FIRST ISAIAH: A COMMENTARY,by J.J.M. Roberts. Edited by Peter Machinist.Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015.Pp. 554. $69.00 (cloth).

J. J. M. Roberts begins this volume by not-ing, “My friends like to kid me that I have beenworking on this commentary on Isaiah 1–39for even more years than the eighth-centuryBCE prophet, Isaiah of Jerusalem, remainedactive as a prophet” (1). And Isaiah was activefor between 38 and 52 years! The long wait forthis commentary has been worth it.

As the editor notes in an untitled foreword,“Roberts has now given us his magnum opus,the Hermeneia commentary on First Isaiah.”Roberts follows what he terms “the classic his-torical-critical method” (2). Roberts believesthat the authorship, date, and life setting ofmany of the prophetic messages in Isaiah 1–39can be reconstructed with confidence and ac-curacy. Roberts believes that most, but not all,of Isaiah 1–39 dates to Isaiah of Jerusalem.With most critical scholars, he believes that40–55 date to the Babylonian exile and 56–66to the postexilic period. Roberts also dates12–13, some of 14, 24–27, 34–35, and ofcourse the deuteronomistic narrative in 36–39(which is related to 2 Kings 18:13–20:19) to af-ter Isaiah of Jerusalem’s death. The vast ma-jority of the remainder of the text—1–23 and28–33—Roberts believes is original: “farmore of it can be attributed to Isaiah of Jerusa-lem than is often admitted” (4). Roberts fo-cuses most of his formidable talent and energyon these authentic oracles of Isaiah of Jerusa-lem. In his introduction he briefly discussesthe prophet’s historical context and theologi-

cal influences; he omits a similar introductorydiscussion for the material he regards asoriginating from later than the prophet.

Roberts argues that many of the authenticmessages of Isaiah can be dated to three majorcrises of the 8th century BCE: to the Syro-Ephraimitic crisis of 735–732 BCE (when Syriaand Israel waged war against Judah), to theAshdod crisis of 715–711 BCE (when Judahconsidered joining a revolt against Assyrialed by the Philistine coastal city of Ashdod),and to 705–701 (when Hezekiah revoltedagainst the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib,leading to Sennacherib’s famous invasionof Judah).

Roberts makes extended use of the conceptof the self-extended prophetic message. He be-lieves that Isaiah would often dust off pro-phetic oracles that he had given earlier in hiscareer and refine and reuse them again in latercontexts. For example, Isa 28:1–6 consists of amessage originally spoken during the Syro-Ephraimitic crisis of 735–-732, while 28:7–22consists of an extension in which the prophetedited and then reapplied the original oracle tothe new context of Hezekiah’s revolt in705–701. Roberts often refers to the “second-ary interpretations” of a passage, by which hemight mean either the reuse of old material bythe prophet himself or by later editors.

Roberts at times reconstructs what he be-lieves to be the original sequence of certainprophetic messages that were somehow dis-turbed in the transmission process. For exam-ple, he argues that Isa 8:1–4 originally wasfollowed by 8:16–18, and that “8:5–10 and8:11–15 represent secondary intrusions in the

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context” (139). Or again, 9:7–20 + 5:25–30 area single unit (157–163).

Most pericopes begin with a brief histori-cal introduction. Then follows a rigoroustranslation with very detailed textual notesthat address the text and translation. The com-mentary for each pericope then follows, whichmainly addresses historical context, the se-mantic meaning of the passage, and oftenincludes theological observations. A comprehen-sive bibliography concludes each pericope.

The translation, textual notes, and histori-cal-critical remarks are the volume’s primaryachievement. Roberts employs his mastery ofthe ancient languages, ancient Near Easternhistory and literature, the textual witnesses,and the interpretive debates. His unrivaledphilological and textual work establish thisvolume as the standard for understanding thetext of First Isaiah.

Even a magnum opus such as Roberts’scommentary cannot be all things to all people.

