Description
Theology in Language, Rhetoric, and Beyond places before a broad audience of students and general readers theological essays on both the Old and New Testaments. Theology is seen to derive from a number of sources: the biblical language, biblical rhetoric and composition, academic disciplines other than philosophy, and above all a careful exegesis of the biblical text.
The essay on Psalm 23 makes use of anthropology and human-development theory; the essay on Deuteronomy incorporates Wisdom themes; the essay called “Jeremiah and the Created Order” looks at ideas not only about God and creation but also about the seldom-considered idea of God and a return to chaos; and the essay on the “Confessions of Jeremiah” examines, not the words that this extraordinary prophet was given by God to preach, but what he himself felt and experienced in the office to which he was called. One essay on “Biblical and Theological themes” includes a translation into the African language of Lingala, which weaves together the story of early Christianity with the more recent founding of churches in Africa and Asia.
Jack R. Lundbom argues eloquently through these essays that theology is rooted in biblical words, in themselves, in rhetoric and their different contexts.
About the Author
Jack R. Lundbom has most recently been Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Among his many books are the three-volume Jeremiah in the Anchor Bible commentary series (1999, 2004) and Jeremiah among the Prophets (James Clarke & Co, 2013).
Contents
Permissions
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Grace and Favor in the Old Testament: Hebrew hnn
2. Burning Anger in the Old Testament: Hebrew hrh, yst, and yqd
3. God in Your Grace Transform the World
4. Biblical and Theological Themes
Translation into Lingala / Rev. Richard Anderson
5. Deuteronomy
6. Yahweh Comes to Be King on Earth (Deut 33:2-5)
7. And the Word of the Lord Came to Huldah
8. Jeremiah and the Created Order
9. The Confessions of Jeremiah
10. Psalm 23: Song of Passage
11. Mary Magdalene and Song of Songs 3:1-4
12. All Great Works of God Begin in Secret
13. Theology in Language, Rhetoric, and Beyond
Index of Scriptural References
Index of Authors and Names
Endorsements and Reviews
Those who know Jack R. Lundbom as a first-rank commentator and exegete will be delighted with this selection of his essays, which range from technical studies of key Old Testament terms of theological importance to reflections on themes across the two Testaments to imaginative readings of familiar texts, such as Psalm 23 and John 20 (against the background of Song of Songs), to personal and pastoral perspectives that are rich and heart-warming and eminently readable.
Robert P. Gordon, University of Cambridge
This is a book which is easily accessible to interested but non-specialist readers and which avoids technical debates within scholarship while at the same time enunciating a fresh methodology for examining and communicating theology.
Mary E Mills, in Theological Book Review, Vol 28, No 1
