A while back I posted on various Ancient Near Eastern sensitivities relating to “creation,” temple, “salvation,” etc., talking about the ways Jon Levenson‘s Creation and the Persistence of Evil. had both radically impacted my understanding of the Bible and had jump-started a new subset of my interests in ANE studies and contextualizing our Bible within its ancient worlds. Though this will probably sound arrogant, I recommend reading the earlier related post if you lack familiarity with what Levenson does in this excellent book…
For now, I want to share one of my favorite quotes from Levenson’s Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence. In part of the 1994 Preface, which itself warrants the price of the book, Levenson explains how and why he conceives of creation-thought, the persistence of evil, and the drama of divine omnipotence together in this exploration of the Hebrew Bible—how he conceives of these as “theodicy” (redefined) issues within the Hebrew Bible. In the midst of this discussion, on p. xvii, Levenson writes,
My failure to address the problem of evil in the philosophical sense, however, rests on more than my own obvious inadequacies. It rests also on a point usually overlooked in discussions of theodicy in a biblical context: the overwhelming tendency of biblical writers as they confront undeserved evil is not to explain it away but to call upon God to blast it away.
When I first read the book this comment struck me deeply, initiating many lengthy periods of reflection, pondering, and discussions with others. It seemed—and still seems—powerful and persuasive, refocusing discussion-about and experiences-of evil around a more biblical and edifying approach (not that the philosophical approach is invalid). This comment fit in perfectly with the numerous other personal paradigm-shifts Levenson’s book initiated—relating exciting historical study of the writings of our Bible to ways such study can (should) result in profoundly practical missional and edifying fruit…
For the rest of the Preface and, indeed, the book…I recommend you obtain a copy and read! It is only about 150 pages, apart from prefaces and endnotes. Though many will find it challenging on numerous levels, most of its challenges bring one to edifying places of exciting encounters with our Lord, especially through how he presents himself and his work in our Bible. Perhaps in the near future I will post more on this.
Apparently you can soon purchase this book from the Westminster Bookstore.
June 1, 2009 at 9:18 am
Does Levenson subscribe to the organic unity of the Scriptures?
December 8, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Wait a minute…are you saying the end of the semester is a busy time?
December 8, 2008 at 2:03 am
FTH,
Will do; like I said I am only about 70 pages into it as its hard to have extra cirricular reading during the semester, but come dec 12th I am wide open and will probably finish it in a few days (judging on how good it is so far.) I will let you know what I thought afterwards.
JMS! (Julie Mill Sucks)…Nick
December 7, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Nick,
Also, let me know what you think when you get to the final two chapters of Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son where Levenson discusses NT and Early Christianity stuff. I found his comments some of the most insightful I ever read on various NT writings relating to these issues!
December 7, 2008 at 5:33 pm
J.B. Hood,
I will email you privately. I hope you enjoy “read[ing] up on Conn.”
December 7, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Nick,
Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son is a great book. It was one of the first books by Levenson I read. I recall finding it refreshingly troubling that Levenson refused to explain away the few passages in the Hebrew Bible still betraying a time when child-sacrifice functioned within Israelite religion—and these not only polemical passages against it, but passages still with (apparently) some form of a stamp of approval on the practice and/or associating it with something YHWH commanded.
More importantly, Levenson does a fantastic job illustrating his main points in the book. Along the way you get exciting and detailed-oriented readings of various familiar passages in the Hebrew Bible. Particularly valuable is that in Levenson’s work you have an example of someone engaging in so-called “critical” readings (recognizing and exploiting the existence of various sources such as J, P, etc.) in a helpful way, showing how such things contribute not only to our understanding of the composition histories of the texts, but also the texts as we have them now.
With your growing academic interests in things relating to the Hebrew Bible, you may also want to look into Levenson’s collection of essays, The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies.
I expect with your philosophical interests and interests in wrestling with how to interface those with what the Bible does, you will find Levenson’s Creation and the Persistence of Evil particularly fascinating.
Thanks for your comment.
December 6, 2008 at 5:19 pm
FTH and others,
Does anyone have any comments on Harvie Conn’s Elenctics? I’m trying to read up on Conn and have noted the audio series at WTS bookstore as well as a (course reader?) by the same name. Any comments on content, etc. would be appreciated. Grazi.
December 6, 2008 at 4:38 pm
That will be my next levenson book then. I am currently working on “The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son” which is fascinating. Bobby recommended that book to me and I am not disappointed so far (only about 70 pages in, however)
Pax Christi…Nick