Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics ed. by Joel B. GreenTimothy J. SandovalDictionary of Scripture and Ethics Edited by Joel B. Green grand rapids, mi: baker academic, 2011. 912 pp. $60.00.An important addition to the scholarly literature that relates the Bible and ethics, the Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics (DSE) stands as a marker of how far that scholarly enterprise has come in the last forty years. As the volume’s editor notes, if a generation ago James Gustafson lamented the paucity of efforts to link scripture and ethics, this is no longer the case in either ethics or biblical studies (1).DSE (to which I contributed one entry) is comprehensive, containing entries on a range of ethical topics and every biblical book. The volume includes an introduction delineating the organizational principles of the dictionary and three fine essays sketching the ethical shape of scripture, the history of relating scripture to ethics, and methodological issues in this endeavor. Published by a Christian press with entries betraying a mix of conservative (Catholic, evangelical) and liberal perspectives, DSE is oriented toward Christian scripture and Christian ethics. This is no criticism but an observation about DSE’s scope in relation to its title (21).In its approximately nine hundred pages, DSE contains some entries on ethical topics that barely allude to the biblical tradition while other entries on biblical material read not much differently from a standard Bible dictionary entry. Yet most articles on topics in ethics helpfully point to key biblical texts associated with the topic. Many others also deftly relate the history of thinking on an ethical issue and its biblical foundations. Most entries on the Bible likewise successfully sketch how biblical texts explore moral matters, and these articles regularly point out ethical “problems” that many biblical texts evoke for contemporary readers (e.g., concerning nationalism, violence, sexuality, and the like).Those of us in biblical studies who seek to articulate what Hans Frei called the “abiding significance” of the Bible sometimes falter in this effort, offering [End Page 222] stale, strained, or canned ideas about what passage X or Y “might mean for us today.” We falter, perhaps, because we have been deeply formed by the historical-critical study of the Bible. We thus often lack a vocabulary and logic, a different sort of discourse that does not merely translate into ethical and theological terms the exegetical findings we arrive at as classically trained biblical scholars but also engages in a quite different sort of exegetical work. In particular, the entries in DSE that treat broader topics in ethics will expose biblical scholars to different modes of relating critically to the texts than we are accustomed to. DSE will thus prove particularly useful for those of us who wish to explore and cultivate an exegetical practice as well as an identity as exegetes that is distinct from what emerges when we apply the historical and other critical tools that our training has bequeathed us (33).Ethicists can be assured that the entries on the Bible reliably sketch basic, current discussions in biblical studies although inevitably specialists will quibble over details and occasionally over broader issues—something the editor notes happens even between entries within DSE (2). As one of those quibbling specialists, I hoped to find an entry on “hermeneutics” or “biblical hermeneutics” in a volume so concerned with biblical interpretation, though a number of articles do, more or less, address such issues. I must leave it to ethicists to discern the quality and consistency of DSE entries on ethics.In short, DSE may offer only a first step for students and scholars seeking to relate scripture and ethics, but it is an important step.Timothy J. SandovalBrite Divinity SchoolCopyright © 2016 Society of Christian Ethics...