Scan barcode
Reviews
An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
ben_smitty's review
5.0
An exciting look at the world of the Old Testament, especially in light of its canonical form. Brueggemann balances the OT’s canonical order for Christians (Gen. – Malachi) with the Jewish canon (Gen. – Chronicles) and explains why we should pay attention to its final shape. He borrows heavily from Brevard Childs, arguing that the canon is the shape of Israel’s imagination, which includes borrowing and reinterpreting past stories to understand the present and the future. The exodus story, for example, is not only about the Israelites escaping from Egypt; it also serves as a model for later “liberation” narratives of Israel, as when it frees itself from Babylonian captivity or oppressive Roman rule.
That the shape of the canon is different for Christians as it is for Jews is significant. For Christians, the OT ends with prophecies concerning the Messiah who will save Israel (and ultimately humanity), which is fulfilled in Christ. For Jews, the story ends in the sweeping “historical” narrative of Chronicles, functioning as a reminder of Israel’s past, present, and future; Israel looks forward to building a second temple and reinheriting the land of their forefathers.
Still, this does not mean all imaginative interpretations are valid – Brueggemann argues that it is the job of the church, via its creeds and teachings, to be faithful to previous models of reinterpretations and to extrapolate truth that is consistently orthodox.
This was refreshing compared to the old historical model of reading the OT (is it historical fact? Did it really happen? What did it mean to the original audience?), which can be impossible to discern. I’m in agreement with Brueggemann for the most part, although I hesitate to say that both Jewish and Christian reinterpretations are valid.
That the shape of the canon is different for Christians as it is for Jews is significant. For Christians, the OT ends with prophecies concerning the Messiah who will save Israel (and ultimately humanity), which is fulfilled in Christ. For Jews, the story ends in the sweeping “historical” narrative of Chronicles, functioning as a reminder of Israel’s past, present, and future; Israel looks forward to building a second temple and reinheriting the land of their forefathers.
Still, this does not mean all imaginative interpretations are valid – Brueggemann argues that it is the job of the church, via its creeds and teachings, to be faithful to previous models of reinterpretations and to extrapolate truth that is consistently orthodox.
This was refreshing compared to the old historical model of reading the OT (is it historical fact? Did it really happen? What did it mean to the original audience?), which can be impossible to discern. I’m in agreement with Brueggemann for the most part, although I hesitate to say that both Jewish and Christian reinterpretations are valid.
dean_issov's review against another edition
Not giving enough historical and social context.
beejai's review against another edition
3.0
A famous author, I believe it was Tolkien but I might be wrong, once happened to read what a certain literary critic had to say about one of his books. His response was something along the line of, "Wow, there a lot in there. I had no idea I was so smart." Sometimes we try a bit too hard to read into the text far more than was intended or even healthy. This thought came to me more than once while reading Brueggmenn's imaginative Introduction to the Old Testament.
Let's do a brief thought assessment. I've written a daily devotional that now has well over seven hundred posts. Imagine that the best one percent of these are all that is saved and carried down through the ages. They become a seven chapter book, "First BJ". Now lets pretend I put my pen down for a couple decades only to pick it up again and five of my distant later posts centuries later become "Second BJ". Hopefully, after twenty years, I am a much better, or at least a much different writer. My voice, my style has changed. Can you imagine how the literary critics will "insist" that First and Second BJ must have had different authors? Lets go a step further. Three of my early surviving posts are exhortation, two are encouragement, and two are straight up praise. Clearly they had different authors who were later combined by another editor who...
This kind of imaginative interpretation of the authorship and canonization process of the Tenakh are found throughout Brueggmann's work. Also, I halfway tempted partway through to go back and count how many times he says something along the lines of "scholars say" and find that he is only referencing one of his earlier books in the footnote.
To be fair, Brueggmann does provide valuable insight on how Jews in the exilic and Persian post-exilic periods would have read and interpreted earlier scriptures to speak to their current situation. He also works through his survey in the order the books are found in the Tanakh rather than in the Christian Old Testament. This is a unique approach for me and does make points of connection I would not have noticed otherwise.
In summary, this was not close to the best OT survey that I have read but it does push the fine liberal tradition of imaginative scholarship into the twenty-first century. I give it three stars but it is much closer to two than four.
Let's do a brief thought assessment. I've written a daily devotional that now has well over seven hundred posts. Imagine that the best one percent of these are all that is saved and carried down through the ages. They become a seven chapter book, "First BJ". Now lets pretend I put my pen down for a couple decades only to pick it up again and five of my distant later posts centuries later become "Second BJ". Hopefully, after twenty years, I am a much better, or at least a much different writer. My voice, my style has changed. Can you imagine how the literary critics will "insist" that First and Second BJ must have had different authors? Lets go a step further. Three of my early surviving posts are exhortation, two are encouragement, and two are straight up praise. Clearly they had different authors who were later combined by another editor who...
This kind of imaginative interpretation of the authorship and canonization process of the Tenakh are found throughout Brueggmann's work. Also, I halfway tempted partway through to go back and count how many times he says something along the lines of "scholars say" and find that he is only referencing one of his earlier books in the footnote.
To be fair, Brueggmann does provide valuable insight on how Jews in the exilic and Persian post-exilic periods would have read and interpreted earlier scriptures to speak to their current situation. He also works through his survey in the order the books are found in the Tanakh rather than in the Christian Old Testament. This is a unique approach for me and does make points of connection I would not have noticed otherwise.
In summary, this was not close to the best OT survey that I have read but it does push the fine liberal tradition of imaginative scholarship into the twenty-first century. I give it three stars but it is much closer to two than four.
More...