Reading Through Theology of the OT: by Walter Brueggemann #3

This post continues my reading through Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy, by Walter Brueggemann. In chapter 3 Brueggemann begins the explanation of his own Old Testament theology. This is where the meaty part of the book begins and I already enjoying his insights into the text. I have been posting quotes from the book on my Facebook page on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (NT is Mon-Wed-Fri) and we can discuss comments and questions about the passage there. As usual my comments are in black and quotes from the theology are in blue below. I am using the Logos version of the book.…

Brueggemann sees the Old Testament as primarily a witness to what God has done and said in the life of Israel. Thus, it is more important to understand clearly what is being said than to try and explain the reality behind it (although that is a legitimate area for study). So the Old Testament is a witness to the reality of Israel's experience with God. God both acts and speaks in a righteous way that sets things right for Israel. Israel responds with public acts and words of thanksgiving. The writer wants the reader (listener) to make a decision about God based on his witness. God is portrayed as active, righteous, merciful, forgiving and covenant-keeping. There is no other god like YHWH. YHWH is the center of Israel's reality.

The beginning point for articulating an Old Testament theology is in the liturgical, public acknowledgment of a new reality wrought by Yahweh in the life of the speaker and in the community of the speaker. 128

The much greater and more pervasive problem in ancient Israel is not a refusal to speak of Yahweh—that is, not a practical readiness to dismiss Yahweh as a factor in life, but the temptation to engage in wrong speech about Yahweh, which amounts to idolatry. 136

Israel’s characteristic grammar in speaking of Yahweh, governed by active verbs, regularly insisted that Yahweh is a major player in Israel’s life and in the life of the world. Yahweh’s characteristic presentation in Israel’s rhetoric is that Yahweh acts powerfully, decisively, and transformatively. Yahweh is morally serious and demanding, so that Yahweh is endlessly attentive to distinctions of good and evil, justice and injustice. 137

Israel does not begin with some generic notion of God, to which Yahweh conforms. It begins its utterance, rather, in witness to what it has seen and heard and received from Yahweh. It is Yahweh and only Yahweh who provides the peculiar norms by which “godness” is now understood in Israel. It is clear to Israel, moreover, that beyond Yahweh, there are no serious candidates for the role of God. 144