So what else might I have wanted in the com-mentary? In a word, “More.” It is not too oftenthat I put down a 550-page book and wish thatit were even longer. The nine-page introduc-tion, for example, could have benefited from ahistorical survey of Judah and Israel in the 8thcentury BCE. The introduction might also haveincluded a more detailed discussion of the the-ology of the Zion Tradition (also known asJudean royal theology) that Isaiah receivedand of the contributions he made to that tradi-tion. Selected engagement with the iconogra-phy (artistic depictions) of the ancient NearEast would also fit under “more.” Roberts hasextensive knowledge of iconography (see hisdiscussion of Isa 6:1–13), but no images arepresented.

Roberts’s writing is clear, concise, and nei-ther polemical nor tendentious. He shaveswith Occam’s razor, favoring the most directargument, which he does not decorate withfrivolous rhetoric. His frequent summaries are

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to the point and helpful. His theological obser-vations are direct. Roberts has given us his life-time work: the new, standard, historical-critical commentary on First Isaiah.

Rolf JacobsonLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota

PAUL AND THE GIFT, by John M. G.Barclay. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015. Pp.xvi + 656. $63.00 (cloth).

Paul and the Gift constitutes a substantialcontribution to the contemporary conversa-tion regarding Paul’s understanding of divinegrace and its relationship to Second TempleJudaism. John M. G. Barclay advances thisscholarly debate primarily by nuancing thediscussion with a comprehensive reevaluationof the category of grace, using the broader an-thropological frame of gift. In order to both re-fine and problematize the concept of grace,Barclay engages in an extended conversationwith cultural-anthropological studies ofgift-giving in various cultural settings. The re-sult of this sustained exploration is a revisionof the category of grace that demonstrates itsmultiform character across context and cul-ture. By reconfiguring grace in this way,Barclay launches a creative, lengthy, andconsequential rereading of Second Temple Ju-daism and the Pauline epistles on the matter ofGod’s grace.

Barclay’s work is comprehensive, and hespends a significant amount of time providinga preliminary history of gift-giving. By explor-ing non-Western contexts, the Greco-Romanworld, ancient Israel, and the developmentof modern, Western construals of the gift,Barclay discloses the divergent character ofthe various accounts that prevail in differentcultural settings. Having contextualized thevariegated character of gift-giving, Barclaydelineates six different “perfections” (or con-figurations) of the gift that resonate with-

in the various cultures he explores: (1) super-abundance, (2) singularity, (3) priority, (4) in-congruity, (5) efficacy, and (6) noncircularity.By demonstrating the polyvalence of the gift,Barclay establishes the foundation for a reeval-uation of the history of Pauline interpretation,the Second Temple literature, and Paul’s owntheology of grace.

Barclay’s history of Pauline interpretationshows both the consequence and the gravityof Paul’s epistles for the history of Chris-tian thought. By far the most influentialinterpreter of Paul, Augustine is foundationalfor Barclay’s history, after whom he proceedsto discuss Protestant interpretations of Paul inthe writings of Luther, Calvin, Barth, Bult-mann, Käsemann, and Martyn. This providesthe needed backdrop for Barclay’s descriptionand assessment of the current debate overPaul’s theology. According to Barclay’s tellingof the story, both traditional and revisionistreadings of Paul are plagued by an unhelpfulreductionism that configures grace in overlysimplistic terms. What is needed to advancecurrent debates over the nature of grace inPaul’s writings, he suggests, is an adequatelynuanced description of grace—one that ac-counts for the multiple ways it may be inter-preted.

The remainder of the book’s argument islaid out in two movements. The first is a newreading of the Second Temple Jewish literaturein light of the multiple ways that grace can beperfected. By examining several importanttexts—such as The Wisdom of Solomon,Philo’s writings, the Qumran Hodayot, and 4Ezra—Barclay shows that the Second Templeliterature by no means interprets grace in auniform fashion. This contradicts the over-simplified picture of Second Temple Jewishsoteriology advanced by many revisionistreaders of Paul (such as E. P. Sanders), and re-veals that Jews during Paul’s time punctuatedtheir descriptions of grace with a variety ofdifferent features.

By problematizing the typical portrait of

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R E T H I N K I N G B A R T H ’ S T H E O L O G Y O F E L E C T I O N

KARL BARTH’S INFRALAPSARIAN THEOLOGYOrigins and Development, 1920–1953New Explorations in Theology

Shao Kai Tseng

Scholars of Karl Barth’s theology have been unanimous in labeling him a supralapsarian, largely because Barth identifies himself as such. In this groundbreaking and thoroughly researched work, Shao Kai Tseng argues that Barth was actually an infralapsarian, bringing Barth into conversation with recent studies in Puritan theology.

