Review: Introducing Old Testament Theology

Introducing Old Testament Theology by W H Bellinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having just completed my own course in the Old Testament, there was a lot here that was very familiar … except this book was done much better than my class text. Written in an accessible style with an obvious scholastic foundation, Bellinger begins by telling the reader how he will construct his argument, before presenting his well thought out discussions and then following all of that with a summary conclusion. The basic approach taken avoided any debate on the details of the Old Testament to focus more on the overall purpose and intent of the early redactors within a paradigm of divine revelation and human response. What I found extremely interesting what his initial disclosure of his religious affiliation with the Baptist church and his recognition that his revealed background would inevitably impact his scholarship and interpretation. Coming from an entirely different confession, that was enough to make me a little more attentive to potential divergence … but I never really found much. This approach to the Old Testament should be welcome to pretty much any Judeo-Christian believer.

The book opens with a survey of the current state of Old Testament theology, and the changing consensus that appears to be underway before proposing in the next chapter three perspectives through which we get a framework to better understand the text … and just as imported, what human response is expected to what was revealed. What Bellinger adds to the discussion is the idea that there is a separate prophetic theology attached to the more obvious creation and covenant theology along with a discussion of how they are interact with each other through the entire scripture along with a brief summary of the context from which they emerged. In chapter 2, he begins to develop this concept with a discussion on how the use of the Psalms as liturgy within the faith community ties it all together. “First, it suggests that the most fruitful context for sharing a theology is a worshiping community. Second, the Psalter most frequently articulates the initiative for God’s engagement with the world coming from the divine side.” It gave me an even greater appreciation for the Psalter. With that in hand, we march through the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures identifying where God is present to Bless and the human response of Wisdom (Creation Theology), where God comes to deliver and the human response of instruction/torah (Covenant Theology) and finally where God speaks and the human response of repentance (Prophetic Theology). Through out the discussion, Bellinger systematically guides the reader in well organized supporting material and interpretations that stay away from any debate or judgement on specific details to present a mile high overview of the entire scripture. Even as a scholastic work, Bellinger uses common language to make this one of the most accessible works on biblical exegesis that I have encountered … so I recommend it for all audiences :-)

Chapter 1 - Beginnings
Chapter 2 - A Shape for Old Testament Theology
Chapter 3 - Pentateuch
Chapter 4 - Historical Books
Chapter 5 - Psalms
Chapter 6 - Wisdom
Chapter 7 - Prophecy
Chapter 8 - Conclusion

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Watchmen

Watchmen by Alan Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another book club selection that I would not have picked up on my own; mostly because I am not much of a graphic novel type. However, in this case, I was actually surprised that I liked it at all. The book is actually 12 comic books mashed together with some filler text that provided some back-story. The general concept was that what we would commonly refer to as super heroes actually became a fashion for awhile ... and they were seen as what they really were ... masked vigilantes. The premise opens up a very interesting debate on how government should work and what should happen when it fails to protect the governed. The American West (and to some extent, the South) has a significant history in vigilantism, so it was pretty easy to see this world as possible ...

And it was an extremely dark and unpleasant world. I didn't much care for the apparent fascination with blood in the frequent depictations of violence within the story, but I could accept them given the dark tenor of the plot. A few heroes even had intriguing character flaws, but the format didn't really allow us to explore them very deeply. There was a touch on predestination using Dr. Manhattan as the foil that was actually very well done; however, the scene on Mars was almost entirely superfluous IMHO and should have been dumped. Others may argue that it is was a component which illustrated Dr. Manhattan's inhumanness (or at the very least, his isolation from humanity), but I thought that had already been accomplished when he left Earth.

Finally there was the story within a story provided by a character whose sole purpose was to read another comic book within THIS comic book and presented a storyline that was apparently supposed to shadow (or foreshadow) how this story would end ... and I must say that the two stories were only tenuously linked at best and the ending of the main plot was singularly unsatisfying, while the ending of the black freighter story was relatively predictable. All in all it didn't add as much to the story as it should have.

