Multiplying Divisions: The Fractious Nature of Israel, God’s Elect People
Ebook
The Old Testament features only one God, YHWH, electing only one people, Israel, not only for its own benefit but also to be eventually a light to the nations. Unfortunately, this singular people struggled in every era with a propensity to divide, thus pitting one segment of the community against another. Israel had to deal with potential division as it was settling in Canaan, in the period of the judges, and throughout the monarchy. Famously, after the Great Schism following Solomon's reign, Israel (=the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (=the Southern Kingdom) experienced separate exiles. The major narratives treating Israel's tendency to divide are the subject of this book. The book also features a survey of prophetic perspectives on Israel's (dis)unity, including hope for its eventually being unified. In a final chapter, the (dis)unity of the fledgling church as well as the implications of viewing canonical Israel as a figure for the church will be considered. In that vein, it appears that the church has emulated its biblical figure, Israel, all too well as it not only displayed division throughout its history but continues to multiply divisions to this day.
“A fresh angle on the vexed issue of Christian unity from a surprising source—the historical narratives and prophetic vision of the Old Testament. A seasoned scholar, Frank Spina skillfully brings the stories of Israel to life and holds a mirror up to today’s divided churches. Spina issues a sobering yet hopeful call to Christian humility, which I hope will gain the wide and attentive hearing it deserves.”
—Michael C. Legaspi, associate professor of Old Testament, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
“Frank Spina mines Old Testament narratives, exploring the fracturing of ancient Israel, which began when the tribes entered the Promised Land, culminating in the ‘Great Schism’ between the North and South after Solomon. Spina’s attention to textual details and complexities is fascinating, but he presses on to the church’s continuing complicity in multiplying divisions, ending with the hope that the God who never abandoned Israel in their divisions is still at work today to bring healing and reconciliation.”
—J. Richard Middleton, professor of biblical worldview and exegesis, Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan University
“Frank Spina’s insightful study convincingly demonstrates that the centrifugal forces that dismantled the fragile political unity of the Davidic monarchy grew out of familial and tribal divisions in the patriarchal period. Most Christians remain unconcerned about division among God’s people, because a defective view of the two Testaments has produced an ecclesiology in which God’s judgment of divided Israel has ceased to inform God’s dealings with the post-apostolic New Testament Church. His book is a helpful study on a highly controversial topic.”
—Don Collett, professor of Old Testament, Trinity School for Ministry
“With the verve and acumen of a seasoned scholar and master teacher, Frank Spina uncovers crucial fissures that plagued a fractious and fractured Israel. He demonstrates, further, that an acute awareness of Israel’s fissures remains essential for a church that is, in our day, no less fractured and fractious. Relevant and rich, this book illuminates our past and signposts our future.”
—John R. (Jack) Levison, professor of Old Testament interpretation and biblical Hebrew, Southern Methodist University
- Title: Multiplying Divisions: The Fractious Nature of Israel, God’s Elect People
- Author: Frank Anthony Spina
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666706154, 9781666706130, 1666706132, 9781666706147, 1666706140, 1666706159
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666706154
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-06-24T20:39:03Z
Frank Anthony Spina is emeritus professor of Old Testament at Seattle Pacific University and Seminary and an Episcopal priest. He publishes a weekly Podcast: The Bible You Thought You Knew.