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Song of Songs/Lamentations
by Duane Garrett and Paul R. House
Word Biblical Commentary.
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 2004. 479 pp. $39.99 (cloth).
ISBN 0-8499-0825-6.
Two of humankind’s deepest experiences,
love and loss, are examined through the poetry of Song of Songs
and Lamentations. Within the context of ancient Near Eastern
origins and the particularity of ancient Israel’s experiences,
Garrett and House explore the truths the texts bear for Old Testament
theology and for Christian faith. Arguing that Song of Songs
is a unified work of love poetry by a single poet from the time
of the united monarchy, Garrett regards the work as either written
by Solomon or for him by an unknown court poet. As lyric poetry,
thirteen individual songs with three vocal parts—“soprano” (woman’s
part), “tenor” (man’s part), and “chorus” (girls
of Jerusalem)— are woven into a chiastic structure having
as its centerpiece “the sexual union of bride and groom
on their wedding night” (p. 35). Informed by the work of
Campbell and Lévi-Strauss, Garrett’s structural
analysis presents Song of Songs as a heroic quest and transformation
where a female protagonist moves from the undesirable state of
virginity with the aid of the male redeemer figure to the desired
state of loss of virginity. The poems reflect on the story of
marriage portrayed as an idealized perfect first love. The heated
desire expressed between the man and the woman celebrates a married
relationship, monogamous and heterosexual.
While Garrett brings
his own interpretation to Song of Songs, House works to acquaint
readers with the importance of Lamentations for the faith and
practice of present day Christians. Breaking no new ground, the
goal is to place before the church the theological and practical
significance of lamenting over sin. House is content to speak
of a single, anonymous author writing “reasonably
close to the time of the fall of Jerusalem” (p. 302) in
587 B.C.E. and to focus, as he believes the writer did, on a
message that links sin, suffering, and lamentation.
Extensive
bibliography, classical textual and literary criticism, and verse-by-verse
analysis are strong points. Both writers have full command of
pertinent scholarship, but while House acknowledges his indebtedness
to others (note his high praise for Adele Berlin’s
2002 commentary, pp. 299–300), Garrett is at pains to discredit
views he finds “absurd” (LaCocque, p. 20), “contrived” (Murphy,
p. 21), or “driven by feminist ideology” (p. 38).
Indeed, any view judged as feminist is readily denounced. Correct
in his assessment that earlier attempts to allegorize miss the
Song’s message, Garrett borders on allegory himself in
developing the quest as a woman’s loss of virginity—equating,
for example, the “guardians of the walls” with her
virginity (p. 114) and her “mother’s house” as
her womb (p. 104).
Kandy Queen-Sutherland
Stetson University
DeLand, Florida
Sexuality and the Jesus Tradition
by William Loader
Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2005. 296 pp. $30.00.
ISBN 0-8028-2862-0.
Sexuality is narrowly rendered in Loader’s
work. His discussion employs the Synoptic Gospels along with
extensive use of 1 Corinthians 7 on lust, adultery, divorce,
and celibacy. The book is scholarly in approach, offering the
Greek with translation for each passage, and including extensive
footnotes.
The conclusions offered are definitive. Divorce is
not permitted, except for Paul’s allowance that an unbeliever
may initiate it against a believer. Remarriage is adultery because
it violates the original marital union and divine order. Marriage
is at best a temporary state because sexual relations will not
exist in the coming kingdom. It is the option for “widows
and widowers” who
cannot exercise self-control over sexual passion (p. 164). Celibacy
is chosen by Jesus, Paul, and John the Baptist as the greater
means of service to God as prophets (p. 216).
Two of the topics
examined by Loader should encourage further questions about sexually
related behavior. He begins with Matthew 5:27–28, regarding
men looking upon women with lust. He places the responsibility
on the man for control of his sexual impulses, differentiating
between sexual arousal and intent. In his treatment of the “excision
passages” of Matthew
5:29–30 and Mark 9:43–48, Loader speaks of the sexual
abuse of children. Although he assumes that this is a common
concern of the biblical period, the footnotes do not fully support
this (p. 23). He intimates that small children may have been
brought to Jesus for the purpose of sexual availability, eliciting
his response of warning against causing “these little ones” to
stumble.
Loader exhibits some inconsistency with the biblical
use of euphemisms for genital references. Concerning cutting
off “hand’ and “foot,” he
extrapolates that masturbation is forbidden. In the anointing
of the feet of Jesus with perfume, however, Loader sees no sexual
reference because of the lack of objection by the disciples who
only mention the financial waste (p. 40), a puzzling inference.
In the encounter with Mary Magdalene in the garden, the interpretation
of “touch” as to “have sexual relations” is
disallowed as “hardly likely” (p. 147). This further
serves his depiction of Jesus as celibate. Loader has depended
upon the latter translation in other instances to make his point
about sexual expression.
