take your choice.