Hebrews

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that God is trustworthy—that we can trust in Jesus’s defeat of death to lead us to eternal life. Complicating this crucial message, the letter’s enigmatic origins, dense intertextuality, and complex theological import can present challenges to believers wrestling with the text today.

Amy Peeler opens up Hebrews for Christians seeking to understand God in this learned and pastoral volume of Commentaries for Christian Formation. Her fresh translation and detailed commentary offer insights into Christology, the relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and the letter’s canonical resonances. She pays special attention to how the text approaches redemption, providing consolation for the anxious and correction for the presumptuous.

Peeler explains the letter’s original context while remaining focused on its relevance to Christian communities today. Pastors and lay readers alike will learn how Hebrews helps them know, trust, and love God more deeply.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she has to say.  More anon, as a review copy arrived today.

The Book of Micah

Micah spoke powerfully to the people of Judah millennia ago. His prophecy has the same power to change the minds and hearts of Christians today. As a volume of the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, James D. Nogalski’s fresh commentary on Micah is academically serious and pastorally relevant.  
 
Based on Nogalski’s original translation of the Hebrew text, this commentary takes seriously the historical and theological contexts of the book of Micah. The thorough introduction considers the book’s literary form, its composition, and its function in the canon, especially within the Book of the Twelve. Ample notes point readers to the most relevant, up-to-date critical scholarship. Nogalski explicates Micah’s major themes, including fidelity to Yahweh, abuses of power, and the intriguing juxtaposition of judgment and hope for God’s people. 
 
Combining scholarly rigor with an evangelical point of view, The Book of Micah serves as the perfect companion for scholars, students, and pastors seeking to understand this essential prophet.

The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series is the Evangelical (in the old, good sense of the word) answer to the esteemed International Critical Commentary series.  The ICC, as is probably well known, features volumes written by what can only rightly be called, in most instances, scholars of anything but a Fundamentalist mindset.  That is, they could never be accused of Fundamentalism.

The NICOT is not Fundamentalist in outlook either and it fairly examines the important issues of authorship and historical circumstances, etc.  The tools of Historical Criticism are brought to bear.  As they should be.

But the authors of the NICOT also have a faith commitment and that commitment is obvious on every page.  Those, then, wanting dispassionate disconnected detached analysis of the biblical text apart from a faith perspective will need to look elsewhere (and they won’t find it there either.  Even the most radical critic is ideologically informed).

Nogalski’s work does what most commentaries do.  It introduces the Book of Micah (in this instance), discussing the historical background, the composition of the book, the authorship of the work, textual issues, its place in the canon, and its message for today.  It also offers a fresh translation of the Hebrew text.

Being a commentary it also spends the great bulk of its time commenting.  The text is arranged into sections which are then further divided into subsections and each is carefully analyzed and, surprising no one, evaluated.

The work includes an index of authors, subjects, and ancient texts.

In terms of the content itself, it offers solid, stable, sound guidance for readers of the biblical text.  There’s neither anything earth shattering or controversial in Nogalski’s reading.  It’s simply sensible and sensibly presented.  It, in short, is just downright good work.

Those looking for a useful commentary on the prophet Micah have found it when they open this volume.  Nothing more can be asked of a commentary than that it be helpful.  This is.

«Wenn Gott durch die Finger blinzelt»

Konrad Schmid, Komtur der Johanniterkomturei Küsnacht am Zürichsee und enger Freund Ulrich Zwinglis, hielt am 24. März 1522 in Luzern anlässlich der Prozession auf die Musegg die Festpredigt vor über 3000 Zuhörenden – 15 Tage nach dem Wurstessen bei Froschauer in Zürich. Diese Predigt Schmids ist die älteste gedruckt erhaltene Predigt eines Zürcher Reformators und wurde – wie viele andere seiner Predigten – stark beachtet. Obwohl einzelne von Schmids Formulierungen noch in der aktuellen Zürcher Kirchenordnung erhalten geblieben sind, ging sein Beitrag zur Zürcher Reformation fast vergessen.

The book at hand is a brilliant work of theological historiography.  It expends significant effort to inform inhabitants of our era of the historical context of an important sermon in an epoch of upheaval and change.  Then, having set the stage for Konrad Schmid’s sermon, it provides a short biography of the preacher.  Next the theological context for the sermon is provided (by a different essayist) which is then followed by the story of the printing of the ‘Antwurt’ as a Flugschrift.  Included in this chapter is a facsimile of the Antwurt.

Since facsimiles are sometimes a bit hard to decipher (what with all the strange fonts and such) the next chapter gives readers both a transcription of the Antwurt and a modern translation.

The 6th chapter (if you’ve lost track) is a thorough analysis of the sermon and the seventh chapter an overview of the sermon’s afterlife (or what the kids today call its ‘Reception History’).

The 8th chapter brings readers to a birds eye view of the Reformation in Luzern and the 9th chapter makes the case that the sermon became and served as a key text of the Swiss Reformation.

There are indices for the sources both written and visual (because there are images throughout in full color).

5 Contributors make this volume an absolute delight both to read and to look through.  It is, for lack of a better term, aesthetically beautiful both because of its lovely font and because of its gorgeous illustrations.

But most people don’t buy books because of their aesthetic.  They buy them because they sound interesting or because they’ve been recommended by a friend or because their author is famous and readers want to be able to talk about the newest hit around the water cooler at work.

This book is better than all that.  It doesn’t just sound interesting (take a look at the full table of contents at the link above), it actually is interesting.  It isn’t just recommended by a friend (that would be me), it’s HIGHLY recommended.  And the authors may not be Taylor Swift famous, but when Taylor’s songs lie mouldering in the grave of indifference because the newest pop star has come along in a few years, the authors of this volume will have given us something timeless and profound.  Truly profound, not pop music ‘profound’.

Get a copy.  Read it.  Get your friends a copy.  Make them read it or tell them you’ll no longer be friends with them.  It’s that good.

Tolle, lege!

Judah in the Biblical Period

The collection of essays in this book represents more than twenty years of research on the history and archeology of Judah, as well as the study of the Biblical literature written in and about the period that might be called the “Age of Empires”. This 600-year-long period, when Judah was a vassal Assyrian, Egyptian and Babylonian kingdom and then a province under the consecutive rule of the Babylonian, Persian, Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires, was the longest and the most influential in Judean history and historiography. The administration that was shaped and developed during this period, the rural economy, the settlement pattern and the place of Jerusalem as a small temple, surrounded by a small settlement of (mainly) priests, Levites and other temple servants, characterize Judah during most of its history.

