Review in: Interpretation
2004 58: 188
Review door: Pamela
J. ScaliseGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/58/2/188.full.pdf+html
Jeremiah
by Terence Fretheim Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary. Smyth & Helwys, Macon, 2002.
704 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 1-57312-072-3.
FRETHEIM'S VOLUME IS concerned with readers. One can scarcely
turn a page in the first half of the commentary without finding a reference to
the initial readers of the book of Jeremiah. That first audience looked back on
the Babylonian conquest, lived during the Exile, but had not been liberated by
Cyrus. Fretheim consistently engages what the book communicates to its reading
audience as opposed to what Jeremiah the prophet said to his hearers on various
occasions. Indeed, he judges speculative efforts to identify and date
Jeremiah's authentic words to be unfaithful to the text. Although the
introduction addresses setting, text, and the history of composition, the
commentary itself is an extended theological exposition of the book of
Jeremiah. Fretheim's treatment reveals the compelling message within the
complex disorder of the biblical book.
The
book of Jeremiah is a book about God. Its "intended effect is to bring to
shamed and hurting exiles a clear word about the kind of God who is present and
active on their behalf" (p. 5). Building on his earlier works, The Suffering
God and Exodus, Fretheim bases the activity and character of God on
an absolute will to love. The divine word, however, is resistible; the people's
sin, rather than divine judgment, introduces disaster into their lives. The
disaster is inherent in the sin, whether that of Israel, Babylon, or other
nations. Fretheim frequently uses the colloquial expression, "What goes
around comes around" (e.g., p. 57). God mediates or facilitates the
consequences of human wickedness but does not punish. Wrath is a response, not
a divine attribute. This non-forensic depiction of judgment allows God in
Jeremiah to mourn sincerely over the suffering that the people have brought
upon themselves. Although Fretheim does not address the charge directly, his
understanding of God in Jeremiah does not fit the pattern of the abuser who
alternately inflicts violence and repents of violence. Hope for the future
derives from God's tears and from the promises to the ancestors whom God cannot
abandon.
The series' format includes an application
section for each unit of text. These "connections" are meant to
suggest issues, themes, methods, and resources for teaching and preaching.
Fretheim typically uses this section to summarize and supplement his
theological exposition. Christian doctrinal terms seldom appear, and he
discusses the New Testament use of Jeremiah in only two of the commentary's
forty-nine text units. He also uses "connections" to warn against
uncritical application. Hermeneutical and theological reflection are required before employing Jeremiah's language
in contemporary settings.
Fretheim also addresses his readers' interest in
application in the "sidebars," brief articles boxed off from the main
text and indexed separately. Eleven of the book's sixteen references to Jesus
occur in the sidebars. (One of them is a misprint, p. 401.) Several of these
articles answer readers' questions that are likely to arise from the
commentary. The sidebars address lexical issues, provide cultural information,
and quote other scholars on matters pertaining to the theological exposition.
They also include seven poems by Daniel Berrigan and a selection of western
paintings and drawings inspired by Jeremiah. Of the twenty-one photos and two
drawings of ancient artifacts, only a handful are from the time and place of
the book's setting. For instance, a drawing of phallic statuary from the Greek
island of Delos illustrates "sexual imagery" in Jeremiah, and a photo
of a reconstructed Greek amphora from 400 CE. illustrates "the breaking of
the pot" in Jeremiah 19. Contemporary images include an Amish horse cart,
which accompanies the sidebar on the Rechabites.
This use of illustrations mirrors
the collage-like structure and impressionistic portrayal that characterize the
book of Jeremiah according to Fretheim's apt description. The sidebars make a
generally pleasing impression but lack clarity. Their text is printed in brown
ink and difficult to read; some of the black and white photographs and
reproductions of artwork are too murky to understand. (On the computer screen
the pictures are brighter, but the brown print becomes almost illegible.)
Subsequent references to the sidebars in the commentary text do not give the
page numbers where they first appear, necessitating a "side trip" to
the index.
The accompanying compact disc duplicates the
commentary page-by-page. Users have permission to download text and images to
use for teaching and preaching. The cumbersome search feature is incomplete.
Headings, titles in the bibliography, and initial pages of chapters are not
included in the electronic search. Location names on the maps are also not part
of the searchable text.
This commentary is not a reference
for readers who want to look up information on textual, lexical, or historical
issues in particular verses. In fact, it is quite possible to read through this
commentary without looking at the biblical text. Nevertheless, Fretheim has
written about the book of Jeremiah as it is found in the Bible in the readers'
hands. An anonymous ancient crafted the traditions of the prophet's ministry
into a book about God for the Judean exiles. Terence Fretheim interprets that
book theologically for twenty-first century Christians.
Pamela
J. Scalise
FULLER
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY - NORTHWEST
SEATTLE,
WASHINGTON
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