Dennis Olson

Creation Untamed

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In Creation Untamed, Terry Fretheim adjusts his goggles and dives head first into the swirling storm of practical biblical and theological questions that we all ask about God, tragedy, and suffering. Fretheim admits that the Bible cannot provide all the answers. Mysteries remain. Yet Fretheim skillfully guides the reader through the dark and choppy waters of theology and suffering, suggesting helpful ways to move and warning against less promising ways of understanding. This book is deeply biblical, highly practical, and richly theological. Highly recommended!”

Exodus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Victor Hamilton’s commentary on Exodus contains his own unique, detailed, and constructive translation and interpretations of the texts of Exodus fueled by a wide-ranging dialogue with a wealth of previous scholarship on the book. For Hamilton, Exodus is about the full range of God’s relationship with God’s people—everything from liberation and covenant making to rebellion and restoration—with the ultimate goal of God’s dwelling in the midst of God’s people, Israel. All along the way, Hamilton expertly guides readers into the ways in which the book of Exodus intersects with other Old Testament and New Testament texts, offering a rich feast of theologically fruitful insights.”

Gift of the Grotesque

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Stulac’s Gift of the Grotesque grabs you as a reader and throws you into a Christological wrestling match with the Old Testament book of Judges, one of the most challenging books of Scripture. Stulac’s seven profound and prophetic meditations on these stories of messiness, violence, death, tragedy, and horror offer a compelling vision of God’s alternative economy of pure gift and promise set against the idolatries of human payment, control, and self-sufficiency.”

God So Enters into Relationships That...

Theology

“Fretheim argues that the God of the Bible is not an absentee landlord up in heaven or a controlling micromanager of every action or event in the world. Instead, the God of Scripture is in an intimate, complex and dynamic relationship of integrity and mutual interaction with the world, with Israel, and with all creatures. In the face of enormous contemporary challenges, Fretheim helps us see how the God of the Bible gives space for human initiative and creativity as well as hope in God's ultimate will and purpose for the world.”

Numbers

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Altmann and Peres expertly guide the reader through the challenging wilderness landscape of Numbers. They combine an impressive array of perspectives: engagement with the best and most recent scholarship on Numbers, skillful literary sensitivity to how Numbers works as an ancient 'book,' generative 'readings in concert' between two or more biblical texts, theological and pedagogical insights for faith and life, and a Majority World postcolonial lens around issues of identity, empire, and justice. One of the best commentaries on Numbers now available.”

Restorative Readings

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Restorative Readings is a joint venture of seasoned scholars of Old Testament and ethics from South Africa and the United States, two societies in which the Bible has historically been used to justify abusive practices of violence, injustice, and xenophobia. These essays walk a constructive middle road between the wholesale rejection of the Old Testament as irredeemably violent on the one hand and misguided attempts to ignore or explain away the Bible's violent applications in human history.”

Revisiting the Days of Genesis

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In Revisiting the Days of Genesis, B. C. Hodge examines the symbolic and theological meanings of time, days, and chronological periods within Genesis 1-11 in light of analogous ancient Near Eastern creation and flood stories and their use of time. The much richer interpretations of Genesis 1-11 that result make a strong case for moving away from preoccupations with trying to harmonize literalistic interpretations of time in Genesis in favor of hearing each text in its ancient context. The strengths of this work are its generous quotation of ancient Near Eastern texts, the clarity of explanations and interpretations of time in Genesis, attention to the history of interpretation in Jewish and Christian traditions, and a clearly stated set of theologically insightful conclusions.”

Willingness to Die and the Gift of Life

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Although martyrdom and a willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the sake of others is often assumed to be a distinctive New Testament or Christian theme, Paul Cho’s Willingness to Die and the Gift of Life argues that the theme is deeply embedded already in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Cho expertly portrays how a wide array of protagonists in the Hebrew Bible exemplify the theme in different ways. Some actually give up their lives; others contemplate it and come dangerously close. Examples include Samson, Saul, Job, Judah, Moses, and Esther. Two Old Testament figures are genuine martyrs in the fullest sense: the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 40–55 and the persecuted members of the ‘Wise’ who were killed for their faith and promised a resurrection from the dead in Daniel 11. The book concludes with a provocative reflection on whether the God of the Hebrew Bible could conceivably ever die or be portrayed as willing to die.”