This is the formative period when most of the Hebrew Bible was written and edited, when the main features of Judaism were shaped and when Judean cult and theology were created and developed.

The 36 papers contained in this book present a broad picture of the Hebrew Bible against the background of the Biblical history and the archeology of Judah throughout the six centuries of the “Age of Empires”.

Ministers of Propaganda

Good evangelical Christians are Republican. It seems like it’s always been this way. 
 
That means the propaganda is working. 
 
Scott Coley trains a critical eye on the fusion of evangelicalism and right-wing politics in Ministers of Propaganda. This timely volume unravels rhetoric and biblical prooftexting that support Christo-authoritarianism: an ideology that presses Christian theology into the service of authoritarian politics. Coley’s historically informed argument unsettles evangelical orthodoxy on issues like creation science or female leadership—convictions not as unchanging as powerful religious leaders would have us believe. 
 
Coley explains that we buy into propaganda because of motivated reasoning, and when we are motivated by perceived self-interest, the Christian message is easily corrupted. But if we recover Jesus’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, right-wing propaganda will lose its power. Any reader troubled by American evangelicals’ embrace of racism, misogyny, and other unchristian views will find answers and hope in these pages.

Reformation and Everyday Life

The European reformations meant major changes in theology, religion, and everyday life. Some changes were immediate and visible in a number of countries: monasteries were dissolved, new liturgies were introduced, and married pastors were ordained, others were more hidden. Theologically, as well as practically the position of the church in the society changed dramatically, but differently according to confession and political differences. This volume addresses the question of how the theological, liturgical, and organizational changes changes brought by the reformation within different confessional cultures throughout Europe influenced the everyday life of ordinary people within the church and within society. The different contributions in the book ask how lived religion, space, and everyday life were formed in the aftermath of the reformation, and how we can trace changes in material culture, in emotions, in social structures, in culture, which may be linked to the reformation and the development of confessional cultures.

This wonderful collection of papers which were first delivered in 2021 at a REFORC meeting.  The Leseprobe at the link above provides readers with a lot of the opening pages of the book including of course the TOC.

And don’t worry about the German of the website, the book is in English and the materials available are too.

The essays themselves are fascinating.  I am particularly taken by Wandel’s ‘The Reformation of Time’ in which she investigates the ways that Missals were modified and adapted by the Reformed.  Sometimes it’s the things you wouldn’t think about looking into that provide the most new information (or at least new to you).

Along with the usual historical and theological treatments we also find forays into the world of art and how the Reformation impacted it.  Noble’s essay on Durer is a fascinating example of this field if investigation.

Not to be missed for any reason is Stjerna’s examination of women in the European Reformations.  Their contributions are indisputably epoch making and significant and until recently they simply haven’t received the attention they deserve.  Old white guys talking about old white guys has seen its time and now, thankfully, that time is past.

Other essayists also bring the importance of women in the Danish Reformation and beyond.

There are footnotes, bibliographies, and an index, along with a description of each of the contributors which finishes up the volume.

It’s true that of the making of books there is no end.  Some (if not most, let’s be honest) should be ignored as they don’t deserve the time they get.

But others, like the present work, richly deserve a thorough reading and those who will are themselves richly rewarded.

Ketzer und Heiliger: Das Bild des Johannes Hus zwischen Reformation und Aufklärung

Der 1415 auf dem Konstanzer Konzil als Ketzer verbrannte Johannes Hus wurde vor der Reformation gemeinhin als ein Häretiker betrachtet. Mit Luther und der anbrechenden Reformation begann jedoch ein Umdeutungsprozess, der zu einer völligen Neubewertung von Hus führte. Bereits früh wurde er auf Seiten der Reformation als Heiliger, Märtyrer und Vorläufer Luthers betrachtet. Auf römischer Seite galt Hus jedoch weiterhin als prototypische Ketzergestalt. In einem ersten Teil der Studie untersucht Eike Hinrich Thomsen die Prozesse und Ereignisse, die dazu geführt haben, dass sich das Bild von Hus mit der beginnenden Reformation nachhaltig ändern sollte. Ein zweiter Teil verfolgt einzelne Rezeptionsstränge, die bis in das 18. Jahrhundert hineinreichen. Neben der starken lutherischen Hus-Rezeption werden auch andere Gruppen wie Reformierte, „radikale Reformer“ oder Katholische untersucht. Über die schriftlichen Quellen hinaus werden zahlreiche bildliche und materielle Quellen in die Untersuchung miteinbezogen.

The TOC and the front matter and other sample bits are available here.

Readers of the present volume are treated to a meticulous reception history of Johannes Hus both by Luther and others and by generations after the Magisterial Reformers lie mouldering in the ground.

How Hus was turned from a heretic to a martyr opens the work and how that image guided the reception he received by the second generation of reformers and afterwards guides the first major division of the book (for the full TOC see above).

There’s an incredible amount of information about Hus in this portion of the volume related to his work as a musician as well as his work as a reformer before the Reformers.  But his reception by the likes of Karlstadt and Munzer and Hubmaier and others is really something to behold.

The second major segment of the book focuses on things like how Hus was incorporated into Luther-memoria and the Protestant view of Hus and how the lines connecting him to Luther influenced that reception and his memory.  It also discusses the various editions of Hus’s works by the likes of Flacius and Rabus and Walpurger.

The ghost of Hus was also dragged into use in connection to the Council of Trent, becoming a weapon in the hands of the Protestants commenting on that Catholic gathering.

And finally, the work ends with a look at the way that Hus’s death was utilized by martyrologists and apologists.  In sum, poor Hus became nothing less than a central figure for identifying one’s confessional attachments.  He became, for lack of a better term, a sort of shibboleth.

This is one of the most engaging and well developed revised dissertations that I’ve read in a while.  It has everything that one would want in a book:  good writing, an engaging narrative, and a terribly interesting subject.

I recommend this work to those who enjoy Church history.  Particularly the history of the Reformation and the church to the Enlightenment.

I hope you’ll read it.  I think you’ll want to once you take a look at the materials available on the publisher’s website.

