Customer Reviews

Canon and Theology (Overtures to Biblical Theology)

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Professor Rendtorff's work is to be highly commended. As opposed to the previous reviewer, only the first two essays discuss in particular detail the history of Old Testament Theology. But that is a proper precis to Rendtorff's proposal. Which is that one should look at the theology of the Hebrew Bible[unfortunately called the Old Testament] in a canonical format, which invites dialogue, discussion and debate regarding the intention of the whole part. Interesting as well, is Rendtorff's dialogue with Judaism, not just at the level of history of religions, but a serious theological dialogue-which is as challenging on the Christian side as on the side of Judaism. Specifically, his appeal for a dialogue with Rabbinic Judaism is to be much welcomed. One here thinks of the work of Hans Dieter Betz, who in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount[Hermenia Commentary Series], has reminded us of the close connections between Judaism and Christianity-something that from the point of view of the Hebrew Bible, has been missing in so much theological discourse. This book is truly a treat, and with our world at war on as much ideology as in theology-this book should be read with an eye towards the possibility of a new encounter in interfaith dialogue.

I agree wholeheartedly that the study and examination of the Old Testament and its theology is vitally important to the Christian today. I also believe that it is both much maligned and ignored by the majority of Christians as the author states. I believe this is due to our ignorance and arrogance. It appears that most Christians, especially in this country, believe that we have become the chosen people - the favored nation - rather than Israel as shown in the Word. This being said, I did not enjoy this book for a variety of reasons. First, I found the language to be difficult to follow (which rarely happens to me) possibly due to being translated from German. Second, since the book was written based upon essays or lectures from the author, I found it to be rather disjointed which also made it more difficult to follow the thought process. Lastly, instead of focusing upon the actual theology of the Old Testament, the author devotes much - or most - of his efforts in cataloging various different methods of interpretation of the Old Testament.