While there is some movement toward defining
sexuality as relational in his “one flesh” discussion,
Loader does not pursue the implications. He has chosen to approach
each of the selected teachings on sexuality only within their
early context, with limited recognition of the wider principles
of the gospel. Those looking for modern applications from this
treatment of sexuality will have to look elsewhere. In his concluding
chapter, Loader proposes that further work be done along these
lines.
Debra Reagan
Union-PSCE
Richmond, Virginia
Fortress Introduction to the Prophets
by Rodney R. Hutton
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2004. 115 pp. $16.00.
ISBN 0-8006-3670-8.
“This volume seeks above all else to
understand the message of the prophets within the context of
their own past and present situations, understanding their message
to be directed to the immediacy of conflicted and critical events
contemporary with the prophets themselves” (p. viii). Hutton
focuses his comments on the expli-citly socio-historical context
of prophecy, rather than the literary or theological contexts.
An introductory chapter addresses five “questions that
have fundamentally shaped the debate” (p.
1) with respect to prophetic literature. Then Hutton introduces
Amos, Hosea, Isaiah of Jerusalem (a.k.a. First Isaiah), Micah,
Interim Prophets (Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk), and Jeremiah.
Upon
reading the Table of Contents, one is immediately struck by two
discoveries. First, the only prophets to be introduced in this
study are the pre-exilic, classical (or writing) prophets. No
attention is given to the pre-exilic, non-writing prophets (Elijah
et al.) who are part of the Jewish canon of prophecy. The exilic
and post-exilic prophets are peculiarly absent from this volume,
notable prophets like Second and Third Isaiah, Ezekiel, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi, and others. Second, Hutton’s
discussion of Jeremiah takes up forty-nine of the available pages,
fully 45 percent of the book. Hutton’s introductory work
on Jeremiah, the prophet and the prophetic book, is helpful.
Unfortunately, when the reader compares the number of pages on
Jeremiah to the small number of pages devoted to the other prophets,
it is hard not to feel cheated. By contrast, Hosea, Micah, and
the three interim prophets get eight pages, Amos gets ten pages,
and Isaiah of Jerusalem gets sixteen pages. Truth in advertising
should mandate the title, “Introduction to Jeremiah and
Other Pre-exilic Prophets.”
Hutton successfully addresses
his intended audience of “those
who are, for the first time, encountering Israel’s prophetic
literature in a serious study or who wish to regain a familiarity
with the ‘forest’ so that they can once again slug
their way through the ‘trees’ of weekly lectionary
texts” (p. viii). Although Hebrew words are often transliterated
but not translated into English, this brief introductory study
is indeed accessible by persons who are not biblical scholars
and would work well for a Sunday School class or Bible Study.
Marty E. Stevens
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Columbia, South Carolina
Preaching Judges
by Joseph R. Jeter, Jr.
Preaching Classic Texts.Chalice, St.
Louis, 2003. 162 pp. $18.99. ISBN 0-8272-2977-1.
Here is a most
helpful book for any biblical preacher who wishes to take the
full measure of the canon. The Revised Common Lectionary includes
precisely one text from the book of Judges—for
all three years. But Jeter’s volume just might have a few
fingers walking toward this strange book after all.
Jeter first
does well what he knows he must do: convince us that we should
spend some time with this biblical piece. The first chapter is
thus, “why preach from Judges?” Seven
reasons are offered, from “it is in the canon” to “it
is filled with great stories.” All seven of Jeter’s
reasons are persuasive and are formulated from a wide variety
of sources. In fact, that is one of this volume’s greatest
strengths, namely, its rich use of art, literature, and popular
culture. Jeter has a wonderful way of illustrating his ideas,
and he offers generously to his readers a vast array of them
for their own sermonic use (p. 144).
The remainder of the book
moves through the texts of Judges in canonical order, spending
significant exegetical time on more familiar passages—Samson
(and the women) and Jephthah (and his daughter) each get a chapter.
However, lesser known texts are treated to insightful commentary
as well. Jeter melds his commentary and his homiletical reflections
so seamlessly that the reader is on occasion surprised to find
that a sermon is being preached when the reader thought that
exegesis was being offered. For this reader that is no bad thing.
One could quarrel with some details. For example, one commentary/sermon
on Gideon that urges us to “keep the faith” ends
in a very maudlin poem (p. 77). Also, I found the reading of
Barak in Judges 4 as “just needing a comrade” when
he urges Deborah to go with him to battle to be somewhat weak.
Every man in the chapter is portrayed as a coward (especially
Sisera); there is little reason to hear Barak any differently.
Still,
this is a delightful read and a genuinely wise one from a preacher/scholar
who has spent his life in love with the Bible, warts and all.
Jeter has read widely in the biblical and homiletical literature
on Judges and has offered his mature work to us.
John C. Holbert
Perkins School of Theology
Dallas, Texas
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