Karl Barth on Faith: A Systematic Exploration

The present volume examines an underdeveloped component in the theology of Karl Barth. Specifically, the work asks: how, and to what extent, can faith be understood as ontologically proper to the trinitarian becoming of God? The work argues for an ontological grounding of faith in the becoming of God. To do so, Watson performs an in-depth examination of Barth’s understanding of the concept of faith. Using Barth’s threefold movement of revelation, the work contends God can be thought of as the subject (Glaubender), predicate (Glaube), and object (Geglaubte) of faith. Barth’s theological exposition of Jesus as subject and object of election offers a promising proposal for how faith is ontologically understood. At the same time, the argument brings to the fore a crucial component of Barth’s theological program, namely, the concept of recognition (Anerkennung). God’s recognizing faith is then conceived as the condition of the possibility of human faith. Drawing on Barth’s entire oeuvre, Watson offers an understanding of the divine becoming of faith that opens possibilities for thinking systematically about the realization of the corresponding human faith.

Bridging the Testaments: The History and Theology of God’s People in the Second Temple Period

George Athas’ new volume:

Bridging the end of the Old Testament period and the beginning of the New Testament period, this book surveys the history and theological developments of four significant eras in Israel’s post-exilic history: the Late Persian Era (465-331 BC), the Hellenistic Era (332-167 BC), the Hasmonean Era (167-63 BC), and the Roman Era (63-4 BC). In doing so, it does away with the notion that there were four hundred years of prophetic silence before Jesus.

Bridging the Testaments outlines the political and social developments of these four periods, with particular focus on their impact upon Judeans and Samarians. Using a wide range of biblical and extra-biblical sources, George Athas reconstructs what can be known about the history of Judah and Samaria in these eras, providing the framework for understanding the history of God’s covenant people, and the theological developments that occurred at the end of the Old Testament period, leading into the New Testament. In doing so, Athas shows that the notion of a supposed period of four hundred years of prophetic silence is not supported by the biblical or historical evidence. Finally, an epilogue sketches the historical and theological situation prevailing at the death of Herod in 4 BC, providing important context for the New Testament writings.

In this way, the book bridges the Old and New Testaments by providing a historical and theological understanding of the five centuries leading up to the birth of Jesus, tracking a biblical theology through them, and abolishing the notion of a four-century prophetic silence.

A review copy arrived a little over a month ago and I’ve been systematically working my way through it.

First, what is the goal here?  There are plenty of histories of Israel and Judah and most of them, and all the better ones, discuss the periods of the Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, and Romans.  Is another needed?

Others may not be, but this one is.  Because rather than simply relating the historical events of the period between the Old and New Testaments, Athas examines the theological significance of those events in their historical contexts.  That is the great achievement of this book and the reason why it is uncategorically better than the others of the genre.

I wish this book had existed in the ancient past when I was a grad student and we were examining the history of the ‘Intertestamental period’.  We all would have had a far better grasp of the subject than we did.

The book is made up of a series of tables which provide in a handy format such details as a timeline of events form 597-4 BC (Athas uses the BC nomenclature rather than BCE, although I don’t know why since the general scholarly consensus is to utilize BCE and CE instead of BC and AD.  Maybe some editor forced him to it, or the wretched Reviewer 2), Persian Governors, The Hasmonean Dynasty and such like.

Part One covers the Persian Era (539-331 BC); Part Two the Hellenistic Era (331-167); Part Three the Hasmonean Era (167-63); and Part Four, the Roman Era (63-4 BC).

Excurses too can be found among the facts and details of the historical narrative.  These can, however, appear to be anachronistic.  For example, whilst discussing the Hasmonean Era in the chapter titled ‘The Road to Revolt’, Athas includes an Excursus on the Olivet Discourse (which is, as you’ll surely recall, not at all related to the Hasmonean era in any respect but rather has to do with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE).  I italicized the word ‘appear’ above because the Excursus, while seeming at first glance to be out of place, is yet another example of how Athas weaves together historical and theological information.  Jesus ‘recycled’ the notion of the abomination which makes desolate first realized in the Hasmonean era and later realized again in the Roman period.  Thus, the inclusion at this particular juncture of the Olivet Discourse.

He does the same kind of thing earlier in chapter two where, in the midst of a discussion of the Ptolemaic economy, he includes an excursus on ‘Economics and the Gospel.’

The excurses show, quite brilliantly in my mind, the way in which history and theology are quite simply inseparable and why it is genuinely unfortunate that few Christians today have a good grasp of the period between Malachi and John the Baptist.  A period during which so much that laid the foundation for the life and ministry of Jesus and the Early Church was laid.

A failure to understand the period between the Testaments simply makes comprehending the message and ministry of Jesus impossible.

If I could see but one thing added to the work it would have to be a discussion of the understanding of ‘The Satan’ become ‘Satan’ in the Persian era.  Alas, Satan is not to be found.  The way Judean theology came to understand evil and its personification was, in my view, one of the single most important developments of the entire ‘intertestamental’ period.  An excursus at the very least on the subject would have been super.

The font is lovely.  And the paper is, different. In a good way.  I’m not really sure how to describe it.  It’s got a lovely texture.  It’s thick enough so that words don’t bleed through (I hate it when books are printed on paper so thin you can see the words on the other side of the page).  And it’s easy to turn.  I’m sure the paper has a name but I don’t know what that would be.  More books should be printed on that same kind of paper, I know that.

This is a genuinely well written volume.  It’s clear from page 1 that Athas has spent decades thinking about the topic, and researching it.  That time has been well spent.  This volume, the fruit of that tree, is gloriously ‘edible’ and easily ‘digestible’.

Take, eat (metaphorically of course)

Henry Cadbury: Quaker, Pacifist, and Skeptic

This book introduces readers to the life, thought, social activism and political conflicts of the Quaker intellectual and peace activist Henry Cadbury (1883-1974). Born into an established Orthodox Philadelphia Quaker family, Cadbury was among the most prominent Quaker intellectuals of his day. During his lifetime, he was well known as a contributor to one of the most important English translations of the Bible (the Revised Standard Version) and wrote scores of articles and books on the early history of Christianity and the history of the Society of Friends. He also had enormous influence over what may be the single best institutional instantiation of the Quaker commitment to nonviolence—the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an organization Cadbury helped to found in 1917 and served throughout his long lifetime. When the AFSC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947, Cadbury was asked to accept the prize on its behalf.

This little volume, it’s less than 100 pages cover to cover, aims to explore

The various ways in which Quakers have tried to resist war and violence are central to the academic study of Quakerism, and we hope that this book sheds new light on that topic.

