April, 2005

I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Future of Multicultural America. Edited by James Kenneth Echols (Fortress, $15). E. notes that King’s famous speech—the most famous sermon in modern American history--called all Americans fully to embrace and include racial and ethnic equality as a key aspect of the American dream. The seven essays in this book, by James A. Forbes, Jr., Robert M. Franklin, Justo L. González, Dwight N. Hopkins, Peter J. Paris, Linda E. Thomas, and Emilie M. Townes comprised the Hein Fry Lecture Series in the ELCA in 2003. King’s agenda is here expanded, from issues involving people of African and European descent, to the multicultural challenge and opportunity of the twenty-first century. Essayists examine King’s upbringing and formative influences, the speech itself, the twenty-first century importance of King’s dream, and the divine call for all God’s people to participate in the ongoing struggle for equality and justice. RWK

Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Edited by James D. G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson (Eerdmans, $75). One volume commentaries are extremely valuable for pastors and church libraries for help with those books on which one cannot afford a full length commentary. This 1629-page volume moves to the head of the class with sixty-seven contributors from England and North America, and from Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars of note (David Balch [Luke] and John Reumann [Romans] pitch in from the Lutheran perspective). The apocrypha is included and even 1 Enoch. RWK

Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? By William G. Dever (Eerdmans, $25). D., a leading Syro-Palestinian archeologist, answers the twin questions of the title primarily from his interpretation of archeological data. After an inconclusive chapter on the Exodus (where there is little archeological evidence to go on), D. devotes the rest of the book to demonstrating that the early Israelite peoples were Canaanites indigenous to Palestine—thus opposing the conquest and peaceful infiltration models of Israel’s entry into the land. In a highly technical argument he argues against Israel Finkelstein, who sees the early Israelites as nomads who settled down, while D. himself believes there was a major population shift from the lowlands to the central hill country by people who sought “a new society and a new lifestyle” or who exercised a protest against a corrupt landed aristocracy that disenfranchised the peasant class. He and Finkelstein agree that there is no significant immigration from outside. D. argues that the newer archaeological evidence must be the primary source for writing any history of early Israel, but that evidence, of course, has little to say about the faith, which makes this history important for most of the rest of us. D. also waffles between rigorous archeological method and a nostalgic hope that the tradition is true. In one paragraph he states that archeological evidence contradicts the Exodus from Egypt, wilderness wanderings and conquests in Transjordan, but then goes on to suppose that there just may have been a miracle worker like Moses among the Semitic slaves in Egypt, who may have mediated to them knowledge about the new deity Yahweh. For him the Exodus is not historical, but only a “metaphor for liberation.” One hopes this is not the last word. RWK

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry. Volumes XIII and XIV. (Eerdmans, $60 each). The one hundred sixty-five articles in these two volumes provide in-depth studies of words ranging from qos (thistle) to shakan (settle, dwell). In between are such important words as spirit, compassion, firmament, Satan/adversary, Sheol, and Sabbath. Eerdmans continues its solid record among the top religious publishing houses in the United States. RWK

Exploring the Old Testament. A Guide to the Pentateuch. By Gordon J. Wenham (InterVarsity, $25). In this undergraduate textbook W. offers an illuminating guide to the structure, meaning, and composition history of the first five books of the Bible. Maps, figures, tables, and a glossary make for an appealing and digestible layout and “Digging deeper” and “What do you think?” panels allow readers to make up their minds about controversial issues. He fairly lists the strengths of and the challenges to the documentary hypothesis and winds up by giving interpretations of the Pentateuch if its setting was in the twelfth, tenth, seventh, or fifth centuries BCE. At times I wanted the author to decide among the alternatives he describes, but given the purpose of the book, his may be a wise decision. RWK

