Stem en tegenstem. Het beeld van God in de theologie van Walter Brueggemann

Samenvatting

Verschenen in gedrukte jaargang 49 (2006), nr. 2, p. 124-143.  

Recently, the discipline of Old Testament Theology has been enriched by several valuable contributions. A daring new approach was offered in the theology of the American scholar Walter Brueggemann, which in the meantime has become highly influential in the field of Old Testament studies, both in the United States and in Europe. Taking a deliberate post-modern perspective, Brueggemann challenges the legacy of post-Enlightenment theology and advocates the view that an Old Testament Theology should be confined to the evaluation of the rhetoric of Scripture without dealing with historical or ontological issues. The character of this rhetoric is principally disjunctive and plural. His enterprise results in an entirely new image of God. It consists of a collage of competing voices, an elusive ensemble of core testimony and counter testimony. This article provides an exposition and analysis of Brueggemann’s proposal, serves a positive evaluation of its values and critically examines its final results. It is the author’s conviction that an Old Testament Theology at least somehow ought to take into consideration the redemptive-historical perspective and the multifaceted relationship between the Old and New Testaments.