They do so by focusing on one particular peace activist Quaker, Henry Cadbury.  He serves as their example.  Accordingly, they trace his life and works and discover, or better reveal, from Cadbury’s story, the story of resistance to violence.

Biblical scholars know his name and so do church historians.  But they may not be quite so familiar with his political activism.

Cadbury was one of the most prominent Quaker intellectuals of his day. He was well-known as a contributor to one of the most important English translations of the Bible (the Revised Standard Version). He wrote scores of articles and books on the early history of Christianity, many of which have stood the test of time. Cadbury also made significant contributions to our understanding of the history of the Society of Friends. He took a special interest in George Fox, the man who is often called the “founder of Quakerism.”

And he opposed war.  Tellingly

Cadbury’s commitment to nonviolence, like that of Quakers more generally, was not uncomplicated. During World War I, he made a number of provocative antiwar declarations, one of which led to his investigation by the U.S. government and to his forced resignation from the faculty of Haverford College. During the 1930s, Cadbury advised American Jews not to use violence or coercion against German Nazis; he told such a group that they ought to make a special point of treating Nazis with respect and “good will.” Giving that sort of advice subjected Cadbury to public ridicule.

In the early 1940s, Cadbury’s attempts to remain committed to his nonviolent ideals in the midst of a devastating global conflict caused him grea psychological distress. He eventually fell into a deep depression. He was hospitalized and given electroshock treatment. While he eventually recovered from his depression, he never got over the gulf between his ideals and the realities of the world in which he lived. In the final decades of his life, that gulf was even wider than it had been when Cadbury was a young man.

Those looking for the biography of an interesting scholar should be sure to read this one.  It’s not just biography though, it’s also theology and history.  It displays the importance of the intersection of history, theology, and biography.  Even when those intersections are a bit messy and permeable.

The table of contents is available at the link above, so there’s no point in reproducing it here.

This enjoyable and interesting and very informative volume deserves your time.  Cadbury was a far more interesting person than most scholars.   It is especially important to read of his serious battles with depression.  He was, after all, a human being.  And like many human beings struggled with the gulf between his beliefs about humanity and the world in which he lived.

The way he navigated that gulf is the meat of his story.  And worth seeing.

One or Two Translators? Translation Technique and Theology of LXX Proverbs and Its Relation to LXX Job

In 1946, Gillis Gerleman proposed a single translator for LXX Proverbs and LXX Job. After he launched this hypothesis, scholars have either confirmed or debunked this hypothesis. Although attempts have been made to come up with an adequate answer to the question of a single translator for both Proverbs and Job, scholars have, thus far, not reached consensus. Moreover, the attempts that have been made are not at all elaborate. Thus, the question remains unsolved.

This book tries to formulate an answer to the question of a single translator for both Proverbs and Job by examining the translation technique and theology of both books. The translation technique of both books is analysed by examining the Greek rendering of Hebrew hapax legomena, animal, floral, plant and herb names. The theology is examined by looking at the pluses in the LXX version which contain θεός and κύριος. The results of these studies are compared with one another in order to formulate an answer to a single translator. By doing so, this book not only formulates an answer to a single translator for both LXX Proverbs and Job but also characterises their translation technique and theology in greater detail.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to call a scholarly work ‘enthralling’ would it?  Especially a doctoral dissertation that’s been revised for public consumption.  And especially a book that’s festooned with tables illustrating miniscule and technical linguistic data, would it?

No.  It wouldn’t.  It would be bombastic overstatement.  Silliness.  Absurdity.  Accordingly, I can’t in good conscience say that this book is enthralling.  But it is fair to call it fascinating.

While the subject matter is complicated, the volume is not.  Divided judiciously into three parts, it looks first at the state of research on the question of the number of LXX translators engaged in rendering Proverbs and Job.  One, two, more?  It’s not the kind of question that lends itself to an easy answer.  One has to do an awful lot of digging to find answers that are even potentially accurate.

Second, the volume thinks about the Greek rendering of Hebrew words that only occur once in LXX Proverbs and LXX Job.  This is actually a pretty good way to think about translators.  How a person translates hard to define words can tell us a lot about their level of skill.  And one translator doesn’t usually exhibit good skills at one point and terrible skills at another though, of course, they can, so that even this sort of method has its drawbacks.

And that’s why the third part of the dissertation looks into the theological proclivities of the translations of Proverbs and Job.  One might be able to disguise one’s skill but it’s much harder to hide one’s theology.

The volume ends with a series of conclusions and a look forward to future research on the topic.

There’s plenty to think about here. Plenty of grist for the mill, as it were.  But I’ll let you read it for yourself and find out the conclusions Beeckman reaches for yourself as well.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

If LXX studies are your field, you’ll be making a mistake if you skip it.

Tolle, Lege

The Disappearance of Ethics: The Gifford Lectures

This volume arrived for review in December.

What is the future of ethics? Oliver O’Donovan addresses a discipline in crisis in The Disappearance of Ethics. Based on the 2021 Gifford Lectures, this book contends that contemporary ethics has lost its object (good), frontier (time), and agent (person).  
 
O’Donovan traces the development of these concepts from Greek philosophy through early Christianity, the Enlightenment, and into the modern era. Engaging with a range of thinkers including Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Max Scheler, Karl Barth, and more, O’Donovan shows how ethics has lost its heart and how the field can regain its purpose. He completes his lectures by integrating theology and philosophy to recover ethics. Contemplating theological concepts such as creation, divine law, and justification undergirds ethics by generating “existential wonder.” 
 
With characteristic warmth and scholarly precision, O’Donovan reinvigorates ethical argument with theological insight. Scholars and students of Christian ethics will find his lectures equally provocative and inspiring.

It’s a slim volume, as befits a lecture series reworked for publication.  No less than a Gifford Lecture.  And so delivered at a prestigious location by a distinguished academic.

O’Donovan probably isn’t the most familiar of names among Biblical scholars though he might be better known among theologians.  If you want to watch a video that will bring you up to speed on the sort of work he does, this June, 2023 lecture titled ‘Love, Rights, and Values’ may be just the ticket.  There you’ll see him at his lecturing peak and you’ll have the sound of his voice ringing in your ears while you read the present book.

This book, I have to confess, made me dislike philosophy a bit less than I normally do, though I expect to return soon to my full blown Tertullianism of firmly believing that ‘Philosophers are the Patriarchs of heretics’.

Clearly, patiently, and articulately does O’D. help readers understand both the history of the idea of the good and the peril of losing such an idea in and outside of the academy.

