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In stock
Sacred Tension
Embracing Dissonance and Dialogue in the Old Testament
by William P. Brown
eBook
Bible Study
Clergy & Laity
Discipleship
"The Bible was not written for passive readers or lazy listeners. It was written for active engagement, deliberation, dialogue, and debate, because the Bible itself is fundamentally a conversation."—Old Testament professor and scholar William P. Brown, from Sacred Tension
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.
Whether you know the books of the Bible by heart or are brand new to biblical study, Sacred Tension will invite you into an exciting new dialogue with these ancient scriptures. In this accessible and insightful introduction to the Old Testament, encounter the texts with curiosity and wonder and open yourself to what this inner tension has to offer those who engage with it.
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.
Join Old Testament scholar William P. Brown in a revelatory journey through the Bible that will change the way you think about our sacred scriptures and your faith. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter will deepen the dialogue. Let the conversation begin!
Key Features:
- Accessible language tailored for a general audience
- Thought-provoking exploration of key Old Testament themes
- Discussion questions with each chapter
- Suitable for both personal study, group study, and academic courses
Reviews
"In our time, when society and the church are polarized, we know that dialogue mends division. What if we knew that healing dialogue across differences is modeled in God's Word? In Sacred Tension, Bill Brown invites us into an ancient conversation among the many voices in Scripture. This book shows us a future in which our many voices, in sustained and faithful dialogue, are essential to our life with God." —Rev. David Lewicki, pastor, North Decatur Presbyterian Church
"Bill Brown offers an accessible and engaging introduction to reading dialogically across a wide range of topics (including hot button ones) and many different texts from what he calls the biblical multiverse. Brown is, per usual, wise and winsome, bold and brave. The path Brown points us down is one with more, not less Bible, with the end goal of canonical comprehensiveness always out ahead of us. I can't wait to use Sacred Tension in various classroom settings and I will be referring students, friends, family—anybody and everybody! —to this fantastic book." —Brent A. Strawn, D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Professor of Law, Duke University
"The Bible is full of different voices—voices often in tension with one another. The gift of Brown's Sacred Tension is an intellectually honest embrace of difference and disagreements in scripture as valuable, not a problem. Sacred Tension is an invitation for people of faith to think through the ethical implications of different passages, big theological themes like election, what the Bible is in terms of divine inspiration and biblical authority, and so much more. For anyone interested in honesty about what is in the Bible combined with sensitivity to how faith communities can benefit from it, this is the book that we have been waiting for." —Justin Reed, Associate Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary