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An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination

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I have been a fan of Walter Brueggemann, professor emeritus of biblical studies from Columbia Theological Seminary, since I encountered him through his text 'Theology of the Old Testament', which formed the basis of a course I took my first year in seminary. Brueggemann has a clear and strong writing style, coupled with definite and innovative ideas about the development of the Hebrew Scriptures as they have come to us.

Brueggemann looks at things from a canonical perspective, ordering the books differently from what most Christians would be used to in their Bibles. Starting with the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, he then proceeds through the prophets and then to the writings. following the canon of the Hebrew bible, and a more likely ordering of original authorship. While all texts have gone through a processes of being handed down, often edited/redacted in the process, their original ideas or events occurred in a particular order.

Brueggemann gives due respect to Brevard Childs and his ideas of canonical criticism while recognising that this can become a limiting tool, and so Brueggemann introduces the idea of imagination as a counter. True to form from his early text 'Theology of the Old Testament' and other texts, Brueggeman looks for the truth that resides in the tension between, in this case, in the tension between the normative and the imaginative becoming of the community.

Brueggemann brings in the wide range of biblical scholars in the course of his study, ignoring very few noted names along the way. This makes his text an ideal book for introductory courses in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament for undergraduates and seminarians. Brueggemann also puts forward his own interesting arguments and interpretations for consideration. The study of the text requires considerations that are historical, theological, literary, social/cultural, and more. These are all dealt with, but in a manner different from most texts.

The three broad sections of the text follow the Tanakh --Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This presents yet another tension for Brueggemann -- the tension between the historical claims and the canonical claims, which also become different from Jewish and Christian perspectives, and even within different Christian traditions. The development of scripture over time, Brueggemann states, is not a neutral academic process, but one in which formative processes and intentions have played a key role, but in which many of these underlying pieces have disappeared from historical view, and are generally absent from the direct text. Brueggemann sets up yet another tension between the ideas of imagination, ideology and inspiration, showing how ideas of these change over time, forming our interpretative paradigms along the way.

Brueggemann calls upon the church to take up a traditioning process, one that is disciplined and faithful, one that avoids both 'confessional closure' on the one hand and 'rationalistic impatience' on the other. In his conclusion, Brueggemann's faith in the scriptures comes through as one that continues the idea of re-imagining and traditioning in a decidedly Reformed framework; nevertheless, he finds fellow travelers in the likes of Roman Catholic Fr. Raymond Brown, who is quoted near the end as saying 'in the scriptures we are in our Father's house where the children are permitted to play.'

This is one of my favorite books on the `Old Testament.' What makes Brueggemann's analysis so compelling is his ability to offer a coherent and comprehensive reading of the Old Testament, while equally dealing with the difficulties, disunities, and flat-out confounding passages that fill the `Old Testament' cannon. Brueggemann does so by looking at, what he refers to as, the `Christian Imagination.'

In short, Brueggemann is not as concerned with how the `history' of the Old Testament does or does not match up with the historicism of late scholasticism. After all, I think we can all agree that a person writing in the age of antiquity would have a substantially different method and/or intent in his or her written approach than would an eighteenth or nineteenth century historian. For starters, the Jewish writers of antiquity were writing a narrative history, not a history accompanied with narratives. This is an important distinction. In short, their end goal was to tell their story, which they also believed to be God's story. This story inevitably incorporated, and even required, elements of history; yet it was the story itself that always took first priority.

Accordingly, Brueggemann's reading of the `Old Testament' is cohesive and coherent because he understands that it must be read as the narrative story of a historical people, not as a history of a narrative people.

Compared to Prof Brueggemann's other Old Testament books, my big surprise is a title of The Old Testament rather than The Hebrew Bible! Added surprise is a sub-title of The Canon and Christian Interpretation. In OT Survey classes he contrasted his approach between Jewish interpretation with Christian inter. So I noted his quotes in using the 4 I's of Interpretation, Ideology, Inspiration, and Imagination! They occur in the Intro and near the end of his chap on Torah. On Page 11 "Now it will occur to an attentive reader that these facts of the traditioning process-Imagination, Ideology, and Inspiration (my caps)-do not easily cohere with each other! Specifically the force of human ideology and the power of divine imagination seem to be definitionally at odds. Precisely! That causes the Old Testament, to be endlessly complex & problematic, endlessly interesting and compelling."

