Poetry & Wisdom

Poetry & Wisdom. By Peter Enns. IBR Bibliographies 3. $12.99 paper. Old Testament Theology. By Elmer A. Martens. IBR Bibliographies 13. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997, $11.99 paper.

These volumes by P. Erms and E. Martens are welcome additions to an impressive series of exegetical tools known as the IBR Bibliographies, which are intended to guide the minister, rabbi, student or interested layperson to the works relevant to their research interests. The entries are well chosen and the annotations are informative and accurate. These are the fifth and sixth volumes to appear in a series planned for 14 volumes, covering both OT and NT studies.

Enns placed 484 items selected for "Part 1: Wisdom" in the following sections: anthologies, introductions, origins and ancient Near East influence, social setting, theology, and wisdom influence outside the three specific wisdom books he then takes up in detail: Ecclesiastes, Job and Proverbs. Further subdivisions include theology/teaching; literary structure, genre and meaning; and specific topics pertinent to each of these three books. The 300 items in "Part 2: Poetry" are arranged in four categories: a general section on poetry, arranged in chronological periods; Psalms, Song of Songs and Lamentations; and sections on three specific books: Psalms, Song of Songs and Lamentations. The enormity of the secondary literature covered is acknowledged by the author, as is the unavoidable overlap between some of the categories selected. Nonetheless, the coverage is fair and surprisingly complete in matters of detail.

The volume by E. Martens is arranged in nine sections, which are arranged somewhat differently in format. The opening section on "Reference Works" is an excellent summary of the basic library tools for study of the OT in general, including "A Resource Guide for Study of Basic Old Testament Theology" in electronic format. Section 2, "Serial Literature," includes a list of journals, monograph series and collected essays oriented toward the larger subject of Biblical theology. Once again the annotations serve as a useful introduction to the world of "library science" in general.

The subject of the book itself begins in section 3, "History of the Discipline/State of the Discipline," with a brief summation of the past 200 years of scholarship followed by a judicious section of 32 entries. Section 4, "Issues in the Discipline" (104 entries), and section 5, "Perspectives on Old Testament Theology" (49 entries), are closely related. Section 4 is organized in six subdivisions: (1) "The Task of Old Testament Theology," (2) "Biblical Theology and Other Disciplines," (3) "Method of Old Testament Theology," (4) "History and Faith" and (5) "The Place of Wisdom." Chapter 5 is in four sections: (1) "Biblical Theology: Canon, OT, NT," (2) "The Jewish Perspective," (3) "Sociological Perspectives" and (4) "Christian Preaching." The author acknowledges that these divisions are arbitrary and that they overlap. Section 6, "Old Testament Theologies," is the most valuable part of the book with 66 carefully selected entries that range from 1792 to 1995. Readers should add the masterful work of W. Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament (Fortress, 1997) to this list, which appeared too late to be included.

Sections 7-9 do not match in quality what precedes. Selecting the items for a book like this is no easy task, and the problem is exacerbated by the format of the series itself With 200 entries to go, Martens chose to distribute them among "Theologies of Corpora," on sections of the OT larger than a single biblical book (chap. 7); "Theologies: Book by Book" (chap. 8); and "Monographs on Selected Biblical Themes" (chap. 9). The problem created by this decision is illustrated in the last chapter, which includes 93 entries, 23 of which are not monographs in the usual sense of that word, as the title of the chapter indicates. Of the 30 sections within this chapter, 17 have two or less entries. It seems odd to list such topics as "Anger," "Blessing," "Healing/Health," "Peace," "Providence," "Sacrifice," "Salvation," and "Sin," each with only a single bibliographical entry!

One could quibble about omissions. I simply examined a number of books in my own personal library which I would have included, such as: G. Braulik, The Theology of Deuteronomy (BIBAL, 1994); M. Buber, The Kingship of God (Harper & Row, 1967); J. S. Feinberg, ed., Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments (Crossway, 1988); and A. J. Heschel, The Prophets (Harper & Row, 1962). Moreover, I was disappointed not to see my own article ("The Center of the First Testament within the Canonical Process," BTB 23 [19931 48-53) in what is otherwise a fairly complete section on "Center/Unity" (pp. 56-60). It should also be noted that Lohfink's book (#234) has been reprinted under the title, The Inerrancy of Scripture and Other Essays (BIBAL, 1992).

Duane L. Christensen

William Carey International University, Pasadena, CA

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Dec 1999
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