The Old Testament Is Dying

Starred review from January 9, 2017
In this intriguing analysis, Candler School of Theology professor Strawn sounds an alarm, equating the Old Testament with a dying language the loss of which threatens devastating consequences for Christianity and humanity. Using linguistic investigations, Strawn describes both the “vicious disdain” for the Old Testament deity professed by biologist Richard Dawkins and the New Atheists, and the extreme “religious rhetoric” of television evangelist Pat Robertson as “pidgins”: “greatly abbreviated languages that facilitate the bare minimum of communication.” Arguing that the second-century heresies of Marcion, who found irreconcilable differences between the deities represented in the Old and New Testaments, have endured, Strawn suggests that the “pidginization reflected in Christian liturgy” led to the rise in German anti-Semitism and eventually the Holocaust. He argues that the Old Testament language was “reduced, then subsumed, then transformed, and... entirely forgotten” in the “creole” preached by prosperity gospel “happiologists” like Joel Osteen. Following these depressing analyses with “A Path to Recovery,” Strawn emphasizes the need to save dying languages and become bilingual, concluding that “the Old Testament must be used—extensively and regularly... in formative moments of Christian practice and education.” This engaging scholarly work deserves serious attention from today’s church leaders.