Old Testament Theology

Spectres of YHWH - Deuteronomy and hauntology

by Jaco Gericke

Hagar: A Portrait of a Victim of Domestic Violence and Rape by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion Project

This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This... more This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of  domestic violence and rape.  This ranges from the U.S. redefinition of rape to include men to Nigeria’s first anti-rape toll free hotline for women.  There is even a male movement to stand against rape.  This problem is an ongoing issue, one that shows no sign of diminishing or going away.  According to Amnesty International, one in three women worldwide have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused and their abuser is normally someone they know.  As I contemplate this very difficult issue, I am reminded of the Biblical Hagar in Genesis 16. The story of Hagar and Sarai is abundant

Men Can Stop Rape (http://www.mencanstoprape.org/)

in ethical situations that draw in the reader and presents complex issues that can be very troublesome.  If you take the text hermeneutically, through an ideological examination in its English translation, we have an Egyptian woman, who is also referred to as slave or concubine, forced to engage into sex with her owner’s husband for producing an heir.  Here the abuser is a woman with a docile and obedient husband portrayed by Abram.  What can we  glean from such a story for today’s battered women?  Hope or horrific defeat?

Does Yahweh exist? A critique of realism in Old Testament theology

by Jaco Gericke

An early attempt during my militant atheist phase at showing why realism in Old Testament theology is problematic. Looking back almost a decade after the study began, I would have approached or presented the matter somewhat differently, if at all.

The Formation of Godly Community: Old Testament Hermeneutics in the Presence of the Other

by Carolyn Sharp

Yhwh and the mystery of existence

by Jaco Gericke

Fundamentalism on stilts: A response to Alvin Platinga’s reformed epistemology

by Jaco Gericke

Ancient Israelite perspectives on the meaning of life

by Jaco Gericke

Realism and non-realism in Old Testament theology

by Jaco Gericke

Towards a philosophical theology of the Old Testament

by Jaco Gericke

What is a god? A philosophical perspective on the concept of generic godhood in ancient Israelite religion

by Jaco Gericke

Objections to a philosophical approach to Israelite religion and their refutation

by Jaco Gericke

Old Testament theology and philosophy of religion - a historical overview

by Jaco Gericke

"A Theology of the Law: The Form and Function of Torah in the Pentateuch"

by William R. Osborne

Reformed Perspectives Magazine, 14/4 2012

“Recovering Moses: The Contribution of Eric Voegelin and Contemporary Political Science”

by Lee Cheek

“Recovering Moses: The Contribution of Eric Voegelin and Contemporary Political Science," Hebraic Political Studies, Volume 1, Number 4 (Summer 2006).

Penal Substitution in the Old Testament

by William Barrick

Published in The Master's Seminary Journal 20, no. 2 (Fall, 2009): 159-69

Penal substitution refers to God’s gift of His Son to undergo the penalty of death as a substitute for fallen... more Penal substitution refers to God’s gift of His Son to undergo the penalty of death as a substitute for fallen humanity. Some theologians treat this doctrine as non-existent in the Hebrew Bible. A careful examination of the levitical system of animal sacrifices, the Passover, the Day of Atonement, and Isaiah 52:13-53:12 indicate a clear anticipation of the Messiah’s substitutionary death as the penalty for His people’s sins.

Holy Fathers?: Holiness in the Era of the Patriarchs

by William Barrick

Presented at National Meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov 2000, Nashville, TN