This carried me back to 2002 sessions at Montreat and Columbia upon first hearing his process of interpretation: "The interface beween the canonical and imaginative is exactly the way in which the most responsible and faithful interpretation takes place." I can see & hear his trip from well-neglected notes on the podium up to the chalk-board, as he hastily wrote the Hebrew for his key scripture. In the dramatic Isa 6, after writing the "living creatures," he sailed down the steps, waving wildly his arms all around the wall of the classroom singing "Holy, Holy, Holy!"
He seemed propelled alongside us into the living words of the Prophet. He earned his standing ovation! That was not the only Incident to stress his "Imaginative Remembering."

My review of his process of interpretation in the Preface called to mind his statement: "You will not find anything new in my Introduction, since you heard it in all four classes!" I have yet to grasp his meticulous, continual thot about the generative work of the text in his process of providing an "alternative world" that invites faithful imagination! As usual he draws upon the giants of Amos Wilder and Raymond Brown. I am amazed at his memory in every class to give the right quotation, author, book, and even page number!

In the Preface he outlines his plan to use the Hebrew Canon as the normative list of books organized into three elements: The Torah, traditionally, "The Five Books of Moses." The Prophets as Canon consists of, The Former Prophets, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the Latter Prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; plus scrolls of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and the Song of Solomon. Lastly, he considers the revisionist historical corpus of I & II Chronicles, Ezra & Nehemiah, and apocalyptic scroll of Daniel. In spite of many texts & scrolls his coverage is unusually clear and simple!

Near endng his work on Torah he cites the characteristic task of Jewish teaching, nuture, and socialization to invite the youmg into the world of miracle...The preaching, teaching, and study of Torah is in order to set 'one's heart' differently, to trust and fear differently, to align oneself with an alternative account of the world. All this Israel fashioned and practised -imaginatively resolved, ideologically driven, inspired beyond interest -under the large, long, fierce voice of Moses." Bruegge stresses continually "the truthfullness of YHWH" and insists that Bible Study is a life-changing, life-risking venture. One aspect of that venture is re-read Scripture for re-forming and re-reading go inescapably together." In his conclusion before 20 pages of Autobiography, he finally shouts "innocently, critically, obediently, and hopefully! WOW!
Retired, Chap Fred W Hood

There's a lot of good information in this book, especially if you are relatively new to Hebrew Bible ("Old Testament") studies. But there also lies one of its main flaws. In the Preface Dr. Brueggemann says boldly that, "the present book is my effort. . .to mediate and make available fresh learnings that will be of peculiar force for pastors and Christian congregations" (p. xi). However, the majority of the book is so obtuse that few pastors and/or members of congregations will be able to understand it. It is highly analytical, with technical terms, and theological jargon that complicate what he is trying to say. Once you work through all of that there is much value in what he has to say but, for the most part, it is lost to anyone who is not technically trained in biblical studies.

Brueggemann calls the transmission of the Hebrew Biblical narrative "imaginative remembering," which is really a catchy way of saying that the story drives the facts, rather than the other way around. But then he never tells the story. He merely dissects and analyzes the scholarship of the last 150 years and the "story" becomes lost in a maze biblical scholarship. Scholar NT Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, England, in his brilliant The New Testament and the People of God, carefully lays out the importance of the story in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Many other scholars have followed suit on relating the importance of "story" (sometimes simply referred to as "the narrative) which embodies the meaning of the message.

Current scholarship is fairly unanimous in saying that the theme of the Hebrew Bible is the story of "the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of the People of God." The one example of faithfulness to God is the "ancestor" Abraham. Throughout the Hebrew Bible when YHWH identifies himself to the People of God he does so in terms similar to this: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob" (Ex 2:24, 3:6, 3:15, etc., I Chr 16:16, Ps 47:9, etc.) The faithfulness of Abraham is reiterated in Paul's letters to the Romans and Galatians and especially in the anonymous homily to the Hebrews (possibly written by the great Alexandrian Christian and rhetorician, Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). In Galatians and Hebrews Jesus' faithfulness to God is compared with the faithfulness of Abraham.

What does Brueggemann do with this? Nothing. From pages 43-51 the section called "The Ancestors (Genesis 12 - 50)", although it embodies the story of Abraham, never focuses on his faithfulness, nor on its importance in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Yet following the story of Abraham's faithfulness the rest of the Hebrew Bible turns to the unfaithfulness of the People of God. That fact is railed against by the prophets, especially, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Amos.

While the author mentions the documentary hypothesis of the Torah by German scholars in the late nineteenth century (an hypothesis largely dismissed by modern scholars as being basically irrelevant to the story itself), he never addresses the question as to why there are so many names for God in the biblical text: El (the chief god of the Canaanites), El Shaddai (usually translated God Almighty, but some believe it could mean "God of Violence"), El Elyan (Most High God), Elohim (the plural "gods" - a literal translation of Gen 1:1 would be "The gods created heaven and earth"), and finally YHWH who identifies himself to Moses as the "God of Abraham" (Ex. 6:3). Brueggemann fails to consider that the various names for God, which appear regularly throughout the narrative of Israel's history, may, indeed, point to the question of to which god they they were to remain faithful. All the while YHWH proclaims that He is the God of Abraham. It was not until the People of God returned from exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C. that they seemed to know which God was theirs.

With all of this said, Brueggemann's book is still of immense value, however, it missed the story it could have told and which could have indeed sparked the "Christian Imagination."

Brueggamann sets out to examine the Canon and Christian Imagination according to the Hebrew canon and often times, according Jewish interpretation rather than Christian. For the former, his order is: the Torah, the Prophets consisting of, The Former Prophets, - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; and the Latter Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Then the scrolls of Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and the Song of Solomon. Finally, he examines what he considers the revisionist historical corpus of I & II Chronicles, Ezra & Nehemiah, with Daniel arriving last. For the latter, I can cite his rejection of Paul's doctrine of the Fall, although he encourages a constant interpretative method akin to the New Perspectives (p38-39) and his insistence that the author of Hebrews `misread' Jeremiah 31 and completely missed the author of Jeremiah's intent (pg 189). On the other hand, Brueggamann deals especially well with Proverbs 8 as seen through the eyes of John's Prologue. Overall, until it comes to his disavowing of anything remotely connected to supercessionism, he presents a balanced view of Christian use of the Hebrew Scriptures.

His path is not always what one would expect. While he uses historical criticism, his method involves the focus on what he calls the `end of the traditioning process.' For the author, it is not greatly important how a book came together, but the theology of the book in final form. For him, the process is far from over and should continue now that the canon has been delivered to the `interpretive community of the church'. He makes a strong case that the bible contains more light than a simple `reportage' view can give, and indeed, suddenly becomes a conservative Protestant as he makes his case that more study is needed. Further, he allows for God's work to be unexplained in the manner of normalizing the text and thus the canon through `imagination.'

As he canvasses each book (the author splits Genesis into two sections), he moves always with the denial of the conservative position unsaid and instead launches into examining the completed structure with a mention of historical methods. Criticism is not his primary goal, but what the end theological statement is. In Deuternonomy (pg85-93) he starts with acknowledging the scholarly held theories of a priestly perspective in Genesis-Numbers and the Deuteronomic editors of the final book of the Torah allowing for compare and contrast of the two `voices.' He then examines the intentional shaping of the book around the speeches of `Moses' then proceeds to explore this option more thoroughly. He doesn't deny the `old roots' (pg91) of Tradition behind Deuteronomy but asserts that the final shape came to be no later than the 7th century. He does so by comparing this book to political treaties of the area at the time. As with each book, Brueggamann provides the reader with his own summary of the theological aspects of the work in review.

The book is well written with the author using many other authors to support his work. He attempts to allow for historical criticism but without pinning the Old Testament canon and the writers thereof to the views of modern scholars. He acknowledges that many times, those who engage in such things fail to see the intent of the process of the individual works, instead only searching for the how, never the why. While this book may not be to the liking for all, everyone can salvage, at the very least, the theological assessments of the author as something helpful in the theological study of the Hebrew Scriptures. This book does not support the history of the Old Testament, and should be seen rather as a corpus of the minimalist view, but for his purpose in exploring the theology of the books, he is comprehensive.