The six lectures not only can be read here (and you should read them), they can also be listened to here over on the University of St Andrews youtube channel.

The lectures were delivered during Coronatide, 2021 so via zoom.

So why read when you can watch? For several reasons. First, reading makes things stick better in our minds. Second, reading allows us to encounter the thoughts of others without having to be connected to some electronic device. And third, the book is always better than the movie. Indeed, do keep in mind, that lectures are delivered and then their materials are clarified and expanded for the book which they become.

In other words there’s always more detail in the book and books are better than videos.

Ethics is at the center of theology. That is the thesis here asserted and proven. You owe it to yourself to read how O’D. makes his case and calls Christian theology back to its task.

This book is brilliant. And those who read it, digest it, ponder it, and discuss it will be touching the hem of brilliance’s garment, and thereby cleansed of the disease of ignorance.

A Bird’s-Eye View of Luke and Acts: Context, Story, and Themes

In this accessible and compelling introduction, Michael Bird draws us into the wide-ranging narrative of Luke-Acts to discover how Luke frames the life of Jesus and of the first disciples who set out from Jerusalem to “the ends of the earth” proclaiming the Good News. Bird shows us how these two books, when read together, tell a cohesive narrative about Jesus, the Church, and the mission of God—with implications for the whole of our lives today. Situating both books in their historical and literary context, Bird moves through an exploration of their central theological themes and culminates with consideration of the books’ relevance for contemporary social issues.

I like Michael Bird.  He’s an engaging writer and a good guy.  And I like the present work.  It is filled with helpful insights into the work we call Luke/ Acts.

I don’t always agree with him though.  So, for example, when he talks about Luke as Theologian (pp. 68ff) he points out that in Bultmann’s Theology of the New Testament “…while the theological contribution of Luke is either ignored (by Bultmann)…”  he isn’t exactly being accurate.  I count no less than 40 references to Luke in Bultmann’s theology and 28 references to Acts, giving a grand total of 68 references to the two volume Lukan work.  Not to mention, of course, Bultmann’s earlier and extensive examination of Luke in his work on the Synoptics.

I would, then, suggest that Bultmann can hardly be accused of ignoring Luke’s works.  Theologically or historically.

Generally, though, if you weigh Bird’s work in the balances it won’t be found wanting.  The chapters are, on the whole, well organized and the end of each chapter provides review questions and a list of works for further reading on the subject of each chapter.

The high water mark of the work is the 12th Chapter where Bird leads readers into a very good discussion of Luke on Jesus, the Jews, and the Gentile Churches.  I’ll be teaching a course this coming semester on Judaism and Early Christianity and I will definitely be incorporating Bird’s chapter at the proper point in the lectures.  Bird is at his best when he is doing analysis of the interaction of Judaism and Christianity.

On the whole, then, this is a very useful and probative volume.  It has its weaknesses (one having been mentioned above) but it has more strengths (particularly when Bird is talking about Judaism) and is an excellent volume for students on Luke/ Acts; scholars of the material; and even interested layfolk who want to learn a bit more about a big chunk of the New Testament.

I can unhesitatingly recommend it to you.  I think you will genuinely enjoy it.  And I know that you will learn from it.  Which is what it’s all about, isn’t it.  Learning.

Makers of the Modern Theological Mind: Emil Brunner

When I was but a lowly undergrad at Carson-Newman College (now University) I took a class on Systematic theology taught by Paul Brewer.  Our textbook was Hanson and Hanson’s Theology but among the supplemental texts we could choose from was Emil Brunner’s ‘Man in Revolt’ and ‘Divine Imperative’.  I was hooked.  Since then (back in the early 80’s) I’ve gotten hold of everything I could written by Brunner and not once been disappointed or annoyed by either his form or content.  He was, in my view, the greatest 20th century theologian of them all.  He was a clearer thinker than Barth and a better Churchman too.

The finest introduction to Brunner’s thought was written less than a decade after his death, in 1972, by Bob Patterson, for the series then published by Fortress called ‘Makers of the Modern Theological Mind’.  It was, and remains, the best volume on Brunner’s thinking yet written.  It was a tragedy that Fortress allowed the series to lapse out of print and it is a spectacular joy that Hendrickson brought it back and starting with the volume on Brunner itself, with Bultmann following next (which really is the best procedure).

If you’ve never read Patterson’s work, do so.  In the volume at hand he carefully charts the major outlines of Brunner’s theology, beginning with the need for theological prolegomenon and proceeding through treatments of his doctrines of revelation, God, man, Christ, the church, faith, and eternal hope.  Readers familiar with Brunner’s justifiably famous 3 volume Church Dogmatics will recognize immediately the outline of that work reflected in Patterson’s analysis.  But Patterson doesn’t simply cite those books; he draws, at first hand, from all Brunner’s oeuvre.

There is no finer overview of Brunner’s thought in English.  Nothing even comes close.  Thank you, Hendrickson, for bringing it back for a new generation of theologians and theological students.

Reading Between the Lines: Parish Libraries and their Readers in Early Modern England, 1558-1709

This book provides an overview of the establishment and use of parish libraries in early modern England and includes a thematic analysis of surviving marginalia and readers’ marks. This book is the first direct and detailed analysis of parish libraries in early modern England and uses a case-study approach to the examination of foundation practices, physical and intellectual accessibility, the nature of their collections, and the ways in which people used these libraries and read their books.

The front matter, which includes the TOC, is available for download at the link above.  A glance there will give potential readers a wonderful overview of this immensely interesting book.

The chief idea of the book:

Parish libraries were a significant part of the intellectual and religious landscape of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England as repositories of religious edification and theological and secular education, accessible to both the clergy and the laity. They evolved out of pre-Reformation collections of clerical texts in parish churches and were intended to provide the clergy and the local laity with an increased religious education. From the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, parish libraries were established by a mixture of both clerics and laymen, which was reflected in a wider and more inclusive clerical and lay readership of the books they contained.

Interestingly, we are told, this particular topic of research was only born in 1959!  The present work, then, is offering to fill a very large historical void in the scholarship on the Post Reformation period.  The Introduction surveys the history of research and itself provides a whole range of fascinating insights.  In other words, the meat of the book begins as early as the introduction.

Said meat continues throughout the whole of the volume.  Meaty.  That’s the word that kept coming to mind as I read this really stimulating work.  People who love books the way I do and most scholars I know do, also love reading about books and libraries and collections and collectors and the how and why and the extent of those collections and all of those related topics.  All of which are covered in between the covers of this volume.

