Theologies in the Old Testament - Book Review

Currents in Theology and Mission, Dec, 2002 by Samuel D. Giere

Theologies in the Old Testament. By Erhard S. Gerstenberger. Translated by John Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002. x and 358 pages. Cloth. $30.00.

It is with a prophetic tone that Erhard Gerstenberger has authored this recent contribution to Old Testament theology. In the wake of similar works (among others, Walter Brueggemann's in 1997), Gerstenberger takes a decidedly different approach to theology in the Old Testament, as reflected in the title. His theological motivation is not to synthesize the Old Testament witness into theological themes or a single theology but rather to highlight the diversity of theological systems that are at play within the Old Testament. It is in light of this diversity that he reads the Old Testament theologically for the present world.

The foundation for his work is the social-scientific study of the ancient world, specifically the diverse worlds represented in the Old Testament. For Gerstenberger, sociocultural context is a, if not the primary, factor for shaping religious belief and practice. In his rigorous treatment of the social-scientific evidence, he identifies five developmental stages of Old Testament culture that provide the outline of his argument: family and clan; village community; tribal alliance; kingdom; and exilic/postexilic community. From the family/clan, which he identifies as the initial polytheistic centre of Israelite religion, to the exilic/postexilic times, which had the final stamp on the textual witness, Gerstenberger identifies radical changes in both the number and images of god(s) worshiped.

Gerstenberger's understanding of the Oh Testament is so rooted in sociocultural context that it is difficult at times to find a common theological thread other than the contextuality of all concepts of god. This said, one common denominator is that the world as a whole is in need of redemption. All else, including the one-God confession of the Shema (Deut 6:4f.), is up for debate because of the sociocultural gap between the Old Testament worlds and today. Summarizing his goal, he states: ".., in seeking to be responsible to the God of the present or thc ground of being, it is our task to try to engage in constant, corrective dialogue with the old witnesses; we must look for the new form and formulation of faith which is valid today, appropriate to present conditions and human groupings, and 'right' for them" (p. 279).

This contextual approach to faith and theology begs the question of the nonnegotiable. What, if anything, about the biblical witness or tradition is nonnegotiable? What, if anything, is essential? What is shared between the Old (and New) Testament theologies and theologies of today? It is here that Gerstenberger's Theologies stands most exposed. At the same time, his focus on the contextuality of the Old Testament witness is where he has the most to offer. Reading the diversity and sociocultural embeddedness of the Old Testament witness encourages contemporary theologians to dialogically engage and correct, among other things, the intrinsic patriarchy of the text.

In the end, Gerstenberger' s is a provocative voice in current Old Testament scholarship. If nothing else, he calls the church to theologize in its contemporary global context in dialogue with the theologies of the Old Testament. Time and further critical examination will tell what the affect of his contextual theology of the Old Testament will be on academia and church.