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“Tseng’s headline claim that Barth’s mature view is best described (con-tra Barth himself) as ‘basically infralapsarian’ is and will no doubt remain controversial. Yet at the same time, his fine-grained presentation of Barth’s Christological doctrine of election as a dialectical admixture of supra- and infralapsarian patterns of thinking builds a persuasive case and, moreover, models a hearty mode of theological inquiry that is refreshing in an era grown chary of dogmatic reflection.”

J O E L D. S. R A S M U S S E N, University of Oxford

Second Temple Judaism that has been ad-vanced since at least the late 1970s by the newperspective on Paul, Barclay initiates the sec-ond movement of his argument in the form of asustained engagement with the Pauline epis-tles. Because Galatians and Romans are theprimary sites of controversy in the scholarlydebate over what Paul means by grace,Barclay’s extended reading of Paul focuses onthese two epistles. Barclay’s claim is that Paulconfigures grace as incongruent with the wor-thiness of its recipients. By perfecting the in-congruity of grace, Paul—on Barclay’s reading—views the Christ event as a fundamentalrecalibration of antecedent systems of value.By divesting the law of its ability to determinerighteousness or worth, both Jews and Gen-tiles become recipients of God’s mercy inChrist in an identically incongruent way—onenot premised upon obedience to the law.

A significant strength of Barclay’s readingis his sensitivity both to the historical circum-stances that prompted Paul’s epistolary corre-spondence as well as the wider theologicalramifications. Thus, Barclay largely agreeswith the new perspective’s proposal that Paul’sreflections on grace, righteousness, and thelaw are located within a specific, historicalconversation amongst Christians about lawobservance, God’s giving of righteousness inChrist, and the relation between Jews and Gen-tiles. Nevertheless, by reading Paul’s theologyof grace in terms of its incongruity with theworthiness of its recipients, Barclay is also ableto extend the logic of this historically situatedargument in a way that is more consonant withclassic, Reformation readings of Paul.

By no means does Paul and the Gift relieveall of the tension between the new perspectiveand Reformation readings of Paul’s writings.Nevertheless, Barclay accomplishes much bynuancing the terminology of grace and gift inthe Second Temple and Pauline literatures.While many Lutheran readers will want to ac-cent Barclay’s insights by highlighting theperformative dimensions of the external

words of law and gospel and sharpening theemphasis on justification as the event of God’sincongruous pardoning of sinners, there ismuch that can be learned from Barclay’s study.Regardless of what perspective one takes, thisbook is indispensable for anyone interested inthe theology of the Apostle Paul and thecontemporary debates that surround hiswritings.

John W. HoyumLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota

THE LOVE OF GOD: DIVINE GIFT,HUMAN GRATITUDE, AND MU-TUAL FAITHFULNESS IN JUDA-ISM,by Jon D.Levenson.Princeton Univer-sity Press, 2016. Pp. 235. $29.95 (cloth).

Love is a two-way street, but in the econ-omy of love between humanity and God, theflow of that love and the level of mutuality iscomplexly contested. In biblical perspective,love is articulated early in Scripture in primar-ily covenantal terms, embedded in particularsocial relations. As understandings of loveshift and change through the Middle Ages andinto the modern period, so our reading ofGod’s love and its implications for love ofneighbor also shift.

So, for example, Levenson argues early inthis book against the misperception that thelove of God is primarily sentiment, and so aprivate matter. Love in Near Eastern treaties isquite unsentimental—it is, in fact, “the properstance of the lesser party toward the greater”(xiii). Levenson takes great pains to establishthis definition of love as founding semanticcontext for the term, and the argument is help-ful, because it explains, for example, why evenas late as the formation of the Lutheran SmallCatechism, Luther can coin the felicitous turnof phrase, “We are to fear and love God sothat…”

Jon Levenson’s work focuses on the inter-

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pretation of the Hebrew Bible, including its re-interpretations in Second Temple Judaism andrabbinic midrash. He is a frequent interlocutorwith Christian theologians, and has written ex-tensively on resurrection in particular. In ad-dition, one of his current courses at HarvardDivinity School deals with the use of medievalJewish commentaries for purposes of modernbiblical exegesis, and another focuses on cen-tral works of Jewish theology in the twentiethcentury. All of this type of hermeneutical andhistorical work is on full display in The Love ofGod.

