Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Deuteronomy / Jeremiah

Proclamation Commentaries: The Old Testament Witnesses for Preaching—Deuteronomy, Jeremiah on Amazon

JeremiahAs part of the Fortress Press (now Augsburg/Fortress) Proclamation commentary series specially designed for preaching and teaching in the local church, Hebrew bible scholar Elizabeth Achtemeier presents some historical background along with textual, contextual, and thematic similarities between Deuteronomy and Jeremiah; both books essentially emerged from the same time period and from related political, cultural, and religious concerns. The short commentary is less than 100 pages, so you can read Deuteronomy, Jeremiah in one sitting and gain a sense of Yahweh's loving, covenantal purposes with Israel and also an appreciation of the many ways realities during the time both books were recorded and redacted apply to us in the Church as covenant people under the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Proclamation Commentaries Deuteronomy Jeremiah Elizabeth AchtemeierClearly you'd need additional resources to prepare an adequate sermon or study on these passages, but what an illuminating overview for those of us with some knowledge of the texts who want to begin pulling it all together! Although the book is copyright 1978, much of the Selected Bibliography at the end still is current and could serve as part of those additional resources.

Edited on Friday 12 June 2014:

Regarding parallels and similarities between the texts of Jeremiah and Deuteronomy, Walter Brueggemann recently explained, "The older view was that Jeremiah was a 'scissors and paste' editorial job to intrude Deuteronomy belatedly into Jeremiah. More recent work suggest that the relationship is an integral one, and Jeremiah is schooled in and reflective of the older covenantal tradition.'" Out of Babylon, page 75

my amazon review: consonance between Deuteronomy and Jeremiah

Illustration features a detail from Jeremiah by Michelangelo, 1511. Fresco currently in Sistine Chapel.

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