The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture

by R. W. L. Moberly

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2020

Overview

Walter Moberly is a top Old Testament theologian known for his creative, accessible, and provocative writing. His Old Testament Theology has been well received. This book, written in a similar vein, combines biblical criticism with constructive theology and engages both Jewish and Christian interpretations. Moberly offers robust readings of six pivotal Old Testament passages that unpack the nature of God in Christian Scripture, demonstrating a Christian approach to reading the Old Testament that holds together the priorities of both scholarship and faith.

Key Features

• Combines biblical criticism with constructive theology
• Engages both Jewish and Christian interpretations
• Focuses on six pivotal Old Testament passages that unpack the nature of God in Christian Scripture

Contents

• Introduction
• The Wise God: The Depths of Creation in Proverbs 8
• The Mysterious God: The Voice from the Fire in Exodus 3
• The Just God: The Nature of Deity in Psalm 82
• The Inscrutable God: Divine Differentials and Human Choosing in Genesis 4
• The Only God: Surprising Universality and Particularity in 2 Kings 5
• The Trustworthy God: Assurance and Warning in Psalm 46, Jeremiah 7, and Micah 3
• Epilogue

Top Highlights

“This means that becoming wise is a matter not just of becoming successful and/or wealthy and/or powerful but rather of being attuned to the nature of reality—what one might call the deep rhythm of the world. And that deep rhythm of the world is a reflection and mediation of its Creator. Yet such possibly dizzying notions are also firmly brought down to earth with pictures of what the wisdom of creation might look like in everyday life, in the capable wife or the virtuous Moabite woman Ruth.” (Page 33)

“scholars have begun to take Psalm 82’s depiction of a council of deities at face value. Portrayals” (Page 100)

“Depictions of God, and claims about life in God’s world, should not be understood or evaluated in the abstract, but always in relation to how they are used. Promises and assurances from God are not like lottery jackpots, to do with as one likes. Their intrinsic nature, which is to engender relationship, seeks to create in their recipients a trust that will be expressed in ways that enhance the relationship—as is the case also with marriage vows. The absence of such responsiveness can reduce the words to mere words. Self-serving attitudes in particular can empty correctly formulated and right-sounding words of their truth content. Questions of truth about God in the Bible are not just factual, evidential, or epistemological; they are also moral, existential, and relational.” (Page 232)

“Nonetheless, ‘trust’ captures a particular existential reality that is foundational to faith, as it is to life more generally—not least because those who have no one who is trustworthy, or whom they are able to trust, tend to become diminished as people.” (Page 204)

Product Details

• Title: The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture
• Author: R. W. L. Moberly
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Pages: 282
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: God › Biblical teaching; Bible. O.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc; God (Christianity)
• ISBNs: 9781493428403, 9781540962997, 1493428403, 1540962997
• Resource ID: LLS:GDLDCHRSTSCRPTR
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:12:20Z

About R. W. L. Moberly

R. W. L. Moberly (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of theology and biblical interpretation at Durham University, where he has taught for more than thirty years. He is the author of eight books, including Old Testament Theology, The Theology of the Book of Genesis, and Prophecy and Discernment. He is also an ordained priest in the Church of England.