- Theology and Identity
- Season 1
- Episode 1
- Airdate: 8 December 2023
- Please note this is a script, and not a transcript. There may be slight differences between this text and the actual broadcast.
Links
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Hello I'm doctor David Clark I'm a lecturer in theology mission and practise at the university of Roehampton in London. The title of this podcast is theology and identity. Our aim in this project is to explore the interaction between the way we understand God and the way we understand ourselves.
In our first series we will be engaging with various texts of the Old Testament to see what they tell us about the character of God and us about the character of the human person. Our strategy will be to employ the hermeneutical approach of narrative theology wherein we read the Old Testament as a coherent body of literature in which we can discern a metanarrative, or an overarching story. Rather than looking to the text for systematic formulas and theological definitions, our aim is to see Yahweh the God of Israel as the lead character in a story that speaks of his purposes for, and his love relationship with the people of Israel.
When I teach the Old Testament in my university classes, one of the first exercises I give the students is try their hand at identifying the plot lines of some popular films. I try not to make this too hard, but it does that my students and I don’t always share same tasted in movies.
- Anyway - I name the movie, and then I ask them to tell me what is the primary goal or objective of the characters in the story. So we start with a classic that anyone who loves British humour should know - Monty Python and the Holy Grail. What is the task or the mission that the characters in the story? The answer is simple King Arthur and his Knights of Camelot or on a quest for the Holy Grail.
- I then show images from the popular trilogy the Lord of the rings, and we here see that the primary task or mission is to destroy the ring. If frodo can throw the ring into the fires of mount doom the world will be set free from a great power of evil named Sauron.
- The final example I give is the Marvel Comics movie end game where we see an evil character named Thanos who is trying to gather 6 Infinity stones that grant control over the domains of the mind, time, space, power and reality. If he can bring them all together he, he will become the most powerful being in the universe. His intention is to do deal with the problem of overpopulation in the universe by destroying half of all living things. So the plot line is will Thanos get all 6 Infinity stones?
So I then ask them about the Bible. Particularly with regard to the Old Testament is there a storyline a single question or task that a character in the narrative is trying to accomplish?
What would be your thoughts about this?
- Does the Old Testament have a plotline, or is it just a conglomeration of histories and poems and prophetic writings that don't share a common thread?
When I was in seminary I think one of the biggest light bulb moments came from me when I saw for the first time the narrative unity of the Old Testament. But I could not discern it until I understood who is the main human character in the text. Who is that main character in the text? Is it Adam, is it Moses, is it David?
The answer is Abraham. And knowing that we can then identify main thread in the storyline of the Old Testament.
The central theme of the Old Testament is the promise given to Abraham that through his family all the families of the earth would be blessed. This promise is the reference point for the entire historical narrative of the Old Testament.
Think of the Old Testament as a connect the dots puzzle. The problem that so many people face when reading the texts is that they don’t know how the different people and events and writings all fit together. What’s the relationship between Moses and Jeremial, between Abraham and King Solomon, between David and Noah? You can’t see the big picture of the Old Testament if you don’t know how to draw these connections, and the key to drawing these connections is read everything through the promises that God made to Abraham, specifically genesis chapters 12 and 22. This is the key to understanding the text. And so when in doubt ask yourself the question what does this have to do with the promise that God made to Abraham?
So our task for today is to look at this story. First we will take a brief look at the pre-history that is found in genesis chapters 1 to 11. We will then look at the story of Abraham itself.
So let's begin with the primordial history of genesis 1 to 11. Now the first thing that I like to point out to my students is that these 11 chapters cover a lot of territory in a short amount of space. 11 chapters are dedicated to presenting a history that covers an enormously long period of time.
Depending on your interpretation of the text we might be talking thousands of years, or millions of years. I don’t want to get into that discussion, but we can all agree on is that its many, many years packed into, in my bible - 7 pages.
What I want to emphasize here is that when we arrive at chapter 12 - the story hits the brakes. From that point on we are caught up in the narrative of Abraham his wife and his children his grandchildren and the early generations of his family. 11 chapters to cover vast ages of human history and then 39 chapters to tell us the history story of one man's family.
Let’s reflect on this. What does tell us about the author's intentions? Was the aim of Genesis to give us a comprehensive scientific explanation, or to recount thousands of years of human history? I would say No. Rather, the purpose of the first 11 chapters of genesis is simply to the lay the foundation for understanding what will then take place in the abrahamic narrative.
