An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In the pages of the Hebrew Bible, ancient Israel gave witness to its encounter with a profound and uncontrollable reality experienced through relationship. This book, drawn from the heart of foremost Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann’s Theology of the Old Testament, distills a career’s worth of insights into the core message of the Hebrew Bible. God is described there, Brueggemann observes, as engaging four “partners”—Israel, the nations, creation, and the human being—in the divine purpose. This volume presents Brueggemann at his most engaging, offering profound insights tailored especially for the beginning student of the Hebrew Bible.
In the Logos edition, this valuable volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Scripture citations link directly to English translations, and important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to find exactly what you’re looking for. Take the discussion with you using tablet and mobile apps. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.
Key Features
- Examines God as a “God in relationship,” and what effect this plays on our understanding of him
- Presents the Old Testament as a dialogue between God and man
- Requires the reader to reexamine their faith, and how they view the God of the Old Testament
Contents
- YHWH as Dialogical Character
- YHWH as Active Agent
- “Common Theology” Transposed
- Jewish Probes of the Dialogical
- God in Pathos
- The Speech of Dialogical Fidelity
- Regulation via Imagination
- Israel as YHWH’s Partner
- YHWH’s Originary Love for Israel
- Israel’s Covenantal Obligation
- Israel Recalcitrant and Scattered
- YHWH’s Fresh Turn toward Israel
- Israel Regathered in Obedience
- Israel’s Narrative Life in Four Texts
- Israel and, Belatedly, the Church
- The Human Person as YHWH’s Partner
- Covenantal Notions of Personhood
- Human Persons Commensurate to YHWH’s Sovereignty and Mercy
- Characteristic Markings of Covenantal Humanness
- Covenantal Existence as Alternative Humanness
- Covenantal Humanness in Two Texts
- The Nations as YHWH’s Partner
- The Large Horizon of YHWH’s Governance
- The Nations vis-à-vis Israel
- YHWH and the Superpowers
- The Possibility of Legitimate Power in the World of YHWH
- Creation as YHWH’s Partner
- A World Blessed and Fruitful
- Creation in Jeopardy
- The World beyond Nullification
- Creation at YHWH’s Behest
- The Drama of Partnership with YHWH
- Recurring Pattern in the Partners
- Israel’s Articulation of YHWH
- Materials for a Metanarrative
Praise for the Print Edition
A luminous and honest reading of the relationality that animates the Hebrew Scriptures. Brueggemann’s masterful exposition of the fragility and resilience of covenant will leave readers unsettled indeed, for here we glimpse a God who is indescribably powerful yet ‘deeply at risk’ in relationships . . .
—Carolyn J. Sharp, associate professor of Hebrew Scriptures, Yale Divinity School
Product Details
- Title: An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible
- Author: Walter Brueggemann
- Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 199
- Christian Group: Reformed
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Hebrew Bible
About Walter Brueggemann
Walter Brueggemann through his teaching, lecturing, and writing, has effectively demonstrated the significance of the Old Testament for our fractured world today. Recognized as the preeminent interpreter of the ancient texts in relation to questions posed by a variety of academic disciplines, he has shown the way toward a compelling understanding of the major components of the faith and life of ancient Israel, especially in the Psalms, the prophets, and narrative texts of the Hebrew Bible. His award-winning Theology of the Old Testament quickly became a foundational work in the field.
Brueggemann holds a ThD from Union Theological Seminary in New York and a PhD from St. Louis University. Now professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, he was formerly the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Before that, he was professor of Old Testament at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. His many Fortress Press books, including The Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power, and Weakness, exhibit a fruitful combination of imaginative power, sound scholarship, and a passion of justice and redemption.
Top Highlights
“that the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, live differently and need to be attended to in different ways.” (Page 27)
“The big idea of this book (that echoes the big idea of the Old Testament) is that the God of ancient Israel (who is the creator of heaven and earth) is a God in relationship, who is ready and able to make commitments and who is impinged upon by a variety of ‘partners’ who make a difference in the life of God.” (Page xi)
“This suggests that the defining category for faith in the Old Testament is dialogue, whereby all parties—including God—are engaged in a dialogic exchange that is potentially transformative for all parties … including God.” (Page xii)
“The peculiar character of this God is as available agent who is not only able to act but is available to be acted upon.” (Page 9)
“‘God’ as rendered in the Old Testament is a fully articulated personal agent, with all the particularities of personhood and with a full repertoire of traits and actions that belong to a fully formed and actualized person.” (Page 2)