Columbia Seminary Hebrew Bible professor (and NDPC’s “own”) Bill Brown has just released his latest book, Sacred Tension: Embracing Dissonance and Dialogue in the Old Testament, published by Upper Room. Rev. Lewicki was excited to be asked to read the manuscript and write a blurb. Here’s where to buy the book and here’s a summary from the publisher:
Embrace the complexities of the Old Testament with curiosity and courage.
As people of faith, the words of the Bible are sacred. They tell us about our spiritual heritage and convey our ever-present hope. But sometimes, if we’re being honest, the Bible — especially the Old Testament — can bring more confusion than clarity. Apparent contradictions and a wide variety of different accounts about God, faith, and humanity’s role can leave us perplexed with more questions than answers. How are we to read the Bible in a way that helps us understand its deepest truths?
In Sacred Tension, renowned biblical scholar and Old Testament professor William P. Brown challenges our unease by suggesting that the “problem” of dissonance within the Old Testament is in fact one of its most powerful features. To read the Bible with one uniform voice, he asserts, is to miss the richness and complexity of the canon. Instead, the Bible is “a canonical cornucopia, a ‘horn of plenty’ filled with diverse perspectives tied together by a common affirmation that God is God, expressed in different ways.” With expert insight and passionate prose, Brown invites us to consider the Old Testament as a wide-ranging dialogue that is in conversation both with itself and with us, fostering further discussion and mutual discernment.
Each chapter of Sacred Tension addresses a key question central to the Old Testament texts like the nature of God, the purpose of the Law, and the problem of evil. By exploring these themes through the lens of diverse, and often contradictory, perspectives, you’ll begin to gain a more nuanced understanding of the foundational texts that have informed Jewish and Christian beliefs for millennia.
Written for everyday people who long to better understand the Bible, Sacred Tension invites us to embrace the complexity of the Old Testament and discover the profound truths that lie within its hallowed pages. Let the conversation begin!