Discussion Prompt: Canonical and Theological Context: 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings
The purpose of this assignment is to provide you space to discuss some of your reading material from our textbook and from 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings. Be sure to use only secondary sources accessed through the library databases, through bibleodyssey.org, or through academia.edu. You cannot use any other internet sources; only these sources can be used to access scholarly articles/works for support. Of course, you should always use your textbook.
In our textbook by Professor Hess, choose a particular canonical and theological reading from the books of 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings that he surveyed and discuss the particulars of what you found intriguing in that specific reading of the text (i.e., see his section headings “Canonical Context and Theological Perspectives”). What is important about the theological meaning of the particular emphasis that you have chosen about which to write? Be sure to provide footnotes and support from Hess’s book and from Scripture so that your peers can follow along in their own textbook.
Presently, some in circles of Christian ethics and in evangelicalism more broadly contend that “kingship” (as a human form of governance) or “human governance” (more generally speaking) is antithetical to the Christian gospel and the whole message of Scripture. Furthermore, some claim that these books (1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings) in the Hebrew Bible are anti-monarchical and teach against the importance of human governance, supporting the supreme rule of Yahweh Himself instead; pitting one form of governance (divine) against the other (human). Consider the full gamut of what Hess outlines on pages 270–273. Does the Old Testament depict Yahweh as opposed to human governance? Why or why not? What are the modern-day implications of Gerhard von Rad’s lengthy quote provided by Hess at the end of this chapter on 1–2 Samuel (p. 273)? What about for your own personal life?