A Biblical History of Israel. By Iain Provan, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III (Westminster John Knox, $24.95) The last generation has seen great turbulence in the discussion of the history of ancient Israel, with the breakdown of the Albright-Bright consensus and the rise of a group of Old Testament specialists, sometimes called minimalists, who have challenged not only the historicity of the patriarchs, Exodus and conquest, but of the United Monarchy and much of the history of Judah as well. I picked up this book with some hope, therefore, of finding a plausible recounting of Israel’s history for the twenty-first century. Alas, while the authors show some awareness of the changing scene, they give a much too simplistic account of Israel’s history that often does little more than paraphrase the biblical narrative. A number of anachronisms in the patriarchal account, for example, that call into question the antiquity of the whole, are glibly interpreted as later updatings of a basically historical account. RWK

Zephaniah. By Marvin Sweeney. (Fortress, $47). In this important contribution to the Hermeneia commentary series, S. dates most of the book to the lifetime of the prophet in the late seventh century BCE., during the reign of Josiah. The book presents a prophetic discourse that calls on its audience to turn to Yahweh before the threatened purge of apostasy that will take place on the Day of Yahweh. S. notes that the Septuagint version of the book also calls on the audience to change but presupposes that it is unwilling to do so. The lengthy introduction analyzes the structure, settings, and rhetorical strategies of each of the versions of Zephaniah—MT, LXX, Dead Sea Scrolls, Targum, Peshitta, etc.-- in order to assess their unique interpretive perspectives. RWK

Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period. Edited by Andrew G. Vaughn and Ann E. Killebrew. (SBL, $49.95). The essays in this volume were presented over a four year period at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. Although Jerusalem has experienced many excavations in the last century and a half (the bibliography in this volume comes to fifty pages), there have also been severe limitations on where one can dig because the temple mount/Dome of the Rock area is ruled out for religious reasons and because people still live in other parts of the city of the First Temple period! Essays in this book represent a wide diversity of opinion on what all this digging proves. Was Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon the significant capital of the United Monarchy, or did it remain primarily a village until the ninth century? Jerusalem may have competed with the famous sites of Megiddo and Hazor in the tenth century, but it completely outshined them in the centuries to come. RWK

A Biblical Text and its Afterlives. The Survival of Jonah in Western Culture. By Yvonne Sherwood (Cambridge, $25.99). S. offers not only a fine survey of and response to biblical scholarship on Jonah, but she also deals with treatments of Jonah in art, literature, and popular culture. Luther (who used Jonah to denounce Judaism also muses on the absurdities of the book) and Calvin pass in review, as do contemporary exegetes, literary theorists, and artists over the ages (there are seventeen black-and-white plates). The first section of the book (“The Mainstream”) overviews Christian and scholarly interpretations of Jonah from Jesus until today. The second section (“Backwaters and Underbellies”) pays special attention to Jewish and popular interpretations. A third section (“Regurgitating Jonah”) considers modern theories of reading and then gives her own poststructuralist exegesis of this very short book. As one reviewer also puts it, S. is incapable of writing a bland sentence. RWK

Reading Women’s Stories: Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible. By John Petersen (Fortress, $22.00). P., a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, uses the literary study of characterization, plot, and point of view to study the stories of Hannah, Deborah, and Judah and Tamar in the Old Testament. He explores how these stories go about communicating what they had to say. The approach is rooted in the “school of poetics,” that facilitates creative interaction between literary theory and text. The family conflict in the story of Hannah illustrates the techniques of character development. Dramatically contrasting points of view emanate from the victory poem of Deborah. The focus in this study of Tamar is on plotting dynamics. The approach is quite different from historical criticism. Rather, it seeks to appreciate how the texts construct their stories and communicate sense and significance. RWK

Give Us This Day: A Lutheran Proposal for Ending World Hunger. By Craig L. Nessan (Fortress, $9.99). N., professor and Dean at Wartburg Theological Seminary and a book review editor for Currents, offers an important addition to the “Lutheran Voices” series of Fortress. N. notes perceptively: “If, however, we are to begin to comprehend the dynamics that lead to terrorism, we need to pay attention to the disparity in our world between rich and poor that gives rise to anti-Western ideology.” N. urges that the ending of hunger become a matter of status confessionis and he pledges to donate all royalties from this book to Bread for the World and the ELCA World Hunger Program. A great resource for an adult forum. RWK

