Volume 50 of Biblical Theology Bulletin celebrated fifty years of publication with the publication of four issues that we have likened to the biblical Jubilee year. In his presentation of BTB 50:1 and the volume 50 going forward, Assistant Editor Ryan Patrick McLaughlin noted that BTB would be focusing on a key aspect of the biblical Jubilee, social justice:
In honor of the BTB’s 50th year, the journal has embraced a theme of “Jubilee,” focusing particularly on how Israel’s sabbatical laws may help readers reflect on issues of sociopolitical justice…. BTB has sought essays that explore, in a method consistent with the journal’s rigorous academic standards, topics consistent with the theme of Jubilee. Such topics include the plight of marginalized peoples, the relationship between justice and mercy, and the place of environmental concern in biblical studies and theology.
Going forward, BTB editors continue to pay heed to what Karen Armstrong aptly describes as the “art of scripture.” Armstrong’s masterful book, The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts (2019, Alfred Knopf), surveys scriptures from around the world to arrive at an understanding of what scriptures are and how the communities that held them as sacred, or canonical, used and interpreted them.
From the very beginning, the monotheistic traditions were dedicated to the ideal of social justice. The prophets of Israel denounced those rulers who enjoyed their own wealth and privilege but neglected the plight of the poor. Jesus insisted that his followers minister to the needy and the despised, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and visiting those in prison. Paul’s seven authentic letters aimed to eradicate inequality, since in Christ there was neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor freeman, male nor female. Charity or live, he insisted was the most essential virtue [458].
Scriptures are about the realm of the sacred and require what Armstrong describes as “right brain mythos thinking” that modern scholars often forsake in favor of “left brain logos thinking.” Mythos thinking utilizes religious symbols and stories. Logos thinking examines texts for facts in a scientific mode that seeks only data. Thus, Armstrong argues:
Religion is often regarded as irrelevant to modern concerns. But whatever our “beliefs,” it is essential for human survival that we find a way to rediscover the sacrality of each human being and resacralise our world.
When we reflect on this challenge in the study of biblical scripture, BTB authors pursue a path that explores biblical texts in their historical contexts as reflecting the mindset and awareness that biblical authors reveal in the sacred texts. They continue as well to recognize scriptures as sacred texts whose purpose is to awaken a religious, or spiritual, awareness of life. Scripture as sacred literature requires more than a scientific reading. The art is in recognizing sacred texts as more aligned with poetry, music, and religion than with math, science, and history.
This new volume of BTB opens with a set of articles that pursue both ends.
Robert Gnuse, in “Psalm 104 The Panorama of Life,” opens with the statement, “An ecological reflection upon a biblical passage is a most appropriate task for a biblical theologian in this present age,” adding that “…as a biblical theologian, I feel that it is most appropriate to interpret select biblical narratives in the light of our ecological and environmental crisis.” Psalm 104 bears similarities with the creation account in Genesis 1 but the psalm puts a personal touch on that narrative trying to make it come more alive for the listening audience. Similarities with the famous Amarna Hymn to Atn suggests that the biblical hymn may be descended from the older Egyptian hymn. Gnuse details further ecological dimensions inherent in the text of the psalm.
David J. Zucker, in “Four Women in Samuel Confront Power Part 1: Contemporary Views” identifies women in 1–2 Samuel who on four occasions, put their lives at risk as they dare to confront power. They are Abigail to rebellious David; the Medium of Endor to King Saul; the Wise Woman of Tekoa to King David; and the Wise Women of Abel to Joab, King David’s general. Contemporary scholars today generally have high praise for Abigail. They argue that the woman of Endor is not a witch, who practices black magic, but more properly a medium or necromancer (one who divines by means of the dead). The Wise Woman of Tekoa, as interpreted today, implies that “there were no witnesses, hence the case could well be considered. M …as a manslaughter.” Commentators today suggest that the Wise Women of Abel that the women live far away from the central government and were not affected by the institutions of the monarchy. Part 2 of on this topic will be, “Four Women in Samuel Confront Power: Views from the Targum, the Rabbis, and the Church Fathers.”
Philip Suciadi Chia, in “The Word Ekklesia in Matthew and Its Implication for Social Justice,” argues that Matthew uses the term ekklesia with spiritual as well as physical meanings. Chia traces the use of the term in its Hebrew, cognates, and Greek meanings and etymology. The study contextualizes the concept in the worlds of Qumran, Jewish, Greek cultures and then in the text of the Gospel of Matthew, following which he draws out the implications of the word ekklesia for social justice.
James A. Sanders, who passed away on October 1, 2020, presented a newly reviewed study on “Scripture and Ideology” in which he identifies various movements through history that have appealed to Scripture for authorization. Its application today is in point. The original article was written in 1973 in the context of the events that led to the Yom Kippur War, October 6-25, 1973, an aftershock from the Six-Day War of 1967, in which Israel had captured Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, roughly half of Syria’s Golan Heights, and the territories of the West Bank. In this article, Sanders casts a wide net to include a variety of settings in which contending parties use biblical authority to justify conflicting positions. The article is unsparing of the various claims to justification and abstracts to the claim for justification, an exercise in polemical ideology.
