The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality - International Voices in ...

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What Is Biblical Spirituality? 117 anxious to learn how the story or stories concern us… [B]y releasing God [i.e., through the act of interpreting the biblical stories], we are able to find ourselves. 15 Interestingly, the givenness of the canon is to our good, precisely because of the contradictions it contains, which militates against singular or dictatorial spiritualities in any time and place. 16 It is the diversity of Old Testament presentations of God—as male and female, for instance 17 —that feeds us. Covenant features as a metaphor for the relationship between God and humans, with the latter standing in fundamental relationships with other humans and with nature too. 18 These and other themes—some of which relate closely to traditional topics in spiritual writings: the image of God; freedom; wisdom—are presented as invitations. In this way, most of the literary genres in the Old Testament are covered, even though some do lend themselves better than others to a presentation as invitation. As a general approach, Craghan chooses a theme for each chapter of the book that is discussed in an applicatory introduction and conclusion, which together sandwich an expository section. The latter comprises mature exegetical-theological analyses of the theme from different sections of the Old Testament primarily, but often with brief references to New Testament passages, too. These analyses draw unapologetically and, frankly, piously (though never pietistically), on historical-critical studies, with the implicit assumption that the reader is aware of the basic aspects of historical methodology. The J and P sources of the Pentateuch, as they were understood in the 1970s and 1980s, feature prominently 15 Craghan, Love and Thunder, 75 16 Ibid., 4–5. 17 Ibid., 7–15; cf. ix, 195–211. Here Craghan draws strongly on the works of Phyllis Trible. 18 Ibid., 29–39, 17–27, passim.
118 The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality in Craghan’s writing. Craghan also draws on the ancient Near Eastern cultural and textual backgrounds. With this approach, Craghan seeks to merge histories: the past histories we find reflected in the holy texts, with the present histories of people living their lives in discussion with these texts. In so doing, Craghan draws heavily on the works of Gerhard von Rad 19 and Walter Brueggemann, 20 both of whom share with Craghan a strong inclination of bringing ancient texts and modern concerns into critical dialogue—with neither ever in a historically decontextualised setting. Here, history meets history, with both the uncertainties and the concreteness this implies intact. 5. Sheriffs’s Old Testament Spirituality Taking his cue from Ps 25, Sheriffs’s Old Testament spirituality is arranged around the theme of the friendship of the Lord. 21 This choice is not entirely secure, since it is only the New Revised Standard Version translation of 1989 that renders� hw"hy> dAs � in Ps 25:14 as “friendship of the Lord,” and rarely are any of the other six occurrences of� dAs � interpreted as “friendship.” However, this theme is not put forward in such a forceful way that it runs into the same reductionist difficulties as have many Old Testament Theologies, 22 even though Sheriffs is more consistent than Craghan in employing his chosen central theme. Acknowledging the importance of the historical contexts of the Old Testament texts, the role of hermeneutics, and the fact that the 19 Cf. e.g. G. von Rad, The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1966). 20 Cf. e.g. W. Brueggemann, In Man We Trust. The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith (Richmond: John Knox, 1972). 21 See D. Sheriffs, The Friendship of the Lord. An Old Testament Spirituality (Repr., Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2004). 22 Cf. H. D. Preuβ, Theologie des Alten Testaments, Band 1: JHWHs erwählendes und verpflichtendes Handeln (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1991), 1–27.
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International Voices in Biblical St
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International Voices in Biblical St
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Copyright © 2012 by the Society of
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Table of Contents Betwixt Text and
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viii Introduction various coloniali
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The Old Testament in Christian Spir
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Undervaluation of the Old Testament
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Four South African Proposals for a
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A Central Theme to “Scriptural Sp
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11 A Central Theme to “Scriptural
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Four Recent Books on Spirituality a
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Spirituality of the Psalms 55 • F
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Spirituality of the Psalms 57 in th
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Spirituality of the Psalms 59 emplo
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Spirituality of the Psalms 61 This
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Spirituality of the Psalms 63 uncon
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Spirituality of the Psalms 65 a rep
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168 The Old Testament and Christian
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Exegesis and Spirituality * ABSTRAC
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Exegesis and Spirituality 173 the t
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Exegesis and Spirituality 175 this
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Exegesis and Spirituality 177 If we
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Exegesis and Spirituality 183 empha
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Exegesis and Spirituality 185 Donah
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Exegesis and Spirituality 187 —
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Exegesis and Spirituality 189 Vorst
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The emerging discipline of Biblical
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