Review in: Interpretation
2008 62: 334
Review door: John M.
BrackeGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/62/3/334.1.full.pdf+html
The Theology of the Book of Jeremiah
by Walter
Brueggemann Old Testament Theology. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007.
213 pp. $18.99. ISBN 978-0-521-69629-5.
THIS BOOK INAUGURATES a new Cambridge Press series,
Old Testament Theology, that intends to allow "specialists [to] explore
the theological richness of a given book at greater length than is usually
possible in the introductions to commentaries or as part of other Old Testament
theologies" (p. iii). True to the series' purpose, Walter Brueggemann
offers a sustained reflection on the theological claims of the book of
Jeremiah.
In the book's
first section, Brueggemann reviews critical scholarship to demonstrate how
reflection on the complexity of the book of Jeremiah can contribute to a
theological reading. An example is his discussion of the problem of the
relationship of poetry and prose in Jeremiah. He suggests that prose material
provides a theological thematization of the book's poignant, but often complex
and unclear, poetry (p. 35). The second section focuses on the theology of the
book of Jeremiah under the rubric of the sovereignty of God. Brueggemann
understands that the book of Jeremiah reflects on God's sovereignty in the
light of the crisis of 587 B.C.E. He asserts that in Jeremiah, YHWH is
portrayed as "a sovereign God who practices fidelity" but also as
"a faithful God who practices sovereignty" (p. 132). In a third
section, Brueggemann suggests ways that the theology of the book of Jeremiah
relates to other OT books. He proposes that Jeremiah is a "pivot"
into which flow theological concerns from the books of Deuteronomy, Hosea,
Psalms, and Proverbs, and out of which flow theological issues found in later
OT traditions such as Job, Obadiah, Jonah, Ezra, Chronicles, and Daniel. In
conclusion, Brueggemann suggests compelling connections between the theology of the book of Jeremiah, the NT, and the
twenty-first century.
Those familiar with
Brueggemann's extensive writings on Jeremiah will find here much that is
familiar. In this book, Brueggemann has an opportunity to articulate his mature
theological reflections on Jeremiah in a way that is quite helpful to pastors
and teachers. However, it is not a book for beginners. The more one knows about
the diversity of Jeremiah scholarship, the better one will appreciate this
book's arguments and be able to locate Brueggemann's perspectives.
JOHN M. BRACKE
EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
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