Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 09:2 (Fall 2018)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

---

STR 9:2 (Fall 2018) p. 81

Book Reviews

Andreas Schüle. Theology from the Beginning. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 113. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017. 340 pp. Hardback. ISBN 978–3161539978. $149.00.

This book is a collection of previously published essays by Andreas Schüle. Schüle is the chair of Theology and Exegesis of the Old Testament at the University of Leipzig. In the introduction, Schüle argues that the initial chapters of Genesis are “the front portal through which every interpreter of the Pentateuch and also the Old Testament/the Hebrew Bible as a whole must enter. What one finds here are profound theological statements clothed in images and symbols from the world of antiquity which every interpretation has to take into account” (p. 1). Therefore, one expects Theology from the Beginning to focus on the theology found in the Primeval History of Genesis 1–11.

Schüle’s essays are divided into five major sections: The Image of God, Evil, Law and Forgiveness, God, and Ethics. The first subject receives the majority of Schüle’s attention in this volume—more than double the other sections in this book. Five of Schüle’s essays focus on the “Image of God,” the first two containing the most significant contribution to Old Testament studies.

In the first essay, “Made in the ‘Image of God,’” Schüle argues that Genesis uniquely presents the divine image in a way staggeringly different from its ancient Near East context. While other ANE texts present the image of the gods as lifeless physical material, Gen 1–11 presents the image as a living, relational being. Humanity, not wood or stone, stands as God’s emissary and representative here on earth. As representatives, humanity’s primary role is to bring out God’s dominion on the earth. According to Schüle, the primary way that humanity accomplishes this is through suppression of violence.

In his second essay, entitled the “Reluctant Image,” Schüle argues that “the Primeval History prefaces the following narratives in a way that directs the readers’ attention to the ambiguous relationship between divine intentions and human behaviors as a leitmotif in the Pentateuch” (p. 29). In other words, Schüle argues that the Primeval History presents a struggle between God’s intentions for humanity and humanity’s intentions. Schüle accepts the more recent trends that place the addition of the J and E sources after the P source (see pp. 38–40). In this view, J and E are

STR 9:2 (Fall 2018) p. 82

critiquing the view put forth in the Priestly source. The J and E sources are much more explicit in their presentation of ...

visitor : : uid: ()