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Review: The Hunger of the Gods

The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although this book is a sequel to The Shadow of the Gods, The Hunger of the Gods “fixes” the main issues that I had with the first book. First and probably most important, there is a real conclusion to many of the plot conflicts where as I felt the story just ended in the first book (surprise, some bad guys get what they deserved). Ideally I was say that these two should just be one book, but each are already fairly long stories, so unless you have a high tolerance for a long plot build-up (or you DNF’d the first book), don’t feel guilty jumping in here because you will catch up pretty fast. If you are even remotely a fan of Norse history and mythology, you won’t regret it … because that is what this story is all about.

The world building is deep and rich, leveraging the world of the Norsemen/Vikings and is well researched and relatively authentic. That is probably because the author is a self proclaimed member of a viking re-enactment group (which is boss … I so want to do that). Just change up the gods a bit and pick up the story after Ragnarok (or the fall of the gods in this story) and you have the basic milieu found in the Norse sagas so well done the you could feel it (and it is GOT style brutal). The main character introduced in book one continue their adventures here; but the narratives begin with over lap and actually move the plot forward now with a coherence that was hard to find in the first book. Orka is still my favorite as the mama bear in search of her stolen cub, while Varg evolves from his thrall/slave roots into a drengr (norse knight or noble warrior). Even Elvar becomes a lot more interesting and relatable … so where I had a hard time connecting with the main characters in the first book, no such issues remain in this one and I am looking forward to reading book three.

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: From Isolation to Community

From Isolation to Community by Myles Werntz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book on several levels. My initial thought was that the author was referencing the isolation of the current pandemic and would talk about how to get folks to come back and attend in person … that is not what this book is about at all and that caught me by surprise. Instead, the basic idea was this: “It is isolation that better describes the complex way in which sin divided human beings from God and one another, distancing them from the goodness and benefit of the God who is our source and from others, through whom we receive these good gifts.” Being separated from God as a result of sin is not an entirely novel idea; however, adding separation from others into that same equation was new for me and it was a profoundly beautify way to view what we need out of community. Even more interesting was how isolation can be seen as either a misplaced emphasis on the individual (or individualism) or an emphasis on conformity with a crowd (tribalism). The former is fairly come to see in the US and the later I have frequently encountered with tween students that never want to do anything that makes them stand out in the crowd. I other words, I felt that I knew exactly what the author was talking about. With the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a Guide, the author reviews a lot of the habits found within our church communities that also suffer from these two issues and tries to come up with proposed solutions.

Chapter 1 explored the nature and origin of isolation within the Christian Communion, with Chapter 2 and 3 tying that isolation to our fallen state (in other words, such is normal and to be expected) and why this is a problem. The most important mistake that I recognized here that is common to many churches is the drive to survive and grow that at times seems counter to the true mission of the church. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 start the process of what we need to do in order to over come this problem; mostly this seems focused on community prayer and action (service) … “to ask not only what we do but how we do it if in fact church practice is about being knit into one body in Christ and overcoming the isolation that is regnant in creation” breaking everything down into communal/common life, provide life and mission/ministry and is in my opinion the heart of the entire book … but was also short on specifics. I must admit to a bit of a struggle here as the analogies and repetition began to blur a bit for me; however, I still came away with what I believe is a good general understanding of the way forward. Most interesting was the exploration of the “days apart” concept and how that should be structured to reinforce the “days together.” Chapter 7 covers confession and communion with a surprising recognition that even within Protestant traditions, confession is important (just not necessarily to clergy). “Without the common confession of faith, we are only a body who knows how to judge in a way that divides, but without confession of sin, we are not a body that is willing to be healed.”

Over all this is a book to come back to as you slowly gain better income into the concepts that it contains and begin to put them into practice.

Introduction - Naming Our Problem: Isolation and the Human Condition

Part One - Isolation and the Structure of the World

- 1 Life in Isolation, Then and Now

- 2 The Church and the Practice of Isolation

- 3 The Logic of Bodily Community

Part Two - The New World of Christian Community

- 4 Renewing Common Life

- 5 Restructuring Private Life

- 6 Renewing the Shape of Ministry

- 7 Life Together Made Visible

Conclusion - After Isolation, in Isolation

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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