Chosen and unchosen : conceptions of election in the Pentateuch and Jewish-Christian interpretation / Joel N. Lohr. [print]

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introducing election and nonelection : Christian interpretation -- Jewish election theologies : exclusion and disgrace? -- Blessing or curse? Abraham, election, and the nations : the story of Abimelech -- An unchosen figure who saves a people (Exodus 2: 1-10) -- Numbers : Balaam and YHWH's irrevocable love for Israel -- Israel and the nations in Deuteronomy -- Chosen and unchosen : can good come from a God who favors? -- Appendix 1. The tendency to view Balaam as sinner -- Appendix 2. �Herem in the Old Testament : an overview.

The God of the Bible favors a national people, Israel, and this is at the cost of the other nations. In fact, not being Israel usually means humiliation or destruction or simply being ignored by God. Reading the text "with the grain" or placing oneself within the chosen's perspective may seem very well until one considers the unchosen. There is much regarding the unchosen that has not been explored in scholarly research, but in this important work, Lohr attempts to make sense of the question of election and nonelection in the OT as a Christian interpreter and with a concern for the history of interpretation and Jewish-Christian dialogue. He also corrects a Christian tendency to read election and nonelection as love and damnation, respectively, a perception that is altogether foreign to the OT itself. The unchosen are important to the overall worldview of Scripture, and although election entails exclusion and God's love for the one people, Israel is a love in contrast to others, it does not follow that the unchosen fall outside of the economy of God's purposes, his workings, or his ways. The unchosen often face important tests of their own and are responsible to God and the chosen. However, this idea defies modern-day notions of fairness. It is a central idea of Scripture that already appears in the original call of and promises made to Abram and something that, if ignored, places our larger understanding of God at risk. Equally important, if contemporary faith communities (both Jewish and Christian) form their understanding of "the other" on a faulty reading of Scripture regarding the unchosen, chaos and hatred can ensue. Our contemporary world's political and religious climate has never presented a more important time to get this matter right. Scholars and students alike find Chosen and Unchosen an indispensable resource as they mull over these difficult questions . Publisher's site

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