At Sinai Yahweh announced that Israel had the potential or privilege of becoming “a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). Holiness... more At Sinai Yahweh announced that Israel had the potential or privilege of becoming “a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). Holiness was a theme of the Sinaitic/Mosaic covenant and its levitical legislation. This is evident in Yahweh’s directive to Israel: “You should become holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy” (Lev 19:2; cf. 11:44, 45; 20:7, 26). Prior to the Book of Exodus the qdv word group is found only once in the patriarchal narratives. Indeed, it is found only in Genesis 2:3 (“Then God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy”). Interestingly, the first employment of the noun (q)d#v) appears in a post-patriarchal context containing a direct reference to the patriarchs:
Then He said, “Do not draw near here. Take your sandals off your feet, because the place upon which you are standing is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am your father’s God—Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God.” So Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (Exod 3:5-6)
Much later, in the NT, Zacharias referred to the Abrahamic covenant as a “holy covenant” (Luke 1:72-73; cf. Ps 105:42) and Peter classified Sarah as one of the “holy women” of old (1 Pet 3:5). Are these merely the summations of later eras steeped in the vocabulary of the Law, or do they reflect an understanding possessed by the patriarchs themselves? Since the xdq word group is employed in the patriarchal narratives (cf. Gen 6:9; 7:1; 15:6; 18:19, 23-28; 20:4; 30:33), could it have been the patriarchal equivalent of qdv? Do the semantic ranges of “holiness” and “righteousness” overlap? Is it theologically accurate to say that “the notion of holiness … is entirely lacking in the patriarchal traditions” (R. W. L. Moberly, The Old Testament of the Old Testament, OBT [Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1992], 99)? A side issue raised by this study involves implications regarding the composition and/or editing of Genesis 1:1 2:3. Does the use of qdv in Genesis 2:3 support a Priestly or Holiness documentary source? Does its employment with reference to the sabbath confirm the influence of sabbatarian theology in the final editing of Genesis?

Conscience, Oral Tradition, Natural Religion, or Later Insertion?: Unwritten Revelation in Genesis 1-11

by William Barrick

Presented at National Meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society, Nov 2011, San Francisco

How did the patriarchs obtain knowledge of matters like sacrifices (Gen 4:3–5)? Could they have actually called upon... more How did the patriarchs obtain knowledge of matters like sacrifices (Gen 4:3–5)? Could they have actually called upon “the name of Yahweh” (4:26)? Did the author (or an editor) of 7:2 insert later levitical concepts of clean animals into the patriarchal narrative? Could the patriarchs have understood the concept of “covenant” (6:18) prior to the existence of the vassal treaties of the late second millennium B.C.? Scholars and theologians wrestle with these references. Such statements in the text of Gen 1–11 relate to issues of composition, revelation, textual updating, intertextuality, general vs. special revelation, and even to reading the NT back into the OT. They also impact the interpretation of other patriarchal texts (e.g., 26:5; Exod 6:3). Does a viable explanation or solution exist that maintains Mosaic authorship of Genesis as well as the inerrancy and integrity of the biblical text?

Review of Tooman, William A. and Michael A. Lyons (eds.),Transforming Visions: Transformations of Text, Tradition, and Theology in Ezekiel

by William R. Osborne

RBL 01/2012

Call for Papers: Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament

by William R. Osborne

www.jesot.org

Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament (JESOT) is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the academic and... more Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament (JESOT) is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the academic and evangelical study of the Old Testament. The journal seeks to fill a need in academia by providing a venue for high-level scholarship on the Old Testament from an evangelical standpoint. The editorial boards consists of OT scholars like T. Desmond Alexander, Matthieu Richelle, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Kenneth A. Mathews, and Cristian Rata. The journal is not affiliated with any particular academic institution, and with an international editorial board, online format, and multi-language submissions, JESOT cultivates and promotes Old Testament scholarship in the evangelical global community. The journal differs from many evangelical journals in that it seeks to publish current academic research in the areas of ancient Near Eastern backgrounds, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinics, Linguistics, Research Methodology, Literary Analysis, Exegesis, Text Criticism, and Theology as they pertain only to the Old Testament. Submissions should be sent to editor@jesot.org. The journal will be freely available to the scholarly community and will be published bi-annually online. Hard copies will be produced by request. JESOT also includes up-to-date book reviews on various academic studies of the Old Testament..

Deuteronomy 26: 16-19 as the central focus of the covenantal framework of Deuteronomy

by Steven Guest