There’s a lesson here for us all. When we read the Bible it's very important that we don't ask the text to do something that it never intended to do. The book of genesis was not written for a 21st century audience. It was not intended to be a scientific textbook. It was not meant to cover the complete development of life on earth. Genesis 1 to 11 is simply the preamble to the life of Abraham. Its purpose is to lay a foundation upon which the story of Abraham and his descendants can be understood.
Now, in these 11 chapters there are some very important themes that are presented. We see that elohim is deeply engaged with his creation. He is a God who experiences pathos or emotion and feeling. We see that the physical world is good. Humankind was created good and we were given authority and dominion on the earth. In these early chapters it becomes clear that's in has disrupted humanity's relationship with God it has disrupted humanity's relationship with the creation and sin has disrupted our relationship with one another. Finally we see in these first 11 chapters of genesis that beyond the physical realm there is another dimension of reality where powerful forces of good and evil are at work.
The primordial history of Genesis reaches a crescendo Chapter 11, where we read the story of the tower of Babel. This is the culmination of humanity's rebellion against God. Men have developed a new technology which allows them to build cities and towers that in their view can reach to the heavens. And their aim is to make a name for themselves in order to preserve their unity. But what's clear in the narrative is that they are united primarily by their desire to live independently from God. If they can build this city and build this tower then what need will they have for god? And so to prevent what might become a total and complete separation between humanity and God, he confuses their languages and they are forced to separate and spread out across the earth.
If there is a simple takeaway from the story of the tower of Babel it's this: Sin and rebellion lead to separation from God, separation from one another, and an exploitative, disjointed relationship with the physical creation.
From a literary perspective, this is the perfect way to set the stage for what takes place in genesis chapter 12. The central idea is that God will undo the consequences of sin through Abraham and his family. Abraham himself and his descendants will show humanity how to have right relationship with God, right relationship with one another, and a right relationship with the creation. Because of Abraham and his descendants, women and men will turn away from their sins and rebellion and experience reconciliation with God, with one another, and with the physical creation.
Sin and rebellion have caused separation but God will re-gather the families of the earth under the blessing that proceeds from Abraham and his family.
So thus far we’ve been alluding to this promise, but what exactly does it sayWe get our first glimpse of this in genesis chapter 12 where God said to Abram, ‘ go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonours you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
This promise is then reiterated in chapter 22, verse 16 says ‘and the Lord called Abraham saying by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this and have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.’
We need to talk here about what's going on in these two passages. What does it mean to say that all families of the earth shall be blessed? At this moment in history our New Testament Christian theology of salvation has not yet been developed. So we shouldn't say that the promise to Abraham was that all families of the earth would be ‘saved’ in the way we think of salvation today.
The Hebrew verb to bless is ‘barak’. According to the theological Dictionary of the Old Testament the main function of this verb is to confer abundant and effective life upon something or someone.
It narrative theological sense, we might try to understand ‘barak’ as the foil of what we have seen in Genesis 1-11. Blessing is the antithesis of sin and separation. If sin separates us from God and one another, if sin ruins our relationship with the physical creation then blessing is the opposite. It is the conferring of relational restoration - reconciling humanity with God, reconciling people with one another, and reconciling our relationship with the creation. This is the blessing that will come to all the nations of the earth's through Abraham and his family.
And now just one more comment about the details of these verses. In genesis 22:18 that it says through your offspring or through your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed this. This word seed in Hebrew , zera, can mean one person or it might mean many people. According to the Theological Wordbook of the OT ‘the word designates the whole line of descendants as a unit, yet it is deliberately flexible enough to denote either one person who epitomizes the whole group or the many persons in that line.‘’ At this point in the narrative, we don't know if God is talking about a single descendant of Abraham through whom blessing will come to all nations or if it's through many of abraham's descendants that blessing will come to all nations. That is something we will discover as we progress through the narrative.
(Pause)
Thus far, we’ve unpacked a bit the promise that God gave to Abram in Gen 12 and 18, and we’ve established that this is the central storyline of the entire OT. On the human side of things, Abraham and his offspring are the protagonists, they drive the story forward in pursuit of a goal.
Let’s now employ another literary device to further our understanding of the story. Abraham is the father of Isaac and Jacob, who name was changed to Israel and who’s sons formed the 12 tribes. The question is this: are there any ways in which the life of Abraham serves as a foreshadow of what will happen among his descendants? Does his story in any way prefigure what we will later encounter in the historical narrative of the nation of Israel? In what ways is he emblematic of the nation itself? Representing all the virtues and perhaps some of the flaws of the people and the nations that were in his loins?
One element I see in the story of Abraham is that of a man with wrestling with God, struggling to understand the ultimate purpose of his own life. And this is a theme that recurs again and again throughout the OT narrative.
