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.

The Septuagint was the nucleus of the Christian Bible. Moreover, the Septuagint with its synthesis of Jewish and Hellenistic legacy was the matrix for the formation of Christianity. Any Old Testament theologian who conceives his discipline as a part of the theology of the Christian Bible will have to consider the Greek version of the Old Testament at least as carefully as the Hebrew version. These presuppositions, presented here in rough outline, are the basis for the material concept of Old Testament theology which attempts to do justice to the Hebrew and to the Greek voices in four steps.

I. God’s Self-Determination towards Steadfast Love

        One might be surprised that I hold God’s self-determination towards love to be the origin of an Old Testament theology. This characterization would rather suggest a New Testament theology. But according to the presuppositions of an Old Testament theology noted above, the truth of Old Testament theology can only be established by considering New Testament theology. This is the reason why I characterize God’s self-determination towards love by the theological category of origin, and not by the historical category of beginning. God’s self-determination of love becomes evident by his decision to establish a special loving relation with mankind which is realized in a unique love-story, namely God’s love for Israel. This is obvious for the Old Testament’s own basic position and from the New Testament’s point of view as well.

        Within the traditions of the Old Testament the love-story originates in the Pentateuch. When you attempt to grasp Pentateuchal theology in