Monthly Archives: May 2019

Quote of the Day

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Today, there was a mass shooting in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

  • Today in Japan, there wasn’t.
  • Today in Germany, there wasn’t.
  • Today in Australia, there wasn’t.
  • Today in the UK, there wasn’t.
  • Today in Italy, there wasn’t.
  • Today in France, there wasn’t.

J. Rehling

An Apology

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To any who have felt put upon or offended by my at times gruff or brusque posts and my 16th century-esque sense of humor (which some clearly don’t find humorous), I apologize. Sincerely.

It has never been my intention to hurt anyone’s feelings. I am, in fact as those who know me in person know, a very amiable person.

But it seems that I have hurt some and that is both unacceptable and regretable.

I make no excuses. I offer no evasions. I can do better. I can be better. I will be better.

The Newest from Konrad Schmid: A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible

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Here–

In this meticulously researched study, Konrad Schmid offers a historical clarification of the concept of “theology.” He then examines the theologies of the three constituent parts of the Hebrew Bible—the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings— before tracing how these theological concepts developed throughout the history of ancient Israel and early Judaism.

Schmid not only explores the theology of the biblical books in isolation, but he also offers unifying principles and links between the distinct units that make up the Hebrew Bible. By focusing on both the theology of the whole Hebrew Bible as well as its individual pieces, A Historical Theology of the Hebrew Bible provides a comprehensive discussion of theological work within the Hebrew Bible.

The nine chapters and their forty-two sections here presented offer readers a guidebook into the theology of the Hebrew Bible.  As he moves from the question of the discipline of Old Testament Theology itself to the sundry manifestations of that discipline from antiquity through the Reformation to the Enlightenment and the Romantic Period he provides an overview of the discipline suitable for emulation and admiration.  Methodologically, Schmid’s development of his theme is exceptional.  Content-wise, he addresses all the key issues and readers find new light shed on them.

Schmid then considers the discipline of Theology in a Jewish context and from there he turns to Old Testament theology’s encounter with Dialectical theology and up to the present.

Once that is done, and it takes two chapters to do it, Schmid turns his attention, and ours, to a more precise discussion of the ‘Hebrew Bible’ and the ‘Old Testament’ – with all that those terms imply.  From their roots to their transformations.  This means that he must also discuss various methodological approaches to the text of the Bible (whether Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) and their implications for our understanding of the Bible.

In chapter five, then, Schmid is set free to describe the theologians of the HB/OT and in chapter six he reads more particularly in the topics of the Law, Prophets, and Writings and gleans for readers their theologies.

This brings Schmid to something of a reconstructed History of Israel into which are set the theologies and their theologians.

Chapter eight, the most engaging of the whole (for the present reviewer), is a survey of the various themes of Old Testament theology including God’s Acts, Life in the World, The God of History, Political Theology, Law, The Temple, the People of God, the Monarchy, Zion and Sinai, the place of Mankind in the plan of God, and the varieties of Old Testament theologies.

The final chapter is a very helpful discussion of the importance of the Hebrew Bible for Jews and the Old Testament for Christians.

Each section is prefaced by a thorough and up to date bibliography and there are topical pointers, not  in the margins on each page so that readers can very quickly scan in each section and discover the subject most of interest to them as in the German edition, but as paragraph headers.  An index of authors, an index of subjects, and an index of Scriptures bring the volume to a close.

Various portions of the present work have appeared in earlier published form.  These are few, though, and Schmid describes them in the foreword.  In the German edition he also makes mention of his utilization of the 2017 edition of the Zurich Bible for his Biblical texts.  The English edition contains no such note.

The volume at hand is very much worth reading.  In spite of the fact that the German title is more precise than the English.

Not since Gerhard von Rad’s Old Testament Theology has a work been so engaging, useful, and insightful.  It deserves to be, nay, it must be read by all students of the Hebrew Bible.  It is the ideal theological compendium.

NB- For the review of the German edition, see here.

Theologie des Alten Testaments

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Konrad Schmid has a new volume- Theologie des Alten Testaments.

Unter den Teildisziplinen der alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft galt die Theologie des Alten Testaments lange als deren vornehmste Aufgabe. Doch in den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde mehr und mehr undeutlich, was eine Theologie des Alten Testaments eigentlich zu leisten habe. Konrad Schmid wendet sich zuerst der historischen Klärung des Theologiebegriffs in Anwendung auf die Bibel zu, diskutiert dann die Vielgestaltigkeit vorliegender Hebräischer Bibeln und Alter Testamente, um dann die theologischen Prägungen der Bücher und Sammlungen des Alten Testaments anhand prominenter Leittexte zu erheben. Weiter schließt der Autor eine Skizze zur Theologiegeschichte des Alten Testaments sowie eine thematisch orientierte und historisch differenzierte Darstellung wichtiger Themen alttestamentlicher Theologie mit ein. Der Band versteht sich gleichzeitig als eine gewisse Synthese der gegenwärtigen Forschung am Alten Testament in theologischer Perspektive.

