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Sacred Tension: Embracing Dissonance and Dialogue in the Old Testament
"The Bible was not written for passive readers or lazy listeners. It was written for active engagement, deliberation, dialogue, and debate, because the Bible itself is fundamentally a conversation." —Old Testament professor and scholar William P. Brown, from Sacred Tension
Embrace the complexities of the Old Testament with curiosity and courage.
As people of faith, the words of the Bible are sacred. They tell us about our spiritual heritage and convey our ever-present hope. But sometimes, if we're being honest, the Bible — especially the Old Testament — can bring more confusion than clarity. Apparent contradictions and a wide variety of different accounts about God, faith, and humanity's role can leave us perplexed with more questions than answers. How are we to read the Bible in a way that helps us understand its deepest truths?
In Sacred Tension, renowned biblical scholar and Old Testament professor William P. Brown challenges our unease by suggesting that the "problem" of dissonance within the Old Testament is in fact one of its most powerful features. To read the Bible with one uniform voice, he asserts, is to miss the richness and complexity of the canon. Instead, the Bible is "a canonical cornucopia, a 'horn of plenty' filled with diverse perspectives tied together by a common affirmation that God is God, expressed in different ways." With expert insight and passionate prose, Brown invites us to consider the Old Testament as a wide-ranging dialogue that is in conversation both with itself and with us, fostering further discussion and mutual discernment.
Each chapter of Sacred Tension addresses a key question central to the Old Testament texts like the nature of God, the purpose of the Law, and the problem of evil. By exploring these themes through the lens of diverse, and often contradictory, perspectives, you'll begin to gain a more nuanced understanding of the foundational texts that have informed Jewish and Christian beliefs for millennia.
Written for everyday people who long to better understand the Bible, Sacred Tension invites us to embrace the complexity of the Old Testament and discover the profound truths that lie within its hallowed pages. Let the conversation begin!
Key
Accessible language tailored for a general audienceThought-provoking exploration of key Old Testament themesDiscussion questions with each chapterSuitable for both personal study, group study, and academic courses
Embrace the complexities of the Old Testament with curiosity and courage.
As people of faith, the words of the Bible are sacred. They tell us about our spiritual heritage and convey our ever-present hope. But sometimes, if we're being honest, the Bible — especially the Old Testament — can bring more confusion than clarity. Apparent contradictions and a wide variety of different accounts about God, faith, and humanity's role can leave us perplexed with more questions than answers. How are we to read the Bible in a way that helps us understand its deepest truths?
In Sacred Tension, renowned biblical scholar and Old Testament professor William P. Brown challenges our unease by suggesting that the "problem" of dissonance within the Old Testament is in fact one of its most powerful features. To read the Bible with one uniform voice, he asserts, is to miss the richness and complexity of the canon. Instead, the Bible is "a canonical cornucopia, a 'horn of plenty' filled with diverse perspectives tied together by a common affirmation that God is God, expressed in different ways." With expert insight and passionate prose, Brown invites us to consider the Old Testament as a wide-ranging dialogue that is in conversation both with itself and with us, fostering further discussion and mutual discernment.
Each chapter of Sacred Tension addresses a key question central to the Old Testament texts like the nature of God, the purpose of the Law, and the problem of evil. By exploring these themes through the lens of diverse, and often contradictory, perspectives, you'll begin to gain a more nuanced understanding of the foundational texts that have informed Jewish and Christian beliefs for millennia.
Written for everyday people who long to better understand the Bible, Sacred Tension invites us to embrace the complexity of the Old Testament and discover the profound truths that lie within its hallowed pages. Let the conversation begin!
Key
Accessible language tailored for a general audienceThought-provoking exploration of key Old Testament themesDiscussion questions with each chapterSuitable for both personal study, group study, and academic courses
240 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2025
11 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 30, 2025
The book provides an helpful overview over various tensions on topics of wisdom controversies, holiness, election, Gods character (unchangable vs changeable) and more.
I like how calmly he writes about a controversial topic and shows how a biblical fundamentalism is very unbiblical (although he does not use the word fundamentalism).
Although I enjoyed the book, I find it exegetically „dry“ in some places. I would recommend it to everyone who wants to deepen their understanding of Scripture and who’s not afraid of exegetical executions.
I like how calmly he writes about a controversial topic and shows how a biblical fundamentalism is very unbiblical (although he does not use the word fundamentalism).
Although I enjoyed the book, I find it exegetically „dry“ in some places. I would recommend it to everyone who wants to deepen their understanding of Scripture and who’s not afraid of exegetical executions.
January 22, 2026
Sacred Tension by William P. Brown is an intellectually rich and thoughtful deep dive into the Old Testament, especially compