Robert P. Carroll

Whose Prophet? Whose History? Whose Social Reality? Troubling the Interpretative Community Again Notes Towards a Response To T.W. Overholt's Critique

... so for that reason divine wisdom took care that certain stumbling-blocks, or interruptions, to the historical meaning should take place, by the introduction into the midst of the narrative of certain impossibilities and incongruities; that in this way the very interruption of the narrative might, as by the interposition of a bolt, present an obstacle to the reader, whereby he might refuse to acknowledge the way which conducts to the ordinary meaning; and being thus excluded and debarred from it, we might be recalled to the beginning of another way, in order that, by entering upon a narrow path, and passing to a loftier and more sublime road, he might lay open the immense breadth of divine wisdom (Origen).2 2

Inner Tradition Shifts in Meaning in Isaiah 1-11

reference is to a development from an orthodox Jewish mysticism to Gnosticism properly speaking, but the objection is more widely valid. 31 Brief reference may be made to the latest study in this field, a masterly survey by Kurt Rudolf of Leipzig, Die Gnosis (Leipzig [1977]), which makes judicious use of extracts from the Nag Hammadi texts for the exposition of gnostic thought. General approval of this book (which it well deserves) does not of course preclude some difference of opinion on points of detail!

Book Reviews : Ezekiel Completed:

The primary interest of Lester Grabbe’s monograph, Eua-Nehemiah (Old Testament Readings, Routledge, 1998, £45.00, pb. £14.99, pp. x + 204, ISBN 0-41514153-2, pb. -14154-0), is in historical matters. To expose the problems confronting the historian in using this biblical material as source, Grabbe first engages in an extended exposition of the text (cf. the series to which the volume belongs). Though he terms this a ’close reading’, Grabbe is not interested so much in the rhetorical devices and structures which the editor uses to convey his message as in the substance of the presentation of events and persons involved. A novel feature here is Grabbe’s incorporation of other ’traditions’ beside the main-line canonical text, in particular, the Ezra and Nehemiah materials in 1 and 2 Esdras, Ben Sira, 2 Maccabees, and Josephus. The upshot of this discussion is the variability, and, Grabbe argues, consequent historical uncertainty, of, above all, the portrayal of the figure of Ezra. The second part of the book draws on these data to attempt historical reconstruction (there is inevitably some overlap and repetition between the two parts). Ezra emerges as a shadowy, even fictive, character (the one year mission, the incredible largesse lavished upon him by the Persian emperor though no bodyguard is provided for him; more might have been made of the strange feature of the remaining in exile of a high priestly family despite Cyrus’s edict). The reliability of the ’Nehemiah Memoir’ is affirmed but not as providing a flattering portrayal of the hero, who is termed ’egotistical, bigoted, narrow-minded, vindictive’ with ’an unsurpassed ability to alienate ... those with whom he worked’ (p. 180). The relevance of Nehemiah’s stance for a Jewish community under threat of erosion by assimilation is, however, acknowledged. WILLIAM JOHNSTONE, UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN

Book Reviews : Hea Vyweight Conser Va Ti Ve Commenta r y

Of the writing of books there is no end, least of all of biblical commenlaries. You would think that the world now has its full quota of such commentaries, but still they keep coming. What has triggered this observation is the latest offering on Ezekiel by Daniel I. Block. His The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24 (NICOT, Eerdmans, 1997, £32.99/

Book Reviews : Positive Advance in Jeremiah Studies

48.00, pp. xxii + 887, ISBN 0-8028-25354) is only the first half of the project, but already it looks like the heavyweight of conservative evangelical commentaries on one of the more difficult books of the

Book Reviews : Battle Lines On the Bible in America

The story of the universal flood described in Genesis 6-9 continues to exercise its fascination, and two more books devoted to that story have appeared. They have in common that neither is much concerned with historical events, but there the similarity between them ends. P. J. Harland’s study, The Value of Human Life: a Study of the Story of the Flood (Genesis 6-9) (SVT 64, Brill, 1996, n.p., pp. xiv + 245, ISBN 90-04-10534-4), originated as a Durham PhD thesis. Its origin is clear from the characteristic concern that every possibly relevant source should be noted; and the clear influence of the supervisor, R. W. L. Moberly, in the concern to draw theological lessons from the Genesis material. Harland accepts conventional source analysis of these chapters, and his method is to consider the treatment of the different stages of the flood by J, then by P, then by the final form of the text. The themes explored are the causes of the flood; the righteousness of Noah; God’s repentance; creation, uncreation and recreation ; restoration; the issues raised by Gen 9:1-7; and finally the image of God. The underlying issue is the value of human life when lived in accordance with the divine purpose, and the problems that arise, for both God and humanity, when that purpose is thwarted. Overall, there is little here with which one would disagree, but the book seems, for better or worse, to be rather far removed from contemporary concerns in the study of Genesis. Harland is a young scholar from whom we shall hope to hear more. Norman Cohn is 82, and has long been known as an explorer of some strange scholarly byways. Some curiosities certainly emerge in his Noah’s Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought (Yale University Press, 1996, £19.95, pp. 150, ISBN 0-300-06823-9). He touches lightly on the Mesopotamian origins of the flood

Strange Fire: Abstract of Presence Absent in the Text Meditations On Exodus 3

book, although, as Wainwright makes clear, many interpretations do recur in both. The third section takes an analytic view of the text’s relationship to politics, society, culture and liturgy. In the kaleidoscope of literal and hidden meanings, with references to past/present/future, a central principle seems to be the book’s relevance, as if designed for the readers’ situation. Its authority derives from canonical status, or as part of the cultural heritage, but an individual interpreter can still make all the difference. Wainwright has a curiously phlegmatic approach, stressing the essential ambiguity of the text rather than its problematic attitudes. The outcome of this is a constructive pluralism, not the polemical polarization so frequently exemplified in the interpretations. JOHN M. COURT, UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Book Reviews : Struggle With the Bible

These meditations on Exod. 3 for George Steiner’s 65th birthday combine a closereading of the text with other people’s writings on it. Such an intertextual production seeks to explore the problematics of presence in the story of the burning bush and focuses on the opacity of the divine name as an evasion of presence in the narrative. Written under the influence of Steiner’s many writings on texts and inscribed under the sign of Derrida, my meditations conclude that the ’I’ of the text cannot be seen by the eye of the reader. In that absence all presence in the Bible is deferred to a future

Book Reviews : Erra and Ezekiel

The ancient Israelites left few inscriptions on stone, and the climate of Palestine has destroyed all remains of papyrus and leather except in specially favoured places such as the caves by the Dead Sea. Yet some writings have survived on potsherds, seals, plaster, and occasionally on stone. The massive archaeological effort of recent decades has discovered more of these, but knowledge of them has been confined largely to learned journals and occasional newspaper sensations. The translation of

Book Reviews : Historicist Approach to Jeremiah

Daniel Bodi’s The Book of Ezekiel and the Poem of Erra (OBO 104, Universitdtsverlag Freiburg/ Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht [1991], SwF 78.00, pp. 324, ISBN 3-7278-0731-8/3-525-53736-0 is a remodelled and expanded version of his PhD dissertation for Union Theological Seminary, New York (1987). Its title admirably describes its contents and the book itself makes a very useful, though rather technical, contribution to Ezekiel studies. The