Walter Brueggemann on images of God

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RamistThomist

Puritanboard Clerk
I know that Brueggemann is a post-liberal scholar, but I have often found him insightful (with discretion).

"We may see in the prohibition of images an assertion of the unfettered character of Yahweh, who will not be captured, contained, assigned, or managed by anyone or anything, for any purpose" (Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 184-185).
It's interesting to contrast this with pagan understandings of "bending the god" to your will and other forms of fetishism.
 
It seems that this is the essential difference between Christianity and all other religions. Others all, in one form or another, seek to manipulate the spirit world in order to get some temporal advantage. It is only Christianity that offers an affectionate Father-child relationship, where needs are met but manipulation is out of the question.
 
I'm reading B. right now and like most of it, but he just bleeds Barth. His historical overview of OT studies (from his OT Theology) actually says that OT studies can be divided into pre– and post–Barth. :rolleyes: And of course that sentence you posted, though (perhaps?) quite true, is in the service of a larger product to destabilize metaphysics.
 
I'm reading B. right now and like most of it, but he just bleeds Barth. His historical overview of OT studies (from his OT Theology) actually says that OT studies can be divided into pre– and post–Barth. :rolleyes: And of course that sentence you posted, though (perhaps?) quite true, is in the service of a larger product to destabilize metaphysics.

Yeah, he's definitely into "destabilizing metaphysics." I just hate his politics. It's worse in his lectures. He really wants to see middle-class capitalist white man dealt with. But much of his OT stuff, once you get past the Democratic National Convention platform, is really good.
 
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