For instance

Pre-Reformation book collections largely contained service books and liturgical works for use by the clergy in preparing their sermons and undertaking their pastoral and ministerial duties. Post-Reformation repositories comprised predominantly theoretical works of theology and some books of practical divinity for use by both the clergy and the literate laity. Pre-Reformation collections of books were housed in the holier, more private parts of the parish church such as the chancel, which before the Reformation was usually only accessible to the clergy. The shift in intended users led to post-Reformation parish libraries instead being housed in areas of the parish church that were more easily accessible to the laity, such as the nave or an upstairs room in the church.

The concluding paragraph of the book is worth sharing in its entirety because it points forward to the work which remains to be done-

This book is only a partial study of the history of parish libraries in early modern England and the readership of the texts they contained. It nevertheless has some important implications. Further analyses of other parish libraries and the surviving anonymous marginalia in their books can only add to historians’ knowledge of early modern reading practices and textual interpretations and implementations. It is to be hoped that in the fullness of time more attention will be paid to these regional repositories of religious and secular information. They were often the only point of access to this sort of knowledge for many people in the localities, and the history of libraries and of reading will be enhanced by other studies using this book as a framework to examine the annotations of unknown urban readers and analyse the themes and topics in which these readers were interested. In doing so, it will open up another avenue into the popular experience of the Reformation and the religious, social and political changes that swept through England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The thing that struck me is the size of most of these parish collections.  For instance, In Appendix 2, which focuses on the List of Books in the Turton and Walmsley Parish Libraries, c 60 volumes were on hand.   60 books…  The other lists have at most several dozens.  Libraries were small.

This volume belongs in your library.  You probably have more than most of the parish libraries in the Post Reformation era.  One more will just make it that much better.

The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books

Do the four New Testament gospels share some essence that distinguishes them from noncanonical early Gospels? The tendency among biblical scholars of late has been to declare the answer to this question no—that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were grouped together by happenstance and are defended as canonical today despite there being no essential commonalities between them. 

Simon Gathercole challenges this prevailing view and argues that in fact the theological content of the New Testament Gospels distinguishes them substantially from noncanonical Gospels. Gathercole shows how the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each include four key points that also formed the core of early Christian preaching and teaching: Jesus’s identity as messiah, the saving death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and Scripture’s foretelling of the Christ event. In contrast, most noncanonical Gospels—like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Truth, and Marcion’s Gospel—only selectively appropriated these central concerns of early Christian proclamation.

This utterly remarkable and stunningly learned volume is a tribute to the art of biblical scholarship and a monument to its author demonstrating authentic mastery of the primary and secondary sources.

It is comprised of the following parts-

Preface
Introduction
Part One: The Topics of Comparison
          1. The Comparanda
          2. The Comparator
          3. Justifying the Kerygma as a Comparator
Part Two: Description
          4. The Gospel of Mark
          5. The Gospel of Matthew
          6. The Gospel of Luke
          7. The Gospel of John
          8. The Gospel of Peter
          9. Marcion’s Gospel
          10. The Gospel of Thomas
          11. The Gospel of Truth
          12. The Gospel of Philip
          13. The Gospel of Judas
          14. The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians
Part Three: Comparison and Conclusion
          15. A Comparison of Early Christian Gospels (Thesis 1)
          16. The Reception of the Kerygma in Early Christian Gospels (Thesis 2)
Bibliography
Indexes

Its thesis is that the canonical gospels are different in substance from the noncanonical materials and that as such are rightly held to be more important theologically and historically than those other materials.  And, frankly, that those who treat the non-canonical materials as of equal value for the reconstruction of the Historical Jesus and early Christianity make a serious mistake in so doing.

Gathercole achieves all of this by the most meticulous examination of all of the materials relevant to the subject.  He concludes, in part, that

The reason why the four New Testament Gospels are theologically similar to one another is that they – unlike most others – follow a preexisting apostolic ‘creed’ or preached gospel (p. 500).

The Gospels, in short, are based on THE gospel.  The gospel of Jesus.  The preaching of the earliest Christians.  The, and this is my term, not Gathercole’s, aberrant ‘gospels’ were based on something else.

And what is THE gospel in Gathercole’s analysis?  It is fourfold:

1. Jesus’s Messiahship
2. Jesus’s Vicarious Death
3. Jesus’s Resurrection
4. A Gospel ‘According to the Scriptures’

These four elements are all found in the canonical gospels and are not characteristics of the others.  So, for instance, in the Gospels the death of Jesus is seen through the lens of being vicarious.  Some of the gospels see it in other terms or they lack any discussion of Jesus’ death altogether.

Anyone interested in the distinctions that should be made between the Gospel and the gospels (in all their canonical and non canonical iterations) owe it to themselves to read Gathercole’s persuasive work.  There is simply no better treatment of the topic known to me.

An immense amount of work went into this volume.  Gathercole didn’t write it in a weekend while watching basketball or football.  It is a demanding volume.  But even more than that it is a rewarding volume.

I cannot commend it to you in terms that are strong enough.

The Letter to the Hebrews: The Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC)

A compelling exhortation to hold true to the faith in the face of adversity. A sermon rife with iconic imagery and Old Testament allusions. A signal work of theology in the New Testament.

Above all, the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. But the book’s textual complexity and long history of interpretation can be overwhelming. In this new Pillar commentary, Sigurd Grindheim illuminates the Letter to the Hebrews, paying careful attention to linguistic features and historical context—all while centering its relevance to modern readers.

Grindheim clearly and comprehensively addresses major issues about the text, including authorship, date, canonicity, formal qualities, and major themes. Following his thorough introduction, he explains each line of the text and its significance for believers today. Grindheim’s commentary offers pastors, students, and scholars the clarity and fresh insights they want in their scriptural study.

This large commentary covers all the anticipated bases.  Its introduction examines issues of authorship and date along with its apparent relationship with the writings of Philo.  It also delves into the putative audience, the reason for the treatise, the structure of the work, the rhetorical flourishes which festoon it, its place in the canon, and its reception by the Church in antiquity and beyond.  And finally, an overview of its theology is offered.  All of which occupy 74 pages of text.

