Q. Near the very end of the book you make some passing remarks that many Christians will find jarring. For example, you say on p. 248 that the notion of a particular coming messiah is not found in the OT (not even in Is. 52-53, as some NT writers thought?). On the following page you say that the writers of the Bible did not conceive of God as triune. It seems to me that the latter is not quite accurate... Read more
Q. It’s interesting that you chose the Elisha story in 2 Kings as the jumping off point for discussing monotheism, even though the person making the monotheistic remarks is a foreigner named Naaman rather than Elisha. Any reason for not discussing this in conjunction with the Shema and its implications? A. Well, it’s partly because I’ve already discussed the Shema in my OT Theology. But one of my reasons for choosing the story of Naaman (other than that I like... Read more
Q. Let’s talk about your affirmation of the definition of monotheism on p. 182. This is a subject you’ve dealt with at length, though I wonder if you’ve interacted with Richard Bauckham’s idea that when Jesus is called God in the NT what is meant is that he shares in the divine identity, and that the ‘oneness’ referred to in the OT is not about ontology or the number of persons in the Godhead. This would seem to be supported... Read more
Q. The Inscrutable God chapter is certainly very challenging. It reminded me of the end of a poem I wrote some time ago which says ‘God’s way are not our ways/ our eyes cannot see/ the logic of love/ nailed to a tree.” My point is that ‘all is not made plain’ even in the NT when it comes to the ultimate mysteries of God’s ways with us. Our tendency to want simple and clear answers to everything leads to... Read more
Q. On p. 153 you enunciate a principle of how to read the OT which in fact I have stressed throughout my treatment of such things in my Biblical Theology volume. You say, “The OT does not address the issue of eternal destiny (however much its content may be open to being developed in such terms) but rather is concerned with the relationship with God and the purpose of life in this world.” The only caveat I would have to... Read more
Q. One of the things your discussion of the Cain story does is remind me that Hebrew is often allusive and elusive as well, since so many renderings are possible of a verse, not least if we think the vowel pointing may not be definitive but rather a later imposition on the text. How exactly does one avoid the paralysis of analysis, or say anything definitive or likely at all with a text that has so many possible renderings? If... Read more
Q. I was glad to see you tackling the conundrums of the story of Cain and Abel, which do indeed suggest other human beings are on the face of the earth, and this is implied before any mention in Gen. 5 that Adam and Eve had further children. Have you considered that the way to look at such stories is that they are stories told to explain the origins of God’s people, the Hebrews and not necessarily everyone on planet... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In