Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:1 (Mar 2025)
Article: The Deuteronomic Worldview: Realized And Idealized Righteousness In The Civil, Economic, Social, And Cultic Spheres
Author: T. James Milliken

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The Deuteronomic Worldview: Realized And Idealized Righteousness In The Civil, Economic, Social, And Cultic Spheres

T. James Milliken

T. James Milliken is Missionary Professor of New Testament at the Greek Bible College of Athens, Greece. He may be contacted at www.tylerjamesmilliken.com/contact.

Abstract: Building on the previously unpublished worldview analysis of W. Andrew Hoffecker, the article presents a unifying paradigm for the diverse stipulations contained in the Deuteronomic law. Hoffecker’s analysis categorizes Deuteronomy’s stipulations within four essential covenantal domains, identified as the civil, economic, social, and cultic spheres. The article compares Hoffecker’s approach with other established paradigms on Deuteronomy, including those of Block (2021, 2023), DeRouchie (2013), Currid (2006), Kaiser (1983), Kaufman (1979), Kline (1963), and Mendenhall (1954), and explores whether the foregoing studies should serve as competing approaches or complementary perspectives on the Deuteronomic law. In contrast to previous studies, Hoffecker’s paradigm effectively uncovers the primary covenantal domains where Israel would exercise covenant fidelity. The analysis raises questions about the ideal conception of Israelite society with a view to the central virtues that characterize each domain: impartial justice (civil sphere), fair equity (economic sphere), protected heritage (social sphere), and devoted worship (cultic sphere).

Key words: Deuteronomy, law, righteousness, civil, economic, social, cultic, ancient Near Eastern, treaty, sphere sovereignty

The structural sequencing of the Deuteronomic law remains perennially debated: “Over the centuries scholars have struggled to identify principles of organization that would give some order or logic to chapters 6–26, but they have generally experienced only frustration.”1 One proposal that has gained currency with evangelical scholars may be termed the moral categories approach, which traces the ten

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moral categories of the Decalogue throughout the stipulations in chapters 6–26. While this approach has the potential benefit of an orderly legal exposition, the precise arrangement of these moral categories has not gained significant consensus.2 Others perceive the unexpected ordering of the stipulations in Deuteronomy 6–26 as the result of non-linear ancient Near Eastern legal coding, or as a repetitive anthology of ...