Die Theologie der Septuaginta / The Theology of the Septuagint

The LXX.H handbook series was initiated following the conclusion of the Septuaginta Deutsch translation project in 2011. Several outstanding contributions were published: Einleitung in die Septuaginta (2016), Die Sprache der Septuaginta / The Language of the Septuagint (2016), and the present volume. Three other volumes are forthcoming and will focus on the textual history of the Septuagint, its historical context, and its reception history.The introductory essay is written by the editors and provides a comprehensive survey of the issues at hand. They argue that the subject as formulated in the title poses several problems. First, “the” Septuagint is a collection of translations produced by several individuals in various contexts over a long period of time. The textual evidence for several of these works is complex, and it appears doubtful at times whether the text of the initial translations can be recovered with a high degree of confidence. It is, of course, possible to base one’s research on a particular extant manuscript, but this will undoubtedly yield different results. Therefore, examining “the” Septuagint for its treatment of a theological topic is problematic. Recent scholarship often focuses on individual books instead, studying each translation independently. Only in a subsequent step can similarities (and differences) be traced. Second, the term “theology” also appears ill suited to this context. The editors claim that a focus on theological elements or accents seems more appropriate. Here also, several pitfalls must be avoided. Such accents are often observed by identifying semantic differences the Greek and Hebrew texts. Yet, these differences may be traced to several factors including variants in the Hebrew source text (the particulars of which are unknown to us) or the translation technique adopted by the translator. In some cases, he may not have understood his source text adequately, forcing him to make choices that may not be theologically motivated. Nevertheless, the choice of vocabulary can be instructive even in situations when the Greek term adequately renders the Hebrew. Finally, it remains paramount to distinguish between theological accents that are deliberately introduced during the translation process from the later theological interpretation of these texts. The editors set out a very prudent methodology for the task and their contribution is arguably the most significant of this volume.The rest of the volume is organized according to eight theological topics: 1) The one God and the human understanding of this reality, 2) the divine law, 3) the cult and encountering God, 4) prophecy and its discourse about God, 5) humans before God, 6) wisdom and the life before God, 7) people and covenant, and 8) the promise of a future in the presence of God. Some contributors wrote comprehensive essays that each trace one of these topics throughout the Septuagint corpus. Other topics were broken into subchapters and allotted to a plurality of contributors. Therefore, chapters vary considerably in length, and summarizing each essay is impossible in this context. I will therefore highlight some contributions and list others.Exploring the theme of the one God and how he is understood, Emanuel Tov’s essay focuses on the equivalents for various divine names in the Pentateuch. Tov is of the opinion that the earliest layer of the Septuagint text rendered the Tetragrammaton as ΙΑΩ, which was updated to κύριος at a later stage. Tov sees two significant theologically motivated equivalents in the divine names: κύριος παντοκράτωρ for יהוה צבאות and θεός for צור. Anne-Françoise Loiseau provides a comprehensive survey of how God is characterized in the Prophets. Divine titles and depictions of various divine beings are also addressed. Theologically motivated renderings are labeled “targoumismes,” which seems anachronistic in this context. Little attention seems to be paid to translation technique, and no summary of findings is provided. This is unfortunately true of several essays in that they offer numerous observations but little or no synthesis. Markus Witte provides a study of this theme in the context Wisdom literature while Andrés Piquer Otero does the same in the so-called Historical Books. The latter observes that such a study is particularly difficult in this corpus due to the complexity of its textual history. Some Septuagint renderings are probably earlier than MT and it is in the latter that one sometimes finds theological exegesis. Ralph Brucker closes this section with a chapter on Psalms and Odes.The theme of God’s law is addressed by Innocent Himbaza (Pentateuch), Herrie van Rooy (Prophets), Frank Ueberschaer (Wisdom), Martin Meiser (Historical books), and Alison Salveson (Psalter). Himbaza and van Rooy observe that while the Greek legal terminology is more varied, the term νόμος sees its semantic range expanded because of its frequent rendering of the Hebrew תורה. It becomes associated with the covenant or divine revelation, sometimes a corpus (or book), but more often its contents.Christian Eberhart’s essay covers the entirety of the topic of the cult and encountering God. He primarily explores subthemes related to the theology of the temple, altar, holiness, and purity, as well as a number of others. Evangelia Dafni examines the theme of prophecy and discourse about God while Johann Cook focuses on humans before God (chiefly in Proverbs and Job). Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger explores the theme of wisdom and life before God, studying, as can be expected, the so-called Wisdom literature, including Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon. Larry Perkins provides the longest essay (more than 100 pages) on the theme of people and covenant. He argues that the translators expressed in the main the theological ideas imbedded in their Hebrew source text. Theories to the effect that ἔθνος and λαός served to designate Gentiles (or people in general) on the one hand, and the chosen people on the other, are not supported by the data. These terms are rather the usual equivalents for גוי and עם, both of which can at times designate Israel and other nations. Other more nuanced findings are noted, such as the apparent emphasis in Greek Deuteronomy and Greek Joshua of the allotment of the land to Israel as inheritance. Holger Gzella closes the volume with a discussion of the theme of the promise of a future before God.The book concludes with indexes of Scripture references, parabiblical and classical texts, manuscripts, and modern and ancient authors. Though comprehensive in focus, one is left with the impression that much more remains to be explored for each of these topics and that methodological consistency remains a work in progress. These contributions nevertheless represent a good starting point for further investigations and for this we can be thankful. Those looking for an up-to-date treatment of the state of research in the quest for the “theology” of “the” Septuagint will be well served to consult it.

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