Zondervan Bible Study Library. Scholar’s Edition. 5.0. (Zondervan, $349.99). Zondervan here presents a twenty-first century study Bible, loaded on a CD ROM and powered by Pradis, a software designed to make the resources of this collection easily accessible. The default screen is divided into four panes containing respectively the text of the Bible (biased toward NIV, but nine English versions are provided as options, as well as the Hebrew and Greek texts); a Bible dictionary; a two volume commentary, and an analytical lexicon to the text in its original language (this pane also contains tabs that lead to Hebrew-English and Greek-English dictionaries). The panes are synchronized so as one moves from verse to verse the panes containing the commentary and the analytical lexikon move with you. In addition to Hebrew, Greek, and English Bibles, this “library” contains study Bibles, Bible commentaries (many reflecting the evangelical orientation of Zondervan or dated), biblical encyclopedias (archaeology, Bible difficulties, also a dictionary of the Christian church), reference works (all the men and women of the Bible, Christian theology and creeds, Greek beyond the basics). The CD’s box boasts that these resources would total more than $3,000 in their print editions. One will not find here explanations of the latest critical insights, but in terms of getting at basic biblical information this library is hard to beat. Stripped down editions are available from $49.99 to $199.99. Confirmation classes and church libraries might find one of the stripped down versions attractive. RWK.

The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture. By Brevard S. Childs (Eerdmans, $35). C’s contribution to biblical studies has been substantial and sustained for many decades, and the history of the interpretation of Isaiah offered in this book—ranging from the Septuagint and the New Testament, to many figures in church history, including Luther and Calvin, up to the early twentieth century--shows C. at his well-informed and widely-read best. He skips from the early twentieth century, however, to postmodern interpretation, omitting a host of significant twentieth century scholars, and delivers in the postmodern chapter a scathing critique of Walter Brueggemann that I found quite one-sided. Almost anyone who does not accept C.’s “canonical approach” would face the same criticism. In a sense, C.’s discussion of Isaiah is a test case for trying to understand the church’s use of the Old Testament in general, and he identifies the following characteristics of the church’s approach: the authority of scripture, use of both literal and spiritual senses, divine and human authorship, Christological content, and the dialectical nature of history. While admitting that parts of Isaiah come from several centuries, C. argues that that the dating of the book in its superscription functions canonically to locate the historical setting of the whole prophecy to the pre-exilic period. Most historical critics will not find this persuasive, nor are we really given much help by this approach with the considerable difference between Isaiah’s view of the messiah in chaps. 9 and 11, for example, and the radical reinterpretation of this idea in the New Testament; the same could be said for Isaiah’s views on the servant that also function quite differently in the New Testament’s interpretation of the death of Jesus. It is these latter questions that really energize me. RWK

Old Testament Commentary Survey. By Tremper Longman III (Baker Akademic and Inter-Varsity Press, $12.99). This is the third edition of L.'s commentary guide, in which he presents exhaustive lists of English commentaries and evaluates each of them in short paragraphs. Though written from an evangelical perspective, his analyzes are fair and helpful. For my own recommendations see http://prophetess.lstc.edu/~rklein/ and look under Old Testament: Commentary Recommendations. RWK

The Song of Songs. Translated and edited by Richard A. Norris, Jr. (Eerdmans, $40). Drawing on commentaries and sermons during the first six centuries of Christianity and the Latin Middle Ages, N. illustrates Christian readings of this ancient love poem. For early Christians the Song of Songs ranked with the Psalms and the Gospels as top resources for describing the believer's relationship with God. N. translates the largely allegorical comments by Origen, Gregory the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Augustine, etc. and arranges them as verse-by-verse comments on the biblical text. The translations provided by N. are based on the Septuagint and Vulgate, which were the texts used by the ancient commentators. This is the first volume in a new commentary series edited by Robert L. Wilken (The Church's Bible) designed to present the Holy Scriptures as understood during the first Christian millennium. RWK

