Hermann Spieckermann, «God's Steadfast Love Towards a New Conception of Old Testament Theology», Vol. 81 (2000) 305-327

This article argues in favour of a conception of Old Testament theology that is aware of the different hermeneutical presuppositions due to the different canonical shapes of the Jewish and the Christian Bible, respectively. An Old Testament Theology based on the canon of the Christian Bible has to do equal justice to the Hebrew and to the Greek version of the Old Testament, acknowledging that the Greek version, the Septuagint, is a dominant factor for the emergence of Christian faith. Perceiving the Old Testament from a Christian point of view sheds new light on a central theological issue thus far underestimated in scholarly research: God's steadfast love. The contribution tries to show how this characteristic insight into God's true being is reflected and interpreted in the different parts of the Old Testament.

Old Testament leading to a fundamental identification of the Servant’s suffering with God’s nature and self-determination towards love and mercy.

        Asking questions in accordance with truth on the basis of the Christian Bible means perceiving God’s steadfast love illuminated by his incarnation in Jesus Christ as the leitmotif of all scriptures. It is the task of a Christian Bible’s theology — and of an Old Testament theology being a part of it — to pay attention to this theme in the manifold forms and situations witnessed in the scriptures. It is by no means the only way to write an Old Testament theology on the basis of the Christian Bible, but it is an appropriate way to establish a fruitful synthesis of a burning heart and a critical mind formed by exegetical erudition.