Ways of freedom

New anthology presents research on the evolution and theology of the Book of Exodus

A new anthology edited by the protestant theologian Prof. Dr. Reinhard Achenbach from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” presents new research on the evolution and theology of the Book of Exodus. In modern research on the Old Testament, both the origins and the theology of the Book of Exodus are the subject of intensive debate. In the form of twelve lectures given at a symposium in honour of the 70th birthday of Rainer Albertz, internationally renowned experts address various aspects of research on the Book of Exodus. Among other things, the resulting volume covers its literary embedding in the Pentateuch, the historical background to the priestly passages, the narrative of God, the significance of the statutes documented in the Book of Exodus as well as various individual stipulations and even the relevance of the Exodus tradition for Christian theology. The studies investigate the priestly Exodus narrative and its historical background in the Persian period and its imperial ideology (J. Wöhrle), the contextual relations within the Hexateuch and the Pentateuch (R. Achenbach; R. Albertz), the scribal efforts to dertermine Jewish identity in the multireligious culture of the post-exilic period (S. Olyan; H. Utzschneider, C. Nihan) and the correlation of the concepts of freedom and law (T. Krüger). Further essays refer to sociological issues (T. Römer; R. Schmitt) and problems of literary form and hermeneutics (J. Ebach; R. Kessler; F. Crüsemann).

Literature: Achenbach, Reinhard, Ruth Ebach, and Jakob Wöhrle (eds.), Wege der Freiheit. Beiträge zu einem Symposion zur Entstehung und Theologie des Exodusbuches aus Anlass des 70. Geburtstags von Rainer Albertz, Zürich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich 2014.