The Changing Scene in Biblical Theology - The BAS Library
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The Changing Scene in Biblical Theology

The Old Testament/Hebrew Bible has an independence that should not be compromised by either Christianizing or Judaizing it. Together, we need to discuss what it says about God and God’s relationship to human beings and the world.

By Bernhard W. Anderson

Last summer I returned to Heidelberg, Germany, for the first time in over thirty years. Sitting in an outdoor cafe on the Hauptstrasse, I mused on the great changes that had taken place. Trolleys and automobiles are now banned from central Heidelberg, and the “old city” is a vast shopping mall. I reflected on other, even more significant changes. Back in 1958, when I spent a sabbatical sojourn at the University of Heidelberg, the great theologian Gerhard von Rad was lecturing on “Old Testament Theology.” Students came from all over the world, even from fields like law and medicine, […]

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Endnotes

1.

See Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 1, The Theology of Israel’s Historical Traditions (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1962); Old Testament Theology, vol. 2, The Theology of Israel’s Prophetic Traditions (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1965), trans. by D.M.G. Stalker.

2.

See my previous column, “Historical Criticism and Beyond,” BR 09:05.

3.

The Book of J, trans. from the Hebrew by David Rosenberg, interpreted by Harold Bloom (New York: Grove-Weidenfeld, 1990).

4.

See Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, trans. by John Marks, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), p. 41.

5.

Jon D. Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (San Francisco: Winston Press, 1985).

6.

Old Testament Theology, vol. 2, p. 429—the very last words of his monumental work.