Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Right?: Studies on the Nature of God in Tribute to James L. Crenshaw
Pages
268
Publisher
Eisenbrauns
Published
2000
ISBN-13
9781575060439
Does God, in fact, always show love toward those who love him and faithfully serve him? Even apart from the fact that God punishes those who clearly deserve his wrath, and even apart from his hostility to Israel's enemies, what do we do with the not insignificant number of passages in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible where it could be said that he turns against his own people or members of that people, attacking them without cause, or at least with excessive violence?
Professor James Crenshaw, perhaps more than any other single scholar of this generation, has led the way into discussion of this pivotal matter, and the essays included in this volume are based on or react to his seminal contributions to the topic.
Professor James Crenshaw, perhaps more than any other single scholar of this generation, has led the way into discussion of this pivotal matter, and the essays included in this volume are based on or react to his seminal contributions to the topic.
Inner Books
This physical volume has several internal sections, each of which has been reviewed independently
- Texts that linger, not yet overcome by Walter Brueggemann
Reviews
Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Right?: Studies on the Nature of God in Tribute to James L. Crenshaw Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000. Pp. xxxv + 268, Cloth, $32.50, ISBN 1575060434. Christopher L. K. Grundke Acadia Divinity College Wolfville, Nova Scotia B0P 1X0 Canada This Festschrift is a most fitting tribute to James L. Crenshaw, Professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School, whose exegetical and theological research has long grappled with biblical texts that depict alarming divine characteristics: jealousy, anger, unpredictability, and the like. Crenshaw’s interests are clearly reflected in these essays, which by turns agree and disagree with Crenshaw. The book, edited by two of Crenshaw’s former students, opens with an appreciative introduction to Crenshaw’s scholarly work and a bibliography of his publications from 1967 to the present. The editors have organized the following essays according to the canonical divisions in which their subject matter falls. The opening essay by the late R. N. Whybray (“‘Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What is Just’: God’s Oppression of the Innocent in the Old Testament”, 1-19) indicates the spirit of many of the essays in the volume. Whybray leads the reader on a whirlwind tour of selected Old Testament texts depicting God’s apparently unwarranted violence toward innocent parties, and subsequently surveys unsatisfactory ways of assimilating these texts into broad theological programs. W. Brueggemann considers similar texts and theological strategies in his essay concerning Yahweh’s periodic abandonment of Israel (“Texts that Linger, Not Yet Overcome”, 21-41). He proposes a dramatic and rhetorical style of interpretation that preserves the memory of Yahweh’s past actions and allows such memories to influence the theological systems of modern communities of faith.
[Full Review]