Abraham has decided to follow this God home he may not have known from his childhood and every step that he takes in his journey leads him toward a deeper understanding of the God who has called him. God is trying to reveal to Abraham his heart and his true desire, but at moments Abraham struggles to understand. In genesis 15 God came to Abraham in a vision and he said ‘fear not Abraham I am your shield’ and then the next phrase can be translated one of two ways. Either God said ‘and your reward shall be very great’ or he said ‘and I am your very great reward.’
Now I'm aware that in many translations the text of genesis 15/2 says your reward shall be very great. And this translation seems to reflect the way that Abraham understood the declaration. In the following verse he says ‘oh Lord what will you give me for I continue childless and you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir.’
I think this is actually one of those instances where God was trying to say one thing and Abraham heard another. I believe that God was saying ‘I myself am your very great reward.’ Not only is this much more theologically rich., I believe that it connects much better with the metanarrative of the OT.
The object of Israel’s pursuit throughout the OT is not a reward. Its not land or wealth of power. As we read through the Old Testament, what becomes clear is that what the people of Israel needed, and what the wise among them pursued, was relationship with God himself. This we see that Abraham’s own struggle to understand God’s ultimate purpose for his life foreshadows the experience of the people of Israel.
Another possibility to explore around the idea of literary foreshadowing is this: Is there anything in the life of Abraham that foreshadows the way YHWH will himself to Israel. In other words, do the character and actions of Abraham in any way prefigure what we learn in the OT text about God himself.
One example that will come to mind for many of us is the sacrifice of Isaac in Gen 22. Christians will often note the similarities between Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But of course, this is a NT answer to an OT question. If we stay within the OT, does this story of tell us anything about the way YHWH himself dealt with the people of Israel.
The answer to this question came to me in a surprising way. It was not so much through detailed study of the OT texts, but rather by the inspiration of a 17th century painting that the picture became clear to me.
In 1635 the Dutch painter Rembrandt finished a work known as the Sacrifice of Isaac. It depicts the moment when Abraham is about to slay his son Isaac and an Angel stops his hand as he is about to slay his son. The large figure of Abraham looms over the bound body of his young son. As Abraham lifts the knife to strike, he is unaware of the angel who has appeared behind him. The downward thrust begin, but Abraham is suddenly surprised by the intervention of the Angel, he adroitly grabs Abaham’s wrist before he can finish the deed. The force of his thrust is so strong that the knife flies out of his right hand towards the ground.
Now I'm not an art critic, but one thing I have noticed in my studies of rembrandt's paintings is that he communicates important messages through the way he paints hands. The angels hands are gentle and delicate, and yet strong enough to detain the plunge of Abrham’s knife. Isaac’s hands are hidden, as they’re tied behind his back. But what is most striking in this painting is the massive right hand of Abraham, which he uses to smother and hide the the face of his son.
It's difficult for me to discern whether this is an act of kindness or an act of brutality. In one way he's treating his son like an animal pressing upon his face and possibly suffocating him. But in another way it's an incredible act of mercy as he does not want Isaac to see what is taking place.
Could it be that beyond saying something about Abraham himself, Rembrandt was trying to say something about God and his relationship with the people of Israel? When at times it seems that he's treating people harshly and roughly is his deepest motive for what he does a deep sense of passion and love?
So I hope that your getting a glimpse of the way narrative theology opens up new possibilities in our reading of the Old Testament. To summarise some of our key points today, we’ve noted that the Old Testament has a plot line, a single thread that ties the entire corpus of texts together. And this is the promise that God made to Abraham in Gen 12 and 22. We’ve also seen that as we look at the literary characteristics of the texts, there are possibilities of foreshadowing and prefigure that are taking place in the text. It would seem that Abraham at first struggled to understand the fulness of God’s purpose for his life. More than just wealth, or abundant offspring, God wanted to Abraham to know that he himself was the reward. The greatest gift that God can ever give to a woman or a man is intimate relationship with himself. So in Abraham’s wrestling with God, we see a prefigure of Israel’s struggle to understand this same truth.
We have also seen in the story of Abrham a prefigure of the way God deals with the nation of Israel. In Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Issac, we discern an internal struggle, where he knows that he must deal sternly with the son that he deeply loves. And isn’t this also the story that we see unfold in the entire OT, as YHWH displays to his people both mercy and judgment.
And on that note, we’ll bring our first session to a close. In our next podcast, we will leave the book of genesis and venture into the rest of the Torah. We will see that in exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy, a picture emerges of how God is going to fulfil the promise that he has made to Abraham.