The commentary proper begins on page 75.  It concludes on page 708.  It is, as is apparent, massive, detailed, and articulate.  Excurses help readers think more deeply about issues such as heaven and the world to come, rest, Christ as High Priest, the impossibility of repentance, the heavenly sanctuary, Melchizedek (which is a far better treatment of the figure than recent books entirely devoted to the theme), and persecution, among others.

Indices of subjects, authors, scripture, and extrabiblical materials also adorn the volume.  And, naturally, there is a bibliography.

Below I offer the commentary on 10:25.  I think it’s helpful to have ‘samples’ of commentaries so that potential readers have an idea of what they’re getting beyond the recommendations and observations of oftentimes biased reviewers.  So, read for yourself G’s take on 10:25 and then you can make up your own mind whether or not you want to read further.  I assure you, you will.  But here you go, a taste (click to enlarge) :

Isn’t that elegant and excellent? It’s really simply just lovely.

Commentaries are the skeletons of biblical studies.  Everything else is flesh and skin and organs.  Commentaries are the thing upon which everything else hangs and finds support.  The present commentary is sturdy enough to bear the weight of much research.  And it is worthy of your reading.

Der Mensch als Bild des unergründlichen Gottes

This new volume is available in open access.

Ausgangspunkt unserer Fragestellung ist die prinzipielle Unerkennbarkeit Gottes, die in der jüdisch-christlichen Tradition fest verankert ist (Ex 33,20; Jh 1,18). Ebenso fest verankert ist die anthropologische Aussage, dass der Mensch nach dem Ebenbild Gottes geschaffen wurde (Gen 1,26-27). Die hier versammelten Beiträge untersuchen in einer interdisziplinären Perspektive, wo und in welcher Weise ein Weg von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück führt.

Reviewing open access books is kind of like telling you what the pizza you’re eating tastes like.  It’s right there and you can read it for yourself, for free, without having to be passed along anyone’s views because if you don’t like it you didn’t pay anything for it and it you do like it you got it free, so yay you!

Anyway, if you had to buy this book I’d go into the good, the bad (if there were any) and the ugly (if there’s any of that either) and that, I hope, would help you to decide whether or not you wanted to spend your hard earned cash on it.  But you have no skin in the game, no money on the table.  So whatever I say you’ll probably download it.  Because, let’s face it, all of us love free books.  (If you don’t, you’re definitely reading the wrong blog.  You want to trundle on over to one of the cat video channels or how to make your neighbor hate you tik toks).

All that said, I think you should download and actually read this book.  It’s made up of four parts.  Many of the essays are in English.  The rest are in German.  And one is in French.  All of them have an abstract at their beginning.  If the essay is German, the abstract is in English.  If the essay is in English, the abstract is German.  And the French essay has an English abstract.

But of course you can see all that for yourself in the copy you’ve already downloaded.

What you can’t see is how good the essays are and how incredibly, incredibly fascinating the introductory essay by Ingolf Dalferth is.  Well not until you read them anyway.  And if you only read one of them, it will be worth the effort.  

Dalferth’s, though, is so good.  My goodness.  What a mind.  That chap can’t write anything bad.

The essay explores the difference between deus definiri nequit and homo definiri nequit. While both God’s darkness and uniqueness make God incomprehensible, human beings are incomprehensible because they are creatures that can live inhumanly. God remains a mystery as the ground and Ungrund of everything, while we remain a mystery when we understand ourselves as the image of God – the place in creation where the Creator can be understood as Creator and everything else as creation.

Anyway, go get this free book.  And read the essays whose titles strike you as intriguing.  And then, when you’re at your in-laws and the family is arguing politics (Jesus, deliver us from that herd of demon infested swine), you can walk to another room, pull out your iPad, and enjoy the essays that don’t strike you as fascinating by title because no matter how much you don’t like them, they will still be better than the family fight.

 

The Nordic Bible: Bible Reception in Contemporary Nordic Societies

The volume offers a new critical reflection on the use of the Bible in contemporary cultural and political debates in the Nordic countries. In Nordic Lutheran societies, the Bible has been perceived as a basis of religion and social cohesion. Whereas such religious and confessional factors are well-researched vis-à-vis the historical genesis of the Nordic welfare states, the focus here is on public use of the Bible in debates of today.

 

These segments of the book are freely available for download in PDF:

• Frontmatter
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations

The TOC gives potential readers a very good idea of what the work is all about. As does the Preface.

I INTRODUCTION

• Bible Reception in a Nordic Context – Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, Kasper Bro Larsen and Outi Lehtipuu
• The Bible in the Nordic Welfare States – Hallgeir Elstad

II THE BIBLE AS RHETORICAL AND POLITICAL WEAPON

• A Nordic Far-Right Bible? Biblical Assemblages and the Role of Reception History – Hannah M. Strømmen
• The Bible as Hate Speech? Homosexuality and Romans 1 in a Contemporary Finnish Debate – Niko Huttunen and Outi Lehtipuu
• “Render unto Caesar”: Jesus and the Lutheran Liberal Bible in Debates on Religion and Politics in Denmark since 2000 – Kasper Bro Larsen
• Resisting the Rule of Mammon and Fighting with Jesus against Neoliberalism: Unexpected Uses of the Bible in Contemporary Political Debate in Sweden – Hanna Stenström
• The Bible in Norwegian Politics: Scripture in the Parliamentarians’ Discourse – Ole Jakob Løland

III THE BIBLE IN NEW NORDIC TRANSLATIONS AND VERSIONS

• To Honor or Respect Your Parents? The Reception of an Ancient Commandment in Contemporary Danish Media and Nordic Bible Translations – Søren Lorenzen
• “God Speaks Our Language”: Recent Scandinavian Bible Translations and the Heritagization of Christianity – Marianne Bjelland Kartzow and Karin Neutel
• The Bibleness of Children’s Bibles: Paratextual and Material Aspects of Nordic Children’s Bibles – Louise Heldgaard Bylund

IV THE BIBLE IN MULTICULTURAL AND SECULAR NORDIC SOCIETIES

• Jewish Reception of the Finnish Bible: Negotiating Jewish Identity in Contemporary Finland – Riikka Tuori
• Using the Bible to Interpret the Qur’an: Finnish Christian Revivalist Narratives on Islam – Timo R. Stewart
• Confession, Masculinity and Biblical Reception in Lars von Trier’s The House that Jack Built – Mikael Larsson

V THE NORDIC BIBLE FROM THE OUTSIDE

• Contextualising the Nordic Bible(s): A Response – James Crossley

Reading through this really interesting volume I kept thinking of the similar though not the same recent publication Misusing Scripture: What Are Evangelicals Doing with The Bible.  Both works seek to describe the uses made of the Bible within particular communities or groups.  For the present work, the focus is Scandinavia.  For the latter work the focus is American Evangelicals.

