David and His Theologian: Literary Social and Theological Investigations of the Early Monarchy

Throughout Walter Brueggemanns career he has repeatedly found his way back to the David and royal traditions. From some of his earliest articles and essays to monographs commentaries and sermons he has explored this rich field in literary social and theological depth. As he has said My preoccupation with David rests on the awareness that David occupies a central position in the imagination of ancient Israel and in the rendering of faith and history by that community. As the genealogies locate David he stands mid-point between the rigors of Mosaic faith and the destruction of Jerusalem; as a consequence he becomes in the artistry of Israel the carrier of all the ambivalence Israel knew about guarantees and risks in the world YHWH governs. This volume brings together some of Brueggemanns key essays on the David traditions as well as their interrelationships with traditions in the book of Genesis. -- from the foreword.