Levenson, however, does not leave love lan-guishing in the historical relationship betweensuzerain and vassal. He also states, “Althoughthe God-Israel relationship in the classicalJewish sources is asymmetrical, as any rela-tionship with God cannot but be, it is thor-oughly mutual, as any relationship amongpersonal beings inevitably is” (xiv). Levensonestablishes the validity of this second point

through an extensive reading of the love of Godin classical Talmudic literature (chapter two),the Song of Songs (chapter three), the Jew-ish-Muslim cultural symbiosis of medievalSpain, Moses Maimonides in particular (chap-ter four), and twentieth-century religiousthinkers Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig(chapter five).

Levenson’s book opts against an exhaus-tive treatment of the love of God, and insteadattempts to evoke the power of the classicalJewish idea of the love of God. This makes thebook highly readable and engaging. Leven-son’s lifelong scholarship, like that of the bestof popular theological writers, has refined hisability to write theologically rigorous booksaccessible to the lay reader.

As a reader, I found the early chapters of thebook especially compelling. I had never reallyconsidered love as a cover term for acts of obe-dient service, but upon hearing that definition,was able to think of the widely varied places

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where that kind of love is still both expectedand practiced.

This kind of love can be commanded. It is alove that is expressed in loyalty, in service, andin obedience. Understanding love in this fash-ion makes much sense of the love commands,as well as such places in Scripture where Jesusasks Peter, “Do you love me?” and then com-mands, “Feed my sheep.” This is not senti-ment. This is obligation. Yet it is love.

Intriguingly, although this is not a Chris-tian or christological account of love, there areaspects of it that parallel Christian doctrine,the concept of imputedness. Levenson notesthat in Hosea, in its description of the maritalintimacy of God and Israel in chapter two,“righteousness,” “justice,” “goodness,” “mercy,”and “faithfulness” are gifts with which theLord endows Israel in exchange for her exclu-sive fidelity to him. “They constitute at oncewhat the groom contributes to and expectsfrom the relationship” (105).

Furthermore, Levenson points us to a syn-thesis of love and law sorely lacking in much ofChristian theology. Christian theology, in par-ticular after the Reformation turn, has under-stood law primarily according to two uses: tocondemn sin and order life together. Law inthis account is either a threat or a burden. Butlaw in Jewish tradition is much more than this,and more beautiful. Understanding the fulfill-ment of law as love is the way forward.

First, there is an invitation to recognize, to-gether with Franz Rosenzweig, that God “hassold Himself to us with the Torah” (192). Thisis to say, the Torah, among other things, isGod’s form of falling in love with God’s people.If the Torah is such a divine gift, then thosewho receive such a gift have more options.“The choice does not lie between rote obser-vance of the law as an impersonal, unfeelingreality, on the one hand, and the rejection oflaw as incompatible with the being of the lov-ing God, on the other. There is a third posi-tion—a principled stance of openness to the

Torah as the medium for encountering the lov-ing and commanding God of Israel” (192).

In this sense, law becomes a command-ment, commandment as event, and that eventis election, the divine and mutual gifting ofGod with the community that maintains suchan open posture, that makes the gift of the lawand human gratitude for it one and the samething—the love of God.

Clint SchneklothGood Shepherd Lutheran ChurchFayetteville, Arkansas

FOOL’S TALK, by Os Guinness. DownersGrove: IVP, 2015. Pp. 272. $22.00 (cloth).

Here is a book meant to stir up one’smind—and heart. The author writes that it isthe product of “forty years of thinking,” and itshould probe the best efforts of any reader. Heaffirms that “we have lost the art of Christianpersuasion and we must recover it” (17). Thebeliever in the faith must be an apologist, in thebest sense of the word. Our writer wants thereader to be aware of the many good booksavailable on the subject, and to interact withauthors of all sorts. You will hear from Chris-tians, but also from non-Christians. You willbe informed and challenged by discussionsand arguments from the ancient Greek andRoman philosophers, early church fathers, avariety of Reformation and Enlightenmentleaders, and a plethora of modern authors.

