William P. Brown, the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, has written a book about a hermeneutical approach to Scripture that the book itself exemplifies. After the shock of the first sentence, I found the work totally engaging. (Fred Craddock, of blessed memory, was not a “great Methodist preacher,” but a great Disciple of Christ preacher.) Brown explains that his “book attempts … to follow a biblical itinerary of wonder” (3). It is a “book about reading Scripture with an eye for wonder” (11). The author understands his “role in relation to the biblical text” as an exegete, “a docent in the text of wonder” (159). His book exemplifies this hermeneutic of wonder.
Framed with introductory and concluding sections, the book devotes ten chapters to Old Testament texts and six chapters to New Testament texts. Together the chapters depict the sweep of salvation history, from creation (Genesis 1:3; 2:4b–3:24) through re-creation (Genesis 6–9), Exodus (Exodus 19–20), and prophecy (Isaiah 43:15–21; Amos 5:21–24, one chapter), with visits to Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 8:22–31) and Job (Job 38–42). Exegesis of the Song of Songs, one of the longest chapters, is the most gloriously sexy this reviewer has encountered. Salvation history continues with incarnation (John 1:1–18), resurrection (Mark 16:1–8; John 20:1–18; Luke 24:13–32), “Christ and Cosmic Wonder” (Colossians 1:15–20), and apocalypse (Revelation 21:5).
Five of fourteen exegetical chapters treat wisdom literature. Chapters are uneven in length. (Did some begin as sermons?) The principle of selection of texts for treatment seems to be that they are particularly wonder full. Strengths of the book include its use of etymology (see, for example, adam, 32–33; hevel, 86; pleroma, 117), its correction of misconceptions about familiar texts (for example, the creation of woman from man, 36–37, or the interpretation of the Revelation to John, chapter 16), and the exuberance of the author's language. Herein is no dry-as-dust Latinate jargon; thus Brown's book would be a wonderful companion to a standard introductory classroom text on the Bible, Old Testament, or New Testament. It utilizes, illustrates, and applies historical-critical information with energy and aplomb.
Pondering the selection of texts, I concluded the material is strongest and the writing most lyrical when the texts dealt with the natural world. (Welcome ecological reminders come not as scolds, but as invitations to enjoy the wonder of creation.) Why was there no explanation of the intriguing picture of the Neolithic “Lovers of Valdaro”? The illustration of the Ebstorf Mappamundi was explained in context. While I don't agree that “Mark's Gospel is the Gospel of Fear” (127), I do agree that “the cross is the defining moment in which God's credibility with the world reaches its greatest height” (155), and lament absence of a specific crucifixion text. They are certainly wonder full.
The conclusion shifts the camera from close-up (individual texts) to wide angle (principles of interpretation). It makes explicit principles by which the texts were interpreted. Brown suggests “the kind of wonder the Bible arouses is best experienced by reading the text with care and curiosity, with inquiry and deep respect” (151), reading “without pressing it into preconceived agendas” (151), and reading dialogically (being willing to question the text and placing texts in dialogue with each other).
The book's thesis is amply demonstrated. Its language is energetic, engaging, and erudite while remaining accessible—no small feat. I hope it is acceptable to pronounce in a scholarly journal that “this was a rollicking good read.”
