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Nathan MacDonald, 1 Samuel as Christian Scripture: A Theological Commentary. By Stephen B. Chapman., The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 68, Issue 1, April 2017, Pages 245–248, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flx037
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Extract
In recent years there has been a revival in theological commentaries. My impression is that these have made very little impact on the wider guild of Old Testament scholarship. Whilst some are rather naive in their historical assumptions, others attempt to renew the older biblical theology or allegorical interpretations with little sense of their attendant problems. At least one series editor refuses to have biblical scholars write on the Testament in which they have their training—a disdain for experts which is a rare case of theology anticipating politics. If it has been all too easy for the Old Testament guild to dismiss recent theological commentaries, Stephen Chapman’s book on 1 Samuel belies any lazy assumptions. Chapman offers a rich and nuanced reading of the stories of Samuel, Saul, and David. His learning is worn lightly, but the footnotes and extensive bibliography point to reading that is broad and deep.
Chapman’s commentary is divided into three parts. The first part provides a basic hermeneutical orientation. It considers what it means to read 1 Samuel as a ‘book’ and the potential of literary approaches to understanding the biblical text. Chapman defends giving attention to book units even though many pre-modern interpreters showed little interest in book-oriented reading. At some point in their construction, books were considered a meaningful literary unit, and not simply useful places to end scrolls. Attention to just 1 Samuel might also raise eyebrows. Why not a commentary on both books of Samuel? Addressing these issues allows Chapman to occupy a position with a constructive tension: he acknowledges the provisionality of 1 Samuel and the importance of 2 Samuel 21–4 as the conclusion to both books, but a focus on 1 Samuel refocuses the reader’s expectation, not least in ascribing more importance to the portrayal of Saul, who emerges from David’s shadow.
