Review in: Interpretation
2002 56: 328
Review door: Mark E.
BiddleGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/56/3/328.1.full.pdf+html
Deuteronomy
by Walter Brueggemann Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries. Abingdon, Nashville, 2001.
305 pp. $34.00. ISBN 0-687-8471-7.
THIS SERIES, to which Bruggemann's volume makes an outstanding
contribution, addressees a readership with some theological sophistication, but
not necessarily with specialized expertise in biblical studies—parish
ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders. Following a general introduction to
Deuternonomy, the commentary treats each literary unit under three headings:
literary analysis devoted to genre and structure; exegetical analysis dealing
with historical, linguistic, and rhetorical issues; and theological and ethical
analysis serving as the point of departure for the reader's reflection on the
contemporary significance of the text.
In keeping with the
purposes of the series, Brueggemann's treatment of Deuteronomy is not a
detailed, in-depth treatment of the text. It reflects the current state of
scholarship, but does not expand the discussion. Other commentaries will better
serve the reader seeking verse-by-verse and word-by-word discussions of the
Hebrew text. The strength of Brueggemann's volume is his theological/ethical
reading of the text. The Shema's insistence on the necessity of only one
loyalty leads him to comment on the twin dangers of despair born of the
impossibility of such absolute loyalty and pride born of self-delusion (pp.
88-91). Noting that Deut 11:1-32 emphasizes Israel's relationship with YHWH,
and therefore Israel's life in the land, as both gift and demand, Brueggemann
proposes that Deuteronomy challenges contemporary society to acknowledge that
"self-promotion ... not curbed by the demand of the holy, and
self-sufficiency... not impinged upon by the presence of the neighbor
constitutes a path to destruction" (p. 141).
This commentary will
prove especially helpful for readers interested in the movement from exegesis to theological reflection. Brueggemann exemplifies
this movement with unusual skill.
MARK E. BIDDLE
BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT RICHMOND
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Zie ook:
en:
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten