Old Testament Theology: An Introduction

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“The mighty capacity of YHWH in the exodus is, in the Song of Moses, extended to the conquest of the land of promise:” (source)

“As a consequence, the older phrase, ‘God acts in history,’ is problematic as it is now is to be taken as a confessional (or an ideological) statement that for the most part is seen to be constructive and not reportage.” (source)

“The issue for Old Testament theology is the question of the extent to which Israel appropriated such material, the extent to which it radically transformed the material, and the extent to which it rejected the material that it found inimical to its own theological commitments. The answer to these questions determines the extent to which the Old Testament reflects common theology that was generic in the ancient Near East and the extent to which Israel’s faith is distinctive and without parallel in its cultural environment.” (source)

“And what was taken as religious development over the centuries is now best viewed as side-by-side renditions of faith that evidence profound and ongoing contestation about the character of God, the nature of faith, and the identity of Israel.” (source)

“Old Testament theology has as its task the attempt to make some coherent sense out of this material; but such coherent sense is characteristically hazardous because our explanatory modes of discourse run immediately in the direction of idolatry, of producing a God who is discernable, explicable, and therefore to some extent manageable.” (source)