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AUSTRALIAN BIBLICAL REVIEW
ISSN 0045-0308 |
BOOK REVIEW Published in Volume 51, 2003
L. J. Hoppe, The Holy City: Jerusalem in the Theology of the
Old Testament (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000). Pp. 191. Paper.
$US 17.95.
Jerusalem figures so strongly in the religious imagination of Israel
and it is surprising that so little has been written about the city from
a theological perspective. Leslie J. Hoppe’s fine text goes a long way
to rectifying this lack. After an initial chapter explaining the significance
of Jerusalem for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Hoppe traces a variety
of religious attitudes focussed on this city. He begins with the Psalms
as the collections of Hymns for the Solomonic Temple. Within these songs
of praise, thanksgiving and lament Hoppe explores some major images such
as Kingship, Zion, The Lord’s Anointed, Exile and Restoration. In developing
these images Hoppe draws attention to Israel’s borrowings from the mythologies
of neighbouring cultures. In this section Hoppe’s approach could be strengthened
by some discussion of the dating of particular psalms and the work could
be developed for the more serious scholar through the work of Frank Moore
Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1973).
Hoppe then outlines some of the reactions to a too-mythological tendency
found in the Psalms, by examining the writings of the Deuteronomist, where
Jerusalem, and its Temple, no longer are called the place where God
dwells, but the place where God’s name dwells. The next two chapters
focus on Zion under Judgement in the Oracles of Isaiah 1–39, Micah, Zephaniah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel. In the post-exilic period, a theology
of restoration emerges with a rebuilt Jerusalem. This theology is exemplified
in Second Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah 1–8, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and
Malachi.
With the return from Exile and the disappointment in the historically
rebuilt Temple and Jerusalem, a hope emerges that the promised restoration
will come about in a future New Jerusalem. In this section Hoppe discuss
the latter prophets Trito-Isaiah, Zechariah 9–14, Joel, Daniel and a number
of other Jewish writings — 1Enoch, The Testament of the Twleve
Patriarchs, The Psalms of Solomon, The Sibylline Oracles and
some sections of the Dead Sea Scrolls. His final chapter looks to those
within Judaism who took upon themselves the task of saving Jerusalem and
not simply relying on the divine fulfilment of ancient prophecies. This
chapter examines 1 & 2 Maccabees, Baruch, Judith and the Book of
Jubilees.
The Holy City offers a very sound and sensitive perception of
the place of Jerusalem in Israel’s developing theological consciousness.
The survey method provides a good introduction for students and scholars
alike with further references given for those seeking greater depth. One
omission is the Biblical Wisdom material. In these books we certainly find
a pattern of God seeking a place to dwell and finding it in Israel. While
there may not be such a strong Zion motif in these Wisdom books, an examination
of the varieties of Wisdom myths would make Hoppe’s work a more thorough
survey.
Review by
Dr Mary Coloe PBVM
Australian Catholic University
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