Paul D. Hanson

War and Peace in the Hebrew Bible

If one were to choose a single word to describe the reality for which God created the world, and in which he seeks to sustain the community of those who respond to his initiating grace as an invitation to participate in it, that word would be “shalom.”

Old Testament Apocalyptic Reexamined

Prophetic eschatology is transformed into apocalyptic at the point where the task of translating the cosmic vision into the categories of mundane reality is abdicated.

ZECHARIAH 9 AND THE RECAPITULATION OF AN ANCIENT RITUAL PATTERN

TIVELY discussion currently is being carried on over the question of the sources of Jewish apocalyptic. Zechariah 9 should be introduced into that discussion as a composition betraying one sphere of influence which was of vast significance in the emergence of apocalyptic eschatology from its roots iru ciassical prophecy, viz., the sphere of archaic ritual forms. Tracing ultimately to the ritual of ancient Near Eastern myth, these forms were mediated by the league and especially the royal cult of Jerusalem, being absorbed into the complex stream which we call apocalyptic from the sixth century on. Nevertheless, this chapter has been denied its important message by a phenomenon not uncommon in biblical research, the repeated application of a method of interpretation which, while yielding satisfactory results elsewhere, simply does not apply to the material at hand. For over a century biblical scholars have persisted in dating and interpreting Zechariah 9 on the basis of alleged historical allusions, especially the military campaign in vss. 1-7 and reference to the sons of Yawan in vs. 13. For hundreds of pages arguments have been advanced, with equal persuasiveness, for an htstorical setting during the reign of Hezekiah, Josiah, Tiglath-pileser, Sargon, Alexander, or the Alaccabees.l The flaw in this line of interpretation is methodological: the genre of the composition has been perceived incorrectly, and thus an inappropriate method of interpretation has been applied; in short, a Di-

The Identity and Purpose of the Church

“The churchs purpose is not its own. The church is present in the world on behalf of the God by whose grace it has been called into existence. Thus, at the heart of the churchs act of self-definition is a basic theological question: What is the nature of Gods presence in the world?”

The Responsibility of Biblical Theology to Communities of Faith

“A posture of openness preserves in creative tension the normative role of the Bible emphasized by the conservative and the contribution of contemporary experience emphasized by the liberal and the pentecostal. It stresses what the ecumenical movement has long proclaimed: we need each other, and we need each other in the uniqueness and richness of each others perspectives. But we can appreciate that need only if we are open to enrichment through a sharing of visions.”

From Prophecy To Apocalyptic: Unresolved Issues

Pages 1-16 of Carroll’s article consist of a resume of the argument of The Dawn of Apocalyptic and a description of the strengths of the book. It is gratifying to encounter a scholar who has so lucidly grasped the core of one’s scholarly research and expressed such deep appreciation for it. Since, however, those aspects of a critique which challenge the judgments and conclusions of an author and offer alternative suggestions are the most instructive and interesting, we shall focus our remarks

Religious Identity in the Public Square

This article grows out of and hopes to remain a part of a conversation in which Jews and Christians ponder over the manner in which they can contribute to the public good from the richness of their Scriptures and traditions. It suggests a thoughtful hermeneutic that is simultaneously faithful to ancestral traditions and open to the contributions of all thoughtful individuals and groups within a diverse society.

Scripture, Community and Spirit: Biblical Theology's Contribution To a Contextualized Christian Theology

The words found in the title of this article offer an opening hint. The meeting does not occur as the result of a unidirectional move, in which case the title would have been ’The Bible Answers the Contemporary Christian Community’s Questions’. Rather preparation and initiative must occur on both sides of the meeting. The preparation and initiative on one side is called biblical theology, on the other side Christian theology. The activity in each case involves theology, that is, a human effort to understand truths about God. On the one side, scholars seek to understand how individuals and communities in biblical times perceived

Book Review: Prophets and Two Types of Covenant:

of commentary—theological exposition in the form of narrative. There is a legitimate place for such narrative expositions in Old Testament studies, and they could be of great use to the preacher and teacher in the church. But whoever sets out to write such a work should ground it upon the most careful and thorough critical study of the biblical text and theology. Only then can such narrative exposition rest on a sure foundation.