Thinking of these two works in tandem, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that there’s an awful lot of eisegesis going on in the name of ‘the group’.  Whether the group happens to be American Evangelicals or recent Danish translations of Scripture or among far right people in Norway or among anti-Gay politicians in Finland or the use to which it’s put by Swedish politicians who otherwise have no interest in or use for the Bible. 

The Bible has become (and probably has always been) little more than a Rorschach blot.  The reader sees whatever he or she wishes to see, consciously or subconsciously.  The reader (often the individual reader severed from any disciplined biblical scholarship) has appointed him or herself as the lord of Scripture and the authoritative interpreter who, when speaking of Scripture, imagines her or himself to be speaking Ex Cathedra, as the Pontiff of their own religion.

Authorial intent, among most readers of the Bible today, is simply a factor not taken into account.  Evangelicals don’t ask themselves what Jeremiah or Paul meant to communicate any more than Swedish politicians or far right murderous Norwegians.  And if they do pretend to ask, it’s merely pretense.  Pretending.

I often wonder how often Paul and Peter and Isaiah roll their eyes when they hear of the latest interpretation of their words.  I suspect that if they could snap their optic nerves by eyerolling, they would do it a hundred times a day.

If Reception History has taught us anything, it’s that the greatest mistake of the Protestant Reformation and the Reformed Reformation was the putting of the Bible in the hands of the commoners.

To be sure, some will dislike this notion.  Take for instance the several years ago tweet which took issue with my statement back then along the same lines:

“To pretend that you have to have a degree to be able to read the Bible is academic elitism.” —  opined one Jessica Parks (on the twitter).

OF COURSE IT IS!!!!!   The Bible was written BY the ELITE FOR the ELITE.  Acting as if the historical truth lie elsewhere really is unfortunately a-historical and ultimately ignorant.

Those who have the strange idea that the Bible was written by unlearned peasants sitting around desks and sucking down the cheapest wine they could get their hands on flies in the face of the way things were in the ancient world.  The Bible was composed by elite elitists for their comrades who were equally elite.

At any rate, to return to the present volume- do read it.  It’s fascinating!  Sure, some of the essays aren’t as interesting as others but that’s simply because Islam, for instance, is not my area of expertise, or interest, so that the essay concerning it was skippable.  The others were decidedly not skippable.  And I probably should read the Islam one, but let’s be honest, there are other things I’m more interested in reading.  But perhaps Islam is your thing and you want to read it.  Let me know how it is.

My chief takeaway?  Scandinavians should also not have access to the Bible unless they have the tools to interpret it accurately.  Just like American Evangelicals should not have access to the Bible.  

Gelassenheit: Eine Auslegung des Koheletbuches

Kohelet gehört zu den großen Denkern aus dem antiken Juda. Seine Weisheitsschrift ist eine Herausforderung, denn das Nebeneinander der Einsicht in die Flüchtigkeit der Wirklichkeit und des Aufrufs zur Lebensfreude führt zu einer Spannung, die sich nicht einfach auflösen lässt.

In einer vollständigen Auslegung des Koheletbuches wird dieser Spannung nachgegangen und dabei das anthropologische und theologische Profil des Koheletbuches erschlossen. Die Auseinandersetzung mit Kohelets Denken zeigt sein zentrales Anliegen, angesichts der alles bestimmenden Flüchtigkeit dem Menschen einen Weg zur Annahme der von Gott geschenkten Lebenszeit zu weisen und die Mühen des Lebens mit Gelassenheit anzunehmen.

The book is comprised of the following parts

• Prolog: Was ist der Mensch?
• 1 Annäherungen an das Koheletbuch
• 2 Vertiefungen im Koheletbuch
• 3 Vom und zum Verstehen des Koheletbuches
• Epilog: Was ist der Mensch?
• Literaturverzeichnis
• Stellenregister (in Auswahl)
• Sachregister

The exegesis of Qoheleth proper takes place in the third chapter, where each pericope is analyzed in turn.  First, a new translation is provided.  Then the exegesis follows.  His translation is quite good.  Even vivid.  Take, for instance, his rendering of 3:1-9

Simple, elegant, accurate, poetic.  The exposition is just as simple, elegant, accurate, and poetic (in the best sense of that overused word).

The book’s central question is ‘what is mankind’ and the answer provided by Qoheleth is offered in a new and intriguing way.  The standard approach to Qoheleth is that it is a bit of wisdom literature with a skeptical bent.  Everything is vanity, etc.  Saur sees things a bit differently.

In his view, Qoheleth isn’t skeptical at all, Qoheleth is a prime example of the spiffy German word ‘Gelassenheit’.  If you aren’t familiar with the term, it has a fascinating history in German literature.  Its basic ‘ dictionary meaning’ is ‘serenity’ or ‘calm’ or ‘tranquility’.  But of course words have usage not meaning so the context of the use of Gelassenheit will determine its sense, its ‘meaning’.

Placidity, repose, composure, are all possibilities.  The term was beloved of the Anabaptists, who came to see themselves and their lives as the apex of Gelassenheit.  Knowing Christ brings Gelassenheit, victory over sin, death, and the devil.  Tranquility.  Repose.  Rest.

It is, accordingly, more than a little surprising to see it as the title of a volume devoted to Qoheleth.  Which is, naturally, the point.  Because Saur wishes to demonstrate that Qoheleth isn’t a skeptic, he’s ‘tranquil’.  Life is what it is.  Chill.  Calm down.  Don’t fret.  Don’t be disturbed or distressed.

Read in that light, through that lens, Qoheleth becomes quite a book indeed.  Try what you will, you won’t find tranquility in things, booze, women, or any of the other things people use to find peace of mind.  God alone is its source.

Naturally the question then becomes ‘who’s right?’  The standard bulk of exegetes who see Qoheleth as an example of skepticism thanks to the influence of Greek culture on the author; or is Qoheleth actually the sort of guy who is simply urging a turn to God for those in quest of Gelassenheit?  That’s a conclusion each reader will have to draw for him or herself. 

I find his argument very, very convincing.   And the book is an excellent example of the genre of commentary.  I heartily, thoroughly, joyfully recommend it to you.