The Old Testament and God

Craig G. Bartholomew (PhD, University of Bristol) is director of the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge, England. He was formerly senior research fellow at the University of Gloucestershire and the H. Evan Runner Professor of Philosophy at Redeemer University College. He is the author or editor of many books, most recently The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach (coauthored with Bruce R. Ashford) and The God Who Acts in History: The Significance of Sinai. Bartholomew is also the coauthor (with Michael W. Goheen) of The Drama of Scripture, Living at the Crossroads, and Christian Philosophy.

Contents

Introduction: A Road Map for The Old Testament and God
Part 1: What Should We Do with the Old Testament?
1. Old Testament Origins
1 Introduction
2 Israel among the nations
3 Palestine: the land
4 The land of Israel: different views in the Old Testament?
5 Land and the different dimensions of the Old Testament
6 What then shall we do with the Old Testament? The case for a new paradigm
Part 2: Tools for the Task
2. Knowledge: Towards a Critical Realist Paradigm
1 Introduction
2 Knowledge
3 Verification?
4 Conclusion
3. Narrative, Literature, Reading and World View
1 Introduction
2 Stories and narrative
3 Traditions
4 Traditions and paradigms
5 Conclusion: Narrative, tradition and Old Testament studies
6 Narrative, literature and reading
7 Literature
8 World view
4. History in/and the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East
1 Introduction
2 The nature of history
3 The Old Testament and history
4 History from the perspective of the Old Testament
5 Conclusion
5. Theology, Authority and the Old Testament
1 Introduction: From literature and history to theology
2 The Old Testament and theology
3 A critical realist theology
4 Conclusion
Part 3: The World Views of the Ancient Near East
6. Ancient Near Eastern World Views
1 Introduction
2 Myth in the Ancient Near East
3 Myth in the Old Testament
4 The world view/s of Ancient Egypt
5 Mesopotamia
6 The Sumerian world view
7 The Hittite world view
8 The Assyrian world view
9 The Babylonian world view
10 The Aramean world view
11 The Phoenician world view
12 The Canaanite world view/s
13 The Persian world view
14 Evaluation
7. God and the gods of the Ancient Near East
1 The Mosaic distinction and translatability
2 Evaluation
3 Conclusion
Part 4: The God Who Approaches
8. God in/and the Old Testament: the Living God
1 Introduction
2 The living God
3 Historical narrative and the living God of the Old Testament
4 The living God and metaphor
5 yhwh as king
6 Psalm 93: yhwh as king: a world view and a view of history
7 yhwh
8 Divine action in the Old Testament
9 Conclusion
Index