Review in: Interpretation
2003 57: 80
Review door:
Kathleen M. O'connorGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/57/1/80.1.full.pdf+html
Lamentations
by E.W. Dobbs-Allsopp Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox, Louisville, 2002.
159 pp. $21.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-8042-3141-9.
LYRIC POETRY DIFFERS
FROM other poetic forms because it lacks plotline, characters, and other
structuring devices common to narratives. To provide meaning, lyrics rely upon
evocative powers of language and a plethora of poetic devices. In an elegant
introduction, Dobbs-Allsopp identifies linguistic and stylistic features of
Lamentations' lyrics. Five chapters, corresponding to the five poems of
Lamentations, sustain that attention and distinguish this commentary.
Dobbs-Allsopp's
conversation partners include not only biblical scholars but also contemporary
poets and literary critics, giving rare breadth and freshness to his
interpretation. He is more certain than some scholars of the book's origins during the Babylonian period, but he does recognize
the dearth of historical evidence within the text itself. More importantly, his
attention to poetry reveals how the biblical book has been able to embrace
multiple calamities throughout history. Although Lamentations expresses little
hope for the future, Dobbs-Allsopp finds healing benefits even in God's hurtful
silence. Divine silence in the face of catastrophe leaves space for human
sorrow, respects truth, and makes faith its own touchstone. And for Christians,
God's silence also invokes the cross.
One of the more vexing matters of interpretation is the
question of the relationships of the five poems to one another. Despite formal
features like acrostic and alphabetic structures that separate the poems,
Dobbs-Allsopp rightly insists upon literary coherence across the book.
Excursuses on personified Zion, Egyptian captivity, conventional language, the
choral lyric, and the silence of God bring other literary and theological
questions to bear upon the commentary. This beautifully written book
contributes much to the work of scholars, but it also shows contemporary
readers how Lamentations can help us grieve and become more compassionate in
the aftermath of unspeakable suffering.
KATHLEEN M. O'CONNOR
COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
DECATUR, GEORGIA
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