TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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eading; it seems as if one is hearing a good sermon rather than reading a book about homiletics. It also offers extensive notes which are helpful to those who would like to pursue Brueggemann's thoughts. The fact that these notes are from recent and varied sources makes them even more beneficial. They in themselves are a rich resource. A scripture index also increases the book's practicality. Hebrew Bible and New Testament Both Achtemeier and Brueggemann take explicitly Christian approaches to the Hebrew Bible, and both understand their goals to be the Christian preaching of these texts. There are, however, several important differences in their understanding of the relationship between Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Achtemeier argues extensively that Hebrew Bible texts can be preached only if paired with a New Testament text (Achtemeier, 56-59). Her reasoning is clear: apart from the New Testament, the Old Testament does not belong to the Christian church and is not its book. The Old Testament is the word of God to Israel, and unless we Christians have some connection with Israel, the Old Testament is not spoken to us. But of course we do have such a connection. . . The only one who has made us one with Israel, however, is Jesus Christ, and so to hear the message of the Old Testament rightly, as members of God's covenant people, we must hear the Old Testament in Christ. The pairing of Old and New Testament texts acknowledge that fact. (Achtemeier, 56-57) Achtemeier understands Christ as the one who makes the Hebrew Bible part of our religious heritage. In this statement, it is necessary to hear what Achtemeier does not say. She is not arguing for the New Testament to be the lens through which we interpret the Hebrew Bible. Instead, she argues for placing every biblical text in canonical context. Both Hebrew Bible and New Testament texts must at times be corrected by texts from the other testament. Likewise, Achtemeier does not argue for any particular primacy for the New Testament. It is neither a replacement of the earlier revelation nor a completion of inadequate religious ideas. However, 82 QUARTERLY REVIEW/SPRING 1993
it is an indispensable part of the Christian faith and thus of Christian preaching. Nevertheless, Achtemeier insists on the pairing of texts and is very careful about how it should be done. The meaning of the Hebrew Bible text should not be removed through this association of texts. As techniques for the pairing, she suggests a scheme of promise and fulfillment, analogy, common motifs and/or words, common thought, and contrast. Achtemeier's methodological commitment to the pairing of Hebrew Bible and New Testament texts has an obvious result in her book. In every chapter about Hebrew Bible forms, the discussion moves toward a conclusion with a New Testament text and discussion. Two chapters end with the affirmation that Hebrew Bible and New Testament texts agree on the point being considered. Brueggemann does not explicidy address the relationship between the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. All of his extended examples are drawn from the Hebrew Bible, and his references to Hebrew Bible texts outnumber references to New Testament texts by about three to one. However, the New Testament is far from neglected; references to it appear in almost every discussion throughout the book. Brueggemann's consciousness and theology are thoroughly Christian and are quite informed by New Testament ideas. Nevertheless, the logic of Brueggemann's integration of Hebrew Bible and New Testament is quite different from Achtemeier's. Whereas Achtemeier's New Testament references are the point to which the Hebrew Bible texts move, Brueggemann uses New Testament texts as further examples of the theological points under discussion. Brueggemann's theological points all stem from reflection upon Hebrew Bible texts. Brueggemann's textual connections are chiefly historical. He often traces the development of a certain Hebrew Bible thought through texts from the later periods of Israel and from the early Christian community. In these discussions, Brueggemann offers excellent exegetical and theological insights that are true both to biblical scholarship and to the needs of the church. This point is perhaps best illustrated by Brueggemann's discussion of the Ten Commandments, detailed below, and can also be seen in the many passages where he lists Jesus (or another New Testament figure) as an example of the point under discussion. For instance, THE MINISTER'S BOOKSHELF 83
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Quarterly Review/Spring 1993 55.00
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Quarterly Review A Journal of Theol
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VOL. 13, NO. 1 SPRING 1993 Contents
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I have always rather liked the gruf
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of discipleship in the New Testamen
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imagine a week without visiting the
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transform all of life, and all that
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Contemporary North American Christi
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We must now see what it is that cha
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saying "call no one your father in
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13:12). There is no following of Je
Page 24 and 25:
Both New Testament discipleship and
Page 26 and 27:
17. "The Duty of Constant Communion
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earliest Christian congregations be
Page 30 and 31:
his baptism to the experience of Ch
Page 32 and 33:
Holy Spirit comes down willingly fr
Page 34 and 35:
The Sacramental Nature of the Bapti
Page 36 and 37:
to save them from "the wrath to com
Page 38 and 39: aptism—for mature youth and adult
Page 40 and 41: purpose of a rite of maturity is to
Page 42 and 43: church, namely, thatbaptism-chrisma
Page 44 and 45: 31. John Wesley, Works, X: 151. 32.
Page 46 and 47: In Baptismal Covenant I, in the "In
Page 48 and 49: of God without being born of water
Page 50 and 51: they urged a stronger claim for a p
Page 52 and 53: After analyzing how American Method
Page 54 and 55: eferred to as "a symbol of an inner
Page 56 and 57: of baptism is "the washing away the
Page 58 and 59: Although there is only scant likeli
Page 60 and 61: ut the inner man, where we have put
Page 62 and 63: Notes 1. Lawrence Hull Stookey, "Th
Page 64 and 65: 44. Borgen, 159f.; Stein, 319, f, 1
Page 66 and 67: I am not a liturgical scholar or pr
Page 68 and 69: ounden duty...to consecrate our chi
Page 70 and 71: formed in the gospel not only by le
Page 72 and 73: life, for one could always lose gra
Page 74 and 75: However, I have focused on human ac
Page 76 and 77: Osborne, Kenan B. The Christian Sac
Page 78 and 79: It was raining pretty hard one Satu
Page 80 and 81: the same time a young man came to s
Page 82 and 83: theologically unpacked. A pastoral
Page 84 and 85: Elizabeth Achtemeier's Preaching fr
Page 86 and 87: prophets by the traditions of ancie
Page 90 and 91: Brueggemann's discussion of royal v
Page 92 and 93: limitations, even in quite valuable
Page 95 and 96: M. Eugene Boring Interpreting 1 Pet
Page 97 and 98: particular way. The particularity o
Page 99 and 100: in the capital of the empire felt m
Page 101 and 102: location but about the way we relat
Page 103 and 104: answer: Read. Interpret. Examine. B
Page 105 and 106: in liturgical settings. Yet all of
Page 107 and 108: word accomplished by Jesus, who cal
Page 109 and 110: community that does what priests do
Page 111 and 112: kings, slavery as a divinely author
Page 113 and 114: wives and husbands. To each it migh
Page 115 and 116: etained some of the oral style appr
Page 117 and 118: Brox, Norbert. Der erste Petrusbrie
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