Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes

Faculty of Theology, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS UtrechtThe NetherlandsThere exist two kinds of dictionaries. The first category is informative: ABD; DDD;EDB; RGG and others are objective—or tend to be—supplying information, facts, andfigures. In books such as those one can find all one wants to know about a given topic.Brueggemann has written a dictionary of a second, different kind. His volume contains105 entries on various Old Testament themes, and although he also supplies facts andfigures, his main aim is not to be objective only. His book teaches the reader many thingsfrom ancestors to YHWH, but there is some sort of an extra dimension in it. The readermeets a passionate theologian who shows his personal involvement in the topicsdiscussed. Next to that, Brueggemann makes clear that the value of the exercise ofdiscussing Old Testament themes is not limited to the past. His 105 entries not onlyinform about “how it was” but also show “how it is.” Or phrased otherwise: the elementsof Israel’s metanarrative—a concept used by him in his biblical Theology—havesomething to say to modern men and women.I would like to explain what I am trying to say by pointing at two entries. In the entry on“Atonement,” Brueggemann first discusses the biblical data stressing the purification riteof yôm kippûr. He concludes with two interesting remarks. [Full Review]