The title of the book at hand—Fool’sTalk—is based on the work of the Reforma-tion scholar Erasmus, where the role of thecourt jester is described. There is a time tolaugh and a time to feel sorrow. Both the “fool”on display and his audience knew that wellenough, and so must the believer today. But, tobe sure, there are different types of “fools” insociety, among Christians and non-Christiansalike, and we need to be aware of thedifferences.

To aid us in this, our author points up three

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kinds of “fools” noted in the Scriptures. Thefirst is the kind of person who boldly affirms“there is no God” (Ps 14:1). Then there is theone who is willing to be regarded as a fool “forChrist’s sake” (as Paul was considered by theRoman governor, see Acts 26:24, or by the Co-rinthians, see 1 Cor 4:10). And there was ourLord himself, a “fool bearer,” as he was ac-costed by the high priest and the Roman gover-nor, Pontius Pilate. Finally, the third type offool is “the foolmaker,” portrayed by God him-self, “shaming and subverting the world’swisdom through folly, the world’s strengththrough weakness and the world’s superioritythrough coming in disguise as a nonentity”(72).

How should a believer proceed in his way oflife, and in his contact with people daily?He/she should avoid using a sledgehammerapproach, seeking to quell any nonbelievingfriends or passersby with one mighty blow. Weare not here simply to “win arguments.” Weare called to be witnesses and sharers of thegood news. One approach is to tell stories. Re-member the case where the prophet Nathanconfronted King David with the story of a richman who took his neighbor’s sole lamb for afeast (when he had plenty of lambs of his own,2 Sam 12). The point was evident, and Davidwas readily judged guilty of sinning against theLord. Or, consider the parables told by Jesus.In most cases no explanation was necessary;the point was self-evident.

Another approach is to ask questions. Ourwriter gives two reasons why questions arepowerful. First, they are indirect; second, theyare involving (163). God asked questions (toAdam and Eve: “Where are you?”). Jesus askedquestions (“Who do you say that I am?” Mark8:29). Our questions ought to direct people tothe One who has the answers. But what aboutthe seeker’s journey? Here the apologist oughtto become a helpful guide for the seeker. Astarting point might be called a search formeaning, or “a world-and-life view.” Why arewe here and where are we going? Once we have

discerned meaning, the next step is to searchfor an answer. The answer must, in turn, sat-isfy the question, or questions, that we have.Does the key fit the lock? Then we must look forevidences. Whether we talk about “justifica-tion” or “verification” or “checking it out,” weneed to be convinced of the truth, namely thatGod is a God of truth, whose word is truth, andthat the people of God are called to be people oftruth. Now faith needs to become “personaland experiential”—we do not simply knowabout God, but know him in reality.

As he concludes, our author emphasizestwo approaches to our apologetic stance, theclosed fist and the open hand. Not one or theother, but both are necessary and both arefruitful.

My conclusion about this book is that it isworthwhile and can be enjoyable to read. Theauthor has a grasp of language that can carrythe reader along in the flow of thought, and hisacquaintance with multiple sources of litera-ture and writers is striking. He is well aware ofthe issues and questions that may and do arisein the quest for life, and any serious, seekingreader should benefit from his counsel.

Walter M. DunnettSt. Mark’s Episcopal ChurchGlen Ellyn, Illinois

THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD, by DavidBentley Hart. New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 2014. Pp. 376. $17.00 (paper).

David Bentley Hart’s latest book, The Expe-rience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss, nowout in paperback, likely escaped the readinglists of many upon its release by Yale in 2013.Hart, who can be found in the back pages ofFirst Things, and most recently was a visitingprofessor at Saint Louis University, has writ-ten a book that really should be required read-ing in not only a pluralistic religious world, butfor a professional clergy that is widely lackingin understanding of not only theism, but the

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multireligious prevalence of philosophicaltheism in the world. Hart’s book, alternativelybrilliant and frustrating, is one that requires aclose reading and rereading. For those whogive it time, The Experience of God rewardswith beautiful prose, and a thesis that sings.That thesis, that most people are seriouslyconfused when they speak about “God,” formsthe energy of the book, best summed up in thefirst chapter, where Hart writes: “to use theword [God] in a sense consonant with theteachings of Orthodox Judaism, Christianity,Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Baha’i, a great dealof antique paganism, and so forth—is to speakof the one infinite source of all that is: eternal,omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent,uncreated, uncaused, perfectly transcendentof all things and for that very reason absolutelyimmanent to all things.…He is not a ‘being’ atleast not in the way that a tree, a shoemaker, ora god is a being.…Rather, all things that existreceive their being continuously from him,who is the infinite wellspring of all that is” (30).