Useless Beauty. Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film. By Robert K. Johnston. (Baker Academic, $17.99) J. argues: "Contemporary movies afford interpreters a deeper access to Ecclesiastes' center of power and meaning than does much of mainstream Old Testament scholarship" [ouch] and "Conversely, the paradoxes and tensions found in Ecclesiastes can provide interpretive lenses for the viewing of movies." Films reviewed include, among others: About Schmidt; Liar, Liar; Magnolia; Pleasantville; My Name is Joe; The Sixth Sense; and American Beauty. J. seeks to explore what a reader/viewer-oriented criticism might contribute to an understanding of Ecclesiastes and to recover a concern for hearing God's Word anew. RWK

Genesis, the Movie. By Robert Farrar Capon (Eerdmans, $28). C. writes a commentary on Genesis 1-3 by "watching" the Bible as a historical movie whose director is God. He thus attempts to get beyond the battles over historicity by comparing the readers' experience to that of the viewers of movies. Each section of the commentary begins with a printout of the Hebrew, Septuagint, Vulgate, KJV, RSV, and NRSV, that sort of blunts the movie metaphor for me, as do the frequent, long Hebrew, Greek, and Latin citations. C. draws on Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Julian of Norwich and from a host of modern poets and adds his usual spunky comments. RWK

The Bible in History. By David W. Kling (Oxford). Each chapter begins with a Bible verse, the interpretation of which has shaped a significant Christian event: monasticism, the papacy, Bernard and the Song of Songs, Luther, Anabaptists and the peace tradition, the African American experience, Pentecostalism, and women's ordination. These texts have shaped history, and history has shaped the interpretation of these texts. In K's opinion the exodus theme of deliverance and liberation became the most significant myth for American Black identity, and Galatians 3:28 became the locus classicus in defense of the full participation of women in ministry, superseding other texts that would restrict women's role. Texts have served as transforming agents—Anthony heard Matt 19:21 and gave away all his possessions to follow Christ, Bernard pored over the Song of Songs and experienced a mystical encounter with divine reality, and Luther "sweated over" Romans 1:17 and came to a new realization of God's grace. RWK

Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Edited by Timothy F. Lull. Second Edition with CD-Rom, edited by William R. Russell (Fortress, $). L. died in 2003, and R., a long-time friend, guided the second edition to publication. New here are more personal, autobiographical pieces, as well as Luther’s Preface to Romans, The Estate of Marriage, the Marburg Colloquy, and other items. The CD-Rom includes the full text, links to other resources, a short biography of Luther, a research-paper guide, and a glossary.

Inspired Speech. Prophecy in the Ancient Near East. Essays in Honor of Herbert B. Huffmon. Edited by John Kaltner and Louis Stulman (T & T Clark International, $125; available from Eisenbrauns for $87.38). Huffmon, who studied with the likes of Albright, Cross, Mendenhall, and Wright, has written important studies on the Amorite language, prophecy at Mari, and other Old-Testament related topics. Most of the thirty-one essays in this Festschrift deal with prophecy in Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Among noteworthy contributions is a discussion by Robert R. Wilson of the importance of the relationship between oral and written literature in study of the biblical prophets. David A. Leiter also treats visions of peace in Isaiah (2:1-4; 9:1-7; 11:1-9; 32:1-20; 35:1-10; 55:1-13; 60:17-22; and 65:17-25). Because of the many judgment oracles in the prophets, contemporary readers often miss the fact that peace has the last word. RWK

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. By Daniel J. Simundson (Abingdon, $32). S. emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, has written a highly competent and very accessible interpretation of the first six minor prophets. Based on the NRSV, the Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries avoid extensive philological comments, but S. excels in presenting mainstream critical interpretation clearly, and his judicious remarks on the ethical and theological significance of these books are right on. Micah, for example, is exceedingly harsh in its judgments, but ends with a description of a God who is forgiving, merciful and faithful. S. urges that the whole book of Micah needs to read in the light of the way that it ends. RWK