Necessity of the Old Testament

God of the Old Testament is one that must not disappear from the minds of those that embrace the Christian faith. Brueggemann notes, "The Old Testament is indispensable...because it is a peculiar witness to elusive, irascible, multilayered, multivoiced holiness that can affect agency in the world" (Brueggemann, 2015, p. 263). It is in the Old Testament that God shows His presence not just in the sense of the beginning, but also the end. Brueggemann mentions this inhabiting God as a keeper of the world as well as people's pretensions, penultimate and open, helping believers resist deadly idolatries that come packaged in the guise of something precious.

With regards to Holiness or the term 'holiness' Brueggemann mentions the irreducible otherness of God'. Meaning, God supersedes and defies a formulation, domestication, and morality in pathos/power. God then becomes through holiness, a multifaceted topic of scriptural discourse. Is then that the Old Testament becomes a place to examine the infinitely indefinable holiness that is God. Through God's dispatching of lying and true prophets, and the canceling of plagues and fire as seen in Exodus, the Old Testament provides glimpses of what normally cannot be witnessed outside the stories of the first five books of the Bible.

When it comes to holiness affecting agency in the world, Brueggemann states this God is 'the subject of active verbs' (Brueggemann, 2015, p. 265). Specifically, that agency exists within a frequently descriptive versus declarative specificity. Brueggmann goes on to give examples saying the Lord opens eyes, sets prisoners free, watches over stranger and loves the righteous, brining ruin to the wicked as seen in Psalms. Adding to the notion that the world is not an independent or close initiative, rather it is at the mercy of an active holiness. Such that divine agency and God's love and forgiveness intertwine to form divine intervention.

Brueggemann labels dialogic passion as 'covenant' and mentions covenant violation and renewal. These processes promote a dynamic that produces both freedom and clash, keep both parties at the potential edge of hazard. Israel suffered and celebrated throughout the Old Testament due to their covenant made with God. Yahweh shows the Israelites steadfast love, compassion, and justice, denoting resolute commitment. However, it is in the willingness of the Israelites to obey or not the commandments set forth by Yahweh where the textual interactions of the covenant exist.

When it comes to Israelites and the capacity for dialogue with Yahweh it's about life. Yahweh becomes distinguished from the idols through God's 'pro-life' stance, sustaining the structures of life and intervening to protect and save life in the face of death. Even in a book like the Exodus, God enables the birth of heirs among barren women. Because while God overthrows and destroys, in the Old Testament it shows God creates and restores through covenants and actions.

Brueggemann mentions couch potatoes as those who place their trust in idols of passivity and numbness mirror and become them. They become lifeless, numb, and without as he calls it, possibility. He continues by saying the Old Testament must remain as it serves as testimony that will remain exposing idols, keeping witness to the substitute. The Old Testament thus serves a means of keeping people from giving in to their ideologies of certitude.

Brueggemann discusses new venues in the sense of new neighborly possibility. Meaning, God looked unto different peoples, throughout cultures and gender to enable a new neighborliness that transgresses boundaries giving way to new identity. Put simply, by creating new possibilities amongst different people, God provides a means of generating new venues that will then keep the word of God existing.

References

Brueggemann, W. (2015). Why the Old Testament Must Not Go Away? Word and World, 35(3), 262-274. Retrieved from https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/issues.aspx?article_id=3865