If you have questions or comments about anything I’ve said today, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at:
I’m David Clark. Thanks for listening, and I hope that you’ll come back again to the podcast Theology and Identity.
So in these two elements of understanding himself and his own purpose in life and in his struggle to understand the nature and character of God as one who is both merciful and stern. I believe that the abrahamic narrative prefigures the entire story of the people of Israel. They are a nation that wrestles with God.
To summarise what we’ve said about Abraham – in a literary sense the promise he receives is the central story line of Hebrew Scriptures – and his life in many ways prefigures Israel’s history as a nation wrestling with God.
As we leave the book of genesis and come into the rest of the Torah exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy, a picture emerges of how God is going to fulfil the promise that he has made to Abraham. God has a plan and the essence of this plan is to make a covenant with the descendants of Abraham whom we come to know ask the nation of Israel. Now here it's important to note the difference between a promise and a covenant. A promise is irrevocable. This means that if God promises something it must happen. It is not conditional on human behaviour or human choices or changes in the historical situation. God is bound to fulfil his promises. So to Abraham God made a promise through your seed all nations of the earth will be blessed it has to happen. And within God's intentions to fulfil this promise he makes a covenant with the people of Israel. Covenants are conditional. They depend on each side keeping their part of the agreement. It's understood from the beginning that if either party does not honour their covenant agreement where their covenant obligations the covenant is nullified. And so we hear see an interesting dynamic taking place. That in order to fulfil and unconditional promise God makes a conditional covenant with the descendants of Abraham. We see here that God is taking a risk. His hope is that the descendants of Abraham we'll keep their end of the bargain so that through his covenant with them the promise can be fulfilled. But if the covenant, which is God's plan a, fails then he will have to come up with a Plan B. And if that covenant fails he might have to come up with a plan C. And so we see that in the Old Testament narrative some elements in this story of Abraham and his descendants are concretely set. One way or another through Abraham and his family blessing must come to all the nations of the earth. But we also understand that there may be a degree of openness with regard to the way this promise is fulfilled. If one plan fails God will seek another and if that fails he will seek still another. And God will persist until he finds a plan that works. And this is what we see across the entire Old Testament God is faithful to the promise that he made to Abraham and at the same time he is amazingly resourceful in his response to the failures of abraham's descendants and in his ability to develop new ways to accomplish his purposes.
So let's talk about plan a the original covenant that God made with the family of Abraham. God gives the family of Abraham the people of Israel laws and statutes and commandments. As Israel obeys this covenant they experience the abundant life that God has promised to Abraham. As Israel thrives and prospers they become an example to all the nations of the earth. All of the families of the earth see how Israel has right relationship with their God, how Israel has right relationships with one another, and how the people of Israel live in harmony with the creation. Through this example the nations of the earth will recognise that the God of Israel is the one and only true God. When the nations forsake their idols and worship the God of Israel, when they turn from their sin and rebellion, they then become partakers of the promise given to Abraham. So the key idea is this Israel is called to be a model people, an example to the nations. So the driving question of the Old Testament is how will God fulfil the promise that he made to Abraham that through his descendants all of the families of the earth would be blessed. God's initial plan what will call Old Testament plan a is this Israel will be a model people an example to the nations and that is how the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled.
In our next session we will look more carefully at the details of this covenant that God made with the people of Israel specifically at what I call the four pillars of the mosaic covenant.
And these are monotheism election Torah and Tabernacle.
I’m Dr David Clark, and I hope you’ll join me again for the next podcast of theology and identity.
God’s And above all else this blessing is the blessing of a good example.
Now I know that at this moment some of you are already jumping way far ahead in the narrative and you're saying to yourselves the seed of Abraham is Jesus and Jesus didn't save the world by setting a good example Jesus saved the world by sacrificing his life on the cross and rising again on the third day. No I want to say that I agree with you. Ultimately, this is how the story played out. But when we read the Old Testament in order to fully understand the narrative we have to walk through it step by step piece by piece. If we flip to the back of the book and find what it says on the last page we're missing all of the lessons that can be learned along the way. And what I want to say is that we have to put ourselves in abraham's shoes. We have to look at what God was saying to him and how we understood those words and how those words were interpreted in the early stages of his family's history. So that's what we want to do. In order to fully understand the Old Testament we have to read the text within its historical context. We have to be very careful not to just read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament nor to read the Old Testament through the lens of our current Christian theology. The task of narrative theology is to let the text stand on its own. Read the story and draw your conclusions from what you find within.