God Is a Warrior

God Is a Warrior. By Tremper Longman III and Daniel G. Reid. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995, 224 pp., $16.99 paper.

In this contribution to the Studies in Old Testament Biblical Theology series, the authors trace through both Testaments what they call "one of the most pervasive of all biblical themes," that of the divine warrior. After an introductory chapter, the authors devote five chapters to the OT and five to the NT development of this theme. The book concludes with a bibliography and indexes. It lacks a concluding summary chapter, which would have served as a valuable complement to the detailed analysis of the bulk of the book.

Though the actual text is less than 180 pages, the authors have done an admirable job of providing an in-depth and insightful survey of the divine warrior motif in the Bible. Especially valuable is the description of the OT background to the NT use of this theme. The approach used to consider the divine warrior theme varies. In the OT, the authors take what they call a "synthetic" approach. In practice, this means that the OT material related to the divine warrior theme is considered according to chronologically ordered categories (e.g. "The Wars of Faithful Israel," then "The Wars Against Unfaithful Israel," etc.). These categories are used to describe the so-called "history of revelation" related to the divine warrior theme.

In contrast to the OT materials, the gospels are studied "textually," Paul's letters "topically" and "synthetically," and the book of Revelation "thematically" (other NT books are not considered in depth). The end result is that the NT materials are considered using more canonically oriented categories. A significant question raised by this eclectic approach is just what it means to do Biblical theology. Is the object of Biblical theology to trace categorically the development of a theme through historical eras (as is done with the OT)? Or is it to describe the theme as seen through the perspective of various Biblical books and authors (as is done with the NT; cf. the allusion to this tension on p. 91)?

In addition to its careful analysis, the book therefore provides a useful example of method in Biblical theology. While its topic might be too narrow for a college course, it could profitably be used to stimulate discussion and thinking on the issue of how Biblical theology is done. The book can thus be recommended with enthusiasm for any course on method in Biblical theology, as well as courses at the college or seminary level concerned with more specific themes in Biblical theology.

Eric W. Bolger

College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Dec 1997
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