Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament 5, 1 (2016)

The latest issue of the Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament is now available online. The main articles (listed below with their abstracts) are available from here, with a pdf of the entire issue available here. As always, it’s worth checking out its book reviews as much as anything else.

Scott M. Callaham

Must Biblical and Systematic Theology Remain  Apart? Reflection on Paul van Imschoot

Biblical and systematic theology stand in tension as fields of study that are constructively related in theory but strictly segregated in practice. In the first place, the nature of biblical theology seems to mandate that the concerns of systematic theology exert no conscious influence upon the work of biblical theologians. Furthermore, as a rule, biblical theologies – especially those firmly grounded in the OT – only tangentially influence the work of systematicians. Thus endures a stubborn, seemingly intractable impasse in academic theology. Those who nonetheless seek a voice for biblical theology in the broader world of Christian theological reflection have an unlikely ally in Paul van Imschoot, a nearly forgotten pre-Vatican II Catholic biblical theologian. Van Imschoot’s productive labors transgress received assumptions on the relationship between biblical and systematic theology and beckon present theologians to return to the grounding of Scripture for the formation of doctrine.

Gregory Cook

Power, Mercy, and Vengeance: The Thirteen Attributes in Nahum

Nahum scholars typically interpret the reference to YHWH’s Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Nah 1:3a as a re-reading meant to minimize YHWH’s mercy and emphasize his wrath. This article shows that the quote originates from Num 14:17–18 while maintaining an allusion to Exod 34:6–7. In this light, Nah 1:3a does not explain YHWH’s wrath against Assyria; rather, it explains how YHWH could pardon Judah’s apostasy and deliver his people 

Sunny Wang

The Visual and Auditory Presentation of God on Mount Sinai

In the OT there are two accounts of theophany recorded in Exod 19–20 and Deut 4–5. Some scholars thus argue that Deut 4 is constructed in such a way as to show that hearing is superior to sight. This paper argues that the senses of sight and hearing are used together to attain knowledge of God and that this interrelation between seeing and hearing is intended. The account of theophany on Mount Sinai is used as an example to show that seeing and hearing are often mingled to complement each other. The presence of God is experienced through hearing the voice of God and seeing God speaking out of fire, cloud, and smoke on the mountain. There is no sign to prove that one sense is superior to the other in the account of theophany. They are both means by which to experience God.

Book Reviews