Abstract
Ansgar University College (Ansgarskolen), a small Christian college in Kristiansand, Norway has held summer workshops in biblical studies since 2012. Every workshop has a different theme and participants explore these themes from varied points of view. In 2018 the workshop (Norwegian Summer Academy for Biblical Studies) focused on the theme “The Bible and Money—Money in the Bible”; or, more particularly, the “main focus was on economic issues in both testaments” since “economic issues” is a popular topic, connecting to “discussions around “social justice” (xiii). The participant essays were subsequently compiled for the edited volume The Bible and Money: Economy and Socioeconomic Ethics in the Bible, with the purposes of being both a “broad anthology of biblical reflections on economic matters” and as a “coursebook for classes dealing with the interface of Bible and economy” (xiii).
The volume is divided into five different parts: “Economic Issues in the Old Testament”; “Economic Issues in the New Testament”; “Economic Issues in Both Testaments”; “From Exegesis to Reception History”; and “Current Economic Issues as a Context for Biblical Studies”. The divisions, however, are uneven, with over half of the content occurring in the first section, and less than one hundred pages dedicated to work on contemporary contexts. With the book being thematically uneven, if used as a coursebook focusing on “the interface of Bible and economy” (xiii), there would need to be supplementation.
Edited volumes can be reviewed in different ways; rather than trying to review all nineteen chapters, I will summarise some of the work gleaned from the five parts. I will end the review by noting some peculiarities about this edited volume, before summarising its effectiveness as a scholarly text and a text useful for teaching.
In the first section, a wide variety of “Old Testament” texts and themes are analysed. Several deal with interest in loans (“Two Categories of Loans in the Old Testament”; “Give Willingly and do not Expect Anything”), economy and authority (“King Solomon’s Different Faces”; “State and Temple Economy”; “Government and Economy in the Hebrew Bible”) prophets and economy, and even a chapter on theology and money (“Theological Anthropology and the Metaphysics of Money”). While there is a variety of texts represented, this section (because it is the largest) represents a good amount of important texts and themes on economy and the Hebrew Bible.
The smaller section on the New Testament focused on Paul, Luke-Acts, and theologies of abundance through very specific NT readings (sections from Luke, Acts, and 1 Tim). These essays are, then, a very truncated sampling of work that can be done on the broader subject of the volume. Further, it is unfortunate that the chapters are so heavily Pauline, though that follows recent trends in many areas of NT studies. Further, the methods, scope, and purposes of the chapters varies widely. This is, in many ways, a boon to the volume. A handbook on “socioeconomic ethics in the Bible” needs diversity of thought stretching beyond usual modes of reading.
Part III deals with “Economic Issues in Both Testaments”; however, this section is only comprised of one chapter, a mere fourteen pages. The chapter, as well, is concerned foremost with constructing, or relaying, a “biblical theological” take on use of resources, with special attention given to how to properly care for the poor (298). The author, further, wants to relate “biblical values” (299). But, in the relation of those values, there is often a presumption about the meaning of texts (for instance, a bit of proof-texting), with a particular eye to read some texts about wealth and the wealthy as “rhetorical” (301, with references to Mt 6:24, Lk 14:33, and 8:22-24).
The fourth section is comprised of three chapters, and in some ways seems to be a collection of the chapters that couldn’t quite fit anywhere else, dealing with a chapter on Reformation era readings, and two chapters on contemporary readings of biblical texts dealing with economic issues. Despite the broadness of this section, all of the essays are varied, useful and interesting examples of biblical reception. One (“Proportionate and Sufficient Wealth,” by Timothy Murray), for instance, is an interesting critique of the British welfare state using, primarily, extracts of Pauline texts. This chapter adds to the problematic weightiness toward Pauline texts within the volume; however, it is a carefully constructed essay and brings forth important issues raised in current economic theology (such as Philip Goodchild’s work).
The book ends with a final section on “current issues.” Unfortunately, while the entire volume intends to address current issues, the section focused on it is comprised of only one, short (but excellent) chapter. Nonetheless, the chapter is crucial, attending to how biblical scholars in African contexts deal with the topic of poverty. This crucial chapter, also, highlights just how “western”-centric this volume is.
There are a few cautions here. Readers should be aware that many of these essays are overtly confessional. And, this may be surprising because nothing in the title, or in the book’s description, make this apparent. “Socioeconomic ethics” doesn’t gesture to confessional theological conviction, and biblical studies is not a theological mode of study (even if it is usual for theology to sneak in). The injection of confessional theology into some of the essays comes off as distracting and doesn’t enhance the research being done. This being said, most often, it can be side-stepped by the reader. As mentioned above, the book is heavily weighted by the first section. And, that section is probably the most valuable, with several informative chapters dealing with a variety of texts on wealth, economics, and empire in the Hebrew Bible. Latter sections are less filled out, and yet can feel more scattered in content and methodology. This, however, doesn’t mean that the volume is not valuable for students or researchers. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of the most important sections on money in the traditionally constructed Bible. And, researchers will find some valuable scholarship on topics like Paul’s Jerusalem collection, King Solomon’s economic and political activities, different forms of loans in the Hebrew Bible, and the use of biblical texts (and biblical studies research) in impoverished contexts in Africa.