For a person, like myself, who sees scripture as influenced by equal parts human experience and divine inspiration, Brueggeman's ratio (85% human to 15% divine, by my estimation) will leave something to be desired. His concise chapters on each scripture and his obviously extensive experience make this book a wealth of information and perspective, and my intellectual life is deeper because of it. Though the author clearly does believe in God, his text treats scripture most often from a perspective that seems almost secular to me. That said, I have found rich spiritual insights both within his chapters, and more often in my own searching and praying using his text as a stepping-off point. This text should be a part of everyone's study of the Hebrew Scriptures, but it should not be the only book one uses--especially for those seeking a deep relationship with their Creator.

An Introduction to the Old Testament is an interesting look into how scholars view the Word. Looking at Bruggeman's reflections helps understand how our current scripture became the transformational book it is.

Brueggemann, Brueggemann, what can I say?
Your work has left me in utter dismay -
The book speaks of history
But leaves all a mystery -
The sceptic trips up and hast lost his way...

This book gives a completely 'take it or leave it' attitude to the OT, but the main impact this had on me was to adopt a 'take it or leave it' attitude to everything Brueggemann said. A couple of times he grudgingly concedes that there may actually be some evidence that some of what the OT says *might* be true, but he always brushes this evidence aside; he never really explores it because it would upset his thesis that he pushes in every chapter: The OT is a work of pure imagination. Even wondering about the truth of the OT is unnecessary here, rather we should just enter an intriguing cerebral world of ancient Hebraic flights of fancy.

Maybe you think I'm exaggerating; that I'm some raging evangelical who can't handle any 'affront' to biblical authority. I hate to say it, but this is Brueggemann's thesis as he writes it: The only value of the OT is its witness to the 'creative imagination' of whoever wrote it. So utterly secularised is this scholarship that Brueggemann is actually surprised at one point that there is some consistency in the OT presentation of a monotheistic religion - although even then he is quick to point out that there *are* parts which evidence paganism.

I should mention that although I have severe doubts about this book, there is a lot in it that Brueggemann has "no doubt" about: He has "no doubt" that every passage in the OT comes from "many sources"; "no doubt" that the flood is a myth; "no doubt" that there a rival authors at war in some texts; "no doubt" it was all written after the exile... I could go on and on. I can only say how utterly amazed I was time and time again by Brueggemann's *absolute certainty* about all these things; his *absolute* dismissal that anything in the Bible is true and authentic; his *utter denial* even of the possibility that we could give the text the benefit of the doubt... Heaven forbid! Brueggemann has "no doubt" that his liberal dismissals are perfect, and that the Bible is a hopelessly muddled hodge-podge. How I envy his utter certainties!

So, he totally undermines historical criticism (lest he upset his liberal target audience who never want to be told that anything in the Bible actually happened) but he never deals in depth with literary or textual approaches either. This book is just liberal, overly sceptical mush that seems calculated to systematically undermine any ontological or spiritual value we may be under the delusion that the Bible possesses.

To me, it reads like a morbid, post-partum 'last gasp' of liberal scholarship. As honest, Bible-believing, God-worshipping Christian scholars come to terms with the way that the Bible continues to transform and inspire communities and nations (from the inner soul and outward from there), properly informed post-liberal scholarship will come to the fore and make us realise that the Bible is more than fantasy. This book here will be seen as a great example of vacuous, reductionist, mechanistic scholarship that utterly fails (or, perhaps, wilfully fails) to recognise the numinous at work in God's word.

If you want to know about the OT, look elsewhere. If you want to see bold-faced posturing that just can't see the power of God at work in his inspired Word, this book does offer a grim kind of fascination. As a textbook, it has an utter lack of time-lines, diagrams, maps and tables. What place do they have when it's all just a creative dream? It just reads like a big dismissal. Perhaps Brueggemann was longing for a career change when he wrote it? If so, I can totally relate! But the resulting work is one worthy of... well, dismissal.