Reviewed Book: Brueggemann, Walter. A social reading of the Old Testament: prophetic approaches to Israel\u27s communal life. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1994

Becker, Dennis

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 22Issue 1 Canadian Lutherans and Social Justice:Sampling of a HeritageArticle 115-1-1996A social reading of the Old Testament: propheticapproaches to Israel's communal lifeDennis BeckerFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationBecker, Dennis (1996) "A social reading of the Old Testament: prophetic approaches to Israel's communal life," Consensus: Vol. 22 : Iss.1 , Article 11.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol22/iss1/11Book Reviews 115argument which Paul uses to defend his central conviction (Christ as saviourof all on equal terms) against objections raised from Jewdsh or Jewish Chris-tian quarters. While Barrett is well aware of this development (e.g., p. 83),he tends to give it short shrift, continuing to see justification by faith ascentral to Paul (indeed, to Christian existence itself; see pp. 174-175), andopposition to legalistic religion as the substance of his “works” language.Readers’ appreciation of this aspect of Barrett’s book will vary, of course,according to where they hang their theological hats.The book concludes with two shorter chapters, one dealing with “the se-quel” to Paul’s thought in the six disputed letters, the other containing briefbut incisive observations about the significance of Paul for today. Thesechapters round out what can only be described as a superlative introduc-tion, one that will in its own way help to ensure Paul’s ongoing significancefor today.Terence L. DonaldsonCollege of Emmanuel and St. ChadSaskatoon, SaskatchewanA Social Reading of the Old Testament: PropheticApproaches to Israel’s Communal LifeWalter BrueggemannEdited by Patrick D. MillerMinneapolis: Fortress, 1994328 pp.A Social Reading of the Old Testament is a collection of fifteen previ-ously published essays by one of the most accessible Old Testament teach-ers, Walter Brueggemann. In his erudite and yet lucid manner, Bruegge-mann encourages a social reading of the text which simultaneously chal-lenges contemporary society and reveals new avenues of possibility.The essays in A Social Reading are grouped into three sections. Thethree essays of Part I, Guidelines a,nd Approaches, are programmatic. In“Trajectories in Old Testament Literature and the Sociology of AncientIsrael”, Brueggemann traces two competing trajectories in the Old Testa-ment, the royal (Davidic) trajectory which presents God as faithfully sup-porting the powers that be, and the liberation (Mosaic) trajectory whichsupports societal have-nots.It becomes soon evident that Brueggemann is clearly more comfort-able with the liberation stream. Indeed, the two other essays of Part I,“Covenant as a Subversive Paradigm”, and “Covenant as Social Possibil-ity”, deal with covenant clearly from the Mosaic point of view.Covenant for Brueggemann is more than a theological construct. To en-ter into a covenant relationship with God affects the whole realm of society.116 Consensuspolitical and social. Members of the covenant community will be charac-terized by justice, freedom, abundance, and compassion and will strive totransform the whole of society to reflect the same.Part II, A Social Reading of Particular Texts, and Part III, A So-cial Reading of Particular Readings, are comprised of a series of four andeight essays respectively which demonstrate the practicableness of Bruegge-mann’s theory.Part II essays include, “Social Criticism and Social Vision in theDeuteronomic Formula of the Judges”, “ ‘Vine and Fig Tree’: A Case Studyin Imagination and Criticism”, “At the Mercy of Babylon: A SubversiveRereading of the Empire”, and “A Poem of Summons (Isaiah 55:1-3) anda Narrative Resistance (Daniel 1)”.Part III essays are, “Israel’s Social Criticism and Yahweh’s Sexuality”,“Theodicy in a Social Dimension”, “The Social Nature of the Biblical Textfor Preaching”, “The Prophet as a Destabilizing Presence”, “The Social Sig-nificance of Solomon as a Patron of Wisdom”, “Rethinking Church Modelsthrough Scripture”, “Reflections on Biblical Understandings of Property”,and “Revelation and Violence: A Study in Contextualization”.I offer several quotations to pique your interest. In “The Social Natureof the Biblical Text for Preaching”, Brueggemann argues that preachersare world makers: “An evangelical understanding of reality asserts. . . thatall of our presumed givens are provisional and open to newness, a newnessthat may be enacted in the act of preaching” (p. 218).In the apropos study “Rethinking Church Models through Scripture”,Brueggemann asserts, “What must survive is an alternative communitywith an alternative memory and an alternative social perception rooted ina peculiar text, identified by a peculiar genealogy, and signed by peculiarsacraments, a community of peculiar people not excessively beholden to theempire and not lusting after domestication into the empire” (p. 274).A Social Reading of the Old Testament with its wide range of texts andtopics is ideal for discussion groups, and is a must read for pastors, whoregularly engage in interpretation of both text and society.Dennis BeckerFaith Lutheran ChurchOshawa, OntarioSarah Laughed: Women’s Voices in the Old TestamentTrevor DennisNashville: Abingdon Press, 1994ix + 197 pp.“Meaning is not to be found, so much as created,” writes Trevor Dennisin the introduction to his book. This is what the book attempts to do. It

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