It is a slightly odd task to review a book which itself amounts to an extended book review, and this is what John Barton has produced: a substantial work in its own right undoubtedly, but one that serves principally as a review of and a response to Eckart Otto's 1994 work, Theologische Ethik des Alten Testaments. This is by no means a bad thing, except inasmuch as the reader unfamiliar with Otto's book, or perhaps even unable to approach a book not yet available in English, might feel a little wrong‐footed from the beginning. Nonetheless, there are few writers on the Old Testament more worthy than Barton of receiving the reader's absolute confidence: trust to his reading of Otto, and enjoy a great deal more than a long book review: for this critique serves as the springboard for a novel and stimulating approach to the moral theology of the Old Testament.
It is, moreover, an approach that will be of particular interest to scholars in the Thomist tradition, for the heart of Barton's argument is that an important yet often ignored element of the ethical teaching of the Hebrew Bible is a notion of natural law. To be precise, taking the examples of Amos's Oracles against the Nations (Amos 1.3–2.5), various parts of the Book of Isaiah, and the Book of Daniel, Barton demonstrates that these prophetic books not so much preach or argue for the concept of natural law as simply pre‐suppose it. Such a view stands in marked contrast with those, largely of the Barthian tendency and exemplified by Walter Eichrodt and Johannes Hempel, who see submission to the divine will as the basis for Old Testament ethics. Barton warns us that the simplistic distinction between this ‘Hebrew’ idea and the Greco‐Roman concept of natural law and justice will not stand; thus he joins the growing chorus of biblical scholars who will not admit the presupposition that Hebrew thought, and (or even because) Hebrew language, is fundamentally opposed to Western thought.
Indeed it is typical of Barton that he is wary of any simplistic, monolithic approach to scripture, to the notion that a single conceptual key will unlock the whole of the bible and thus open the way to an authentically biblical theology. The history of this approach to the Old Testament is well‐known and need not be rehearsed, but this makes it all the sadder that, now often under the heading ‘covenant’ rather than Heilsgeschichte(or whatever), it still tempts the unwary exegete. Few scholars have a more comprehensive or a more critical awareness than Barton of the changing moods of biblical studies, and it is this combination of wisdom and knowledge that leads him once again to warn us not to exclude large tracts of evidence for the sake of a neat theory.
With reference to Otto's recent book, it is a rather surprising omission of evidence that has attracted Barton's attention, namely the content of the prophetic writings. Otto, it appears, limits himself to the legal and the wisdom texts in his task of uncovering the principal currents of Old Testament ethics. It must be admitted that, surprising though this omission is, it is as great a surprise, though perhaps a happier one, to follow Barton's clear argument that inclusion of the prophetic books would make one more and not less inclined to admit that an idea of natural law is one of the bases of biblical ethics.
The argument is no less clear because the book is in fact a collection of originally separate essays, written between 1978 and 2001. The introduction and conclusion written for the present book, along with the careful arrangement of the material, succeed in bringing together what could have been a much more confused collection to make a very worthwhile whole. It is, of course, inevitable that there is some material here not directly germane to the overall thrust of the book: a notable example is a substantial part of the chapter on Amos, discussing the ‘authenticity’ of particular oracles. Such an expression is not one that Barton would use today without a good deal more nuance, but we can perhaps forgive it in an article based on his doctoral thesis of 1974. In any case, there are great treasures to be found in many of these seeming dead‐ends.
Barton ends his study with a look to the future of this aspect of biblical studies. He places himself firmly and without embarrassment within the historical‐critical tradition and therefore hopes for a volume, to supplement the work of Otto, which would explore in detail the ethical teachings and presuppositions of the prophets (as distinct from ‘the prophetic books’, perhaps). One might tentatively add, as Barton mentions only in passing, that the narrative parts of the Old Testament also have a role to play in establishing the ethical milieu of the Old Testament. It is to be hoped that someone, perhaps less wary of the literary‐critical approach, might take upon themselves the even more daunting task of a volume on this topic. Meanwhile, we should be grateful to John Barton for doing so much to prepare the ground, and doing it with such style.
