Alexander, Desmond and David Baker

Alexander, Desmond and David Baker (2003) Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. InterVarstiy Press. What does a dictionary have to instruct the reader upon the nature of Christian counseling, one might wonder, when picking up the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch by Desmond Alexander and David Baker? A dictionary seems to be a statement or volume of fact, rather than an ideological pronouncement on how to read a particular Biblical text in a more meaningful or theologically coherent fashion. However, this text is no mere dictionary.

Although it is divided in conventional alphabetical format, it is a text with a clear message and mission about the Old Testament. The text contains divisions not simply pertaining to unfamiliar words, characters, or books of the Old Testament, but also contains references to particular hermeneutical and exegetical concepts, such as the "Image of God," that run throughout the entire Bible, and pertain specifically to the worldview of the Bible advanced by the author. This is a dictionary of meaning as well as of fact.

The authors seek to create a sense of congruency between the Old and New Testaments, creating a sense of a seamless narrative of prophesy rather than seeing the two volumes existing in a kind of haphazard historical division between Ancient Judaism and Christianity. The worldview is thus Christian, but still tolerant and ecumenical, thus avoiding the divisiveness between the two old faiths of ancient Israel that now stand side by side in modern times. Coherence is always key to the author's vision.

For instance, rather than simply endorsing the Documentary Hypothesis of multiple authorships as an accepted norm, Alexander and Baker stress that the Old Testament itself is a holistic vision of God's mission and plan is a more fruitful way of viewing the Bible. The section of the authors on the "Image of God" is perhaps the most powerful example of how a dictionary format can be instructive as a way of teaching an individual about the theological and historical nuances of the Bible.

Rather than seeking the Image of God as a particular doctrine, expressed differently and piecemeal in a few texts, or pertaining only to the Genesis creation myth, the authors trace how humanity was made in the image of God, and yet connect this concept to the mention of God's image in other texts of the books of Moses, such as the condemnation of idolatry in the story of the Golden Calf and in the Ten Commandments.

They stress how God's Image in the Pentateuch was also regarded as sacred thing, not a part of the idolatrous worship of the human-created image common to paganism.

One of the most refreshing things one can bring to the life of a troubled soul seeking counseling is to remind him or her that, no matter what he or she is suffering, the soul is still a part of the revealed text of God's plan, that the world is good, and that above all he or she is created in God's image.

This does not mean that the image is supreme, as is often counseled in an idol-worshipping and media obsessed climate, but rather that the human being him or herself is intrinsically good, because the human form and moral compass was created in line with a larger plan and a larger divine order -- like human history, like the organization of the books of the Pentateuch itself.

The person does not need to worry about creating his or her image, or intrinsic goodness; rather it is already there, waiting to be found. The goodness of humanity, as affirmed by the beginnings of humankind outlined in the Old Testament are some of this text's most powerful notions for creating a Biblical vision of counseling. Much of secular and sacred counseling involves creating a tale of one's origins.

Often these tales of individual origins, in a troubled mind with a troubled past, may not be initially told in fruitful ways. If a counseled subject has suffered greatly in the past, been injured by others, perhaps by the individuals one cared about the most in one's past, like one's parents or one's spouse, one's sense of origins may be negative rather than positive.

Other narratives of healing and redemption and an affirmation of the goodness of one's image can be spiritually beneficial -- one is always a child of God, even when one has not been treated as such, and one is always made in God's image, even if one's own personhood is not always respected in an imperfect world. The Pentateuch itself is a tale of many origins as, first of the origins of humanity, and then of the prophets, then of the people of Israel.

By viewing the human soul as coherent with these origins and various tales.