See the Mohr website for the table of contents and other details.  They will not be unnecessarily repeated here.

The nine chapters and their forty-two sections here presented offer readers a guidebook into the theology of the Hebrew Bible.  As he moves from the question of the discipline of Old Testament Theology itself to the sundry manifestations of that discipline from antiquity through the Reformation to the Enlightenment and the Romantic Period he provides an overview of the discipline suitable for emulation and admiration.  Methodologically, Schmid’s development of his theme is exceptional.  Content-wise, he addresses all the key issues and readers find new light shed on them.

Schmid then considers the discipline of Theology in a Jewish context and from there he turns to Old Testament theology’s encounter with Dialectical theology and up to the present.

Once that is done, and it takes two chapters to do it, Schmid turns his attention, and ours, to a more precise discussion of the ‘Hebrew Bible’ and the ‘Old Testament’ – with all that those terms imply.  From their roots to their transformations.  This means that he must also discuss various methodological approaches to the text of the Bible (whether Hebrew Bible or Old Testament) and their implications for our understanding of the Bible.

In chapter five, then, Schmid is set free to describe the theologians of the HB/OT and in chapter six he reads more particularly in the topics of the Law, Prophets, and Writings and gleans for readers their theologies.

This brings Schmid to something of a reconstructed History of Israel into which are set the theologies and their theologians.

Chapter eight, the most engaging of the whole (for the present reviewer), is a survey of the various themes of Old Testament theology including God’s Acts, Life in the World, The God of History, Political Theology, Law, The Temple, the People of God, the Monarchy, Zion and Sinai, the place of Mankind in the plan of God, and the varieties of Old Testament theologies.

The final chapter is a very helpful discussion of the importance of the Hebrew Bible for Jews and the Old Testament for Christians.

Each section is prefaced by a thorough and up to date bibliography and there are topical pointers in the margins on each page so that readers can very quickly scan in each section and discover the subject most of interest to them.  A brief Scripture index and a fairly short subject/ person index bring the volume to a close.

Various portions of the present work have appeared in earlier published form.  These are few, though, and Schmid describes them in the foreword.  He also makes mention of his utilization of the 2017 edition of the Zurich Bible for his Biblical texts.

The volume at hand is very much worth reading.  And, fortunately, has already been translated into English so that those unskilled in German will nonetheless have the opportunity to access the profound learning contained in these pages.

Not since Gerhard von Rad’s Old Testament Theology has a work been so engaging, useful, and insightful.  It deserves to be, nay, it must be read by all students of the Hebrew Bible.  It is the ideal theological compendium.

NB- For the review of the English Edition, see here.

Kids and Their Political Leanings: An Observation

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All kids are little Communists. They’re born Communists and they remain Communists until they have to live on their own. Then they become Republicans.

Then, once they have ‘enough’ and their own kids come along they become Democrats because they then realize that they should care about others.  And they remain Democrats until they die.

Ancient Near East Today…

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Is by far the best ‘biblical archaeology’ (and so much more) magazine out there. If you’re going to subscribe to an archaeology magazine, pick one with a great pair of editors and a bevy of scholars second to none.

You won’t regret it.

If You Know This Man, Let His Employer Know What Kind of Person He Is

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Because this kind of racist wretch doesn’t deserve a job.

A man in the Sacramento area is caught on camera harassing a teenager, accusing her of being in the country illegally.

The video was then posted online. The teenager in the video says the rude, racist comments came out of nowhere.  The man is seen on camera refusing to leave, telling the girl she’ll have to face the cops.  It all happened in broad daylight outside a park and community center popular with local teenagers.  “As a parent and someone in this community obviously that behavior is appalling,” said Jason Jimenez with Elk Grove police.

Jimenez has talked with the teen’s family, saying police have had issues with this man before, but wouldn’t elaborate.  “We would suggest to people that are in incidents like that to quickly call us,” he said.  The man was not arrested and can not be charged with anything in this situation.  Jimenez says an arrest would require some form of violence, like property damage or assault.

The harassment seen in the video is shocking to local mom Alicia Reynhea.  “I was just there over the weekend and if someone were to every approach my son like that, I would be heated,” she said.  Elk Grove police say the man was harassing other people the same day the video was taken, but they are unsure if that was also racially motivated.

Publicity Idea for the Seeker and Emergent ‘Churches’ on Ascension Day

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I have an idea for you Emergents and Seekers.  You’re always looking for gimmicks to get people in your cults (since you don’t have the Gospel).  So here’s one:  ‘Ascension Adventures’ where you give hot air balloon rides to people and you talk about the ascension of Jesus!

(Please send royalty checks to me via paypal if you use my idea).