In the first chapter of The Experience ofGod, Hart makes clear that he understandsatheists and nontraditional religionists to beconfused, particularly around God’s (non)be-ing. In fact, Hart argues, most of these antago-nists are actually upset about what he termsthe “demiurge,” who is not the source of theexistence of all things but “rather the Intelli-gent Designer and causal agent of the world ofspace and time,” simply the greatest and wis-est being in the hierarchy (35). With this basicthesis in mind, Hart turns to three words ofSanskrit, drawn from multiple religious tradi-tions, to describe the God of theism: being,consciousness, and bliss. Hart draws on theseterms throughout the rest of the book, notmerely because they describe the nature ofGod, but because they are about how the real-ity of God can “be experienced and known tous” (44).

In the second chapter, Hart turns to sup-porting this thesis by explaining how the ideaof “Intelligent Design” was an irresistible at-

traction to deism, which was fated to be laidbare by a cosmology that has no need for a de-signer. As Hart notes, “there was simply nolonger any need for this ghost beyond the ma-chine” (64). Instead, Hart argues convincinglythat the conflict of our times that has led somany people in false directions is not a conflictbetween faith and reason, or religion and sci-ence, but instead a conflict between theismand naturalism. This naturalism, writes Hart,“is a metaphysics of the rejection of metaphys-ics.” Most seriously, Hart asks us to considerthat naturalism is irrationally creedal and con-fessional, and stands in opposition to ourChristian catechisms and confessions, writing:“all that remains of naturalism is an irrationalcreed, sustained by a catechetical commit-ment to an insidious ‘nothing but’ or ‘only’: asin, ‘You are nothing but your genes’ or ‘Realityis only molecules, atoms, and subatomicparticles in motion’” (80).

In the remaining chapters, which make upthe meat of the work, Hart turns towards being(sat), consciousness (chit), and bliss (ananda)as the basic attributes of how we experienceGod. It’s not necessary to rehearse that exposi-tion here, as they are worth a much closer read-ing than can be provided in this space. At thecenter of Hart’s work in these chapters is amultireligious exploration of standard meta-physical arguments for knowing and experi-encing God. What makes Hart’s argumentunique, and most of the book powerful, is thatbeyond drawing from philosophical meta-physical tradition that argues that “the sourceof all things—God, that is—must be essen-tially simple,” Hart draws from sources aswide as Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s Upani-shads, a Hindu theological exposition of meta-physics, to Muslims like Ibn Sina. It ceases tobe merely a philosophical meditation, but in-stead a work of intersectionality among differ-ing religious traditions that, as Hart argues,have remarkably consistent arguments aboutwho God is.

One may certainly be unmoved by Hart’s

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ut hat is od up to in all o this nd to hat more aith ul uture are hris an ommuni es no eing alled What are the pra es o dis ipleship or a posthur hgoing orld

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well-trodden philosophical arguments frommetaphysics, and make a powerful criticismof the book on the grounds that the book justfurthers a metaphysical tradition that needsto die (John Caputo and Richard Kearneycome to mind here). In my mind, it is thatmultireligious exploration that makes thebook so convincing and powerful, and is why Ifind myself continuing to return to it. It hasbeen made even more powerful because of therecent controversy around whether Christiansand Muslims worship the “same” God. Hart’s

book convincingly gives ground to the beliefthat they do in their theism, even if significantdifferences might exist in soteriology andChristology. Hart’s book is worth the work,and is an invaluable resource in an increas-ingly pluralistic world that is often hostile to allforms of religious belief, not just our own par-ticular tradition.

Eric WorringerSt. Paul Evangelical Lutheran ChurchLawrence, Massachusetts

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