2002
First Published
4.02
Average Rating
160
Number of Pages
In today's confused and confusing world, it is good to be shown once more that God is never absent. That is the heartening message of Ichabod toward Home. In this volume one of our most respected biblical scholars explores the nature of God's glory, using the engaging story of the ark of the covenant to illuminate the meaning of God's presence—not only for the ancient Israelites but for the whole world. Offering a unique entry into Old Testament theology, Walter Brueggemann examines 1 Samuel 4-6, the biblical text in which the ark of God is captured by the Philistines, seen to be a dangerous threat, and finally returned to Israel. In looking anew at what this story reveals about God's glory—or kabod, from which the name "Ichabod" derives—Brueggemann builds a powerful new theology of God's sovereignty. Additionally, Brueggemann demonstrates that this ancient story of the ark has profound relevance today. The three-day story of the ark's capture, detention, and return is transposed, first, into the three-day Christian story of Easter and, second, into the three days of the modern consumer weekend. In a provocative contemporary application of Old Testament theology, Brueggemann shows that the Ark narrative, in its rendering of God's glory, strongly contradicts the dominant narrative of our own culture, with its strident emphasis on self-indulgence, narcissism, and self-sufficiency.
Avg Rating
4.02
Number of Ratings
43
5 STARS
26%
4 STARS
56%
3 STARS
14%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
0%
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Author
Walter Brueggemann
Author · 115 books
Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary. He is the world's leading interpreter of the Old Testament and is the author of numerous books, including Westminster John Knox Press best sellers such as Genesis and First and Second Samuel in the Interpretation series, An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination, and Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes.
