The Old Testament for a Complex World: How the Bible’s Dynamic Testimony Points to New Life for the Church

In this sweeping debut, Howard, associate professor of the Old Testament at Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, argues that critical biblical scholarship on the Old Testament offers an expansive, nuanced interpretation of scripture that can aid Christians in addressing contemporary challenges. For example, the Documentary Hypothesis, which suggests composite authorship and identifies five different strands of source material in the Torah, explains textual inconsistencies such as the three versions of the Ten Commandments. Howard posits that awareness of diversity of authorship and conflict within scripture could lead the church beyond static understanding of specific texts to an acceptance that early Christians also wrestled with ambiguity and uncertainty. Similarly, biblical criticism indicates that Israelite culture was influenced by neighboring cultures, leading Israelite writers and editors to rework popular legends—such as the Mesopotamian flood one that predated the Noah’s Ark story. Howard asserts that faithful biblical interpretation acknowledges the Old Testament as a dynamic text, and thus requires readers to be willing to be guided by a “dynamic Spirit.” This impressive analysis will resonate with any Christian interested in the evolution of biblical criticism. (June)