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The center of the Old Testament?

Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2008 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Old Testament
I've been slowly reading through Walter Brueggemann's OT Theology. It is an important work, since it is being called the first postmodern OT theology. Whenever I finish it I will post my thoughts on the book. But he made one point that I wanted to post about now. He was arguing aginst seeing a center to the OT, which has been a common view. Some view the center as Christ, or at least salvation history. A famous attempt was made by Eichrodt to see covenant as the center. Hasel argues against a center, along with many others, because no one idea can fit all the OT, particularly the wisdom literature. The only other option is to go with some unhelpful idea like God, which is true enough but not very helpful as a model. But Brueggemann argues against a center not only because there isn't one, but because even the idea is wrong-headed. If there was a center, then it would allow the OT to be controlled intellectually, which is not the point of the OT. The OT is to be encountered intellectually as well as emotionally and with the will. It is to work on us not simply through an intellectual theological point, but directly by means of the poetry and narrative and prophecy. This kind of thinking, as long as it does not lead too far to the other end of the spectrum and deny theology any role at all, is helpful for American evangelicals who have been overly influenced by a focus upon intellectualism.