The biblical theology of H. H. Rowley, 1890-1969 - Critical Essay

Baptist History and Heritage, Wntr, 2003 by Ronald E. Clements

Certain major deductions were made from this primary foray to uncover the foundations of biblical history. The first of these was, in essence, a literary point arguing for recognition that the Ten Commandments, the most influential and best known of all the documentary units of the Old Testament, originated with Moses. He examined this point further at greater length in an essay entitled "Moses and the Decalogue." (29) Rowley did not accept that either the present Exodus (Exod. 20:2-17) or Deuteronomic (Deut. 5:5-21) listing of these Commandments has been preserved in the precise words and form that Moses had given. The original wording of the commandments was briefer, and was most probably uniformly composed in ten short prohibitions. It constituted a "primary decalogue" (scholars frequently use the German term Urdekalog). Nevertheless, he argued strongly in defense of the Mosaic origin of this primary list of Ten Commandments. Since its theological and ethical demands are so distinctive and revolutionary, it remains unlikely that a later, unknown, innovator had introduced them. Without an overriding objection precluding such an early origin, the importance of the weight of tradition that ascribed them to Moses should be respected and upheld. This Mosaic revelation demanded Israel's repudiation of idolatry and brought a focus that was monotheistic in its essential demand for worship of the Lord as sole God. It also ensured that a strong moral discipline and purpose permeates the entire compass of biblical faith.

Monotheism

The second of the theological issues that followed from conclusions reached as part of the summary in Prom Joseph to Joshua was that monotheism itself, as a central feature of religious belief, is also to be traced back to Moses. If the Ten Commandments brought disclosure of the moral order for all humanity, then the first of these commandments uncovered the fundamental role religious truth occupies in understanding the divine foundation of the universe. It presents a theological insight of immense significance that lies at the heart of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Rowley was willing to concede that later revisions and elaborations had overlaid and clarified the bare starkness of the original claim. Clearly, numerous references exist in the Old Testament to the names and titles of other gods that recognize that other nations worship them. Israel had itself been repeatedly tempted to worship them. Yet, whether such deities have any real existence is frequently left unclear. When the question of what kind of reality properly lies behind such names as occurs in the prophecies of Isaiah 40-55, then the decisive answer is given that no such under lying reality exists.

In seeking to take account of this acceptance of other deities for other peoples, Rowley advocated the use the term "incipient monotheism" for Moses' belief that Israel should worship only the one Lord God. Attempts by other scholars to introduce such terms as henotheism or monolatry were inadequate, Rowley believed, to describe the deep inner logic belonging to Israel's claim that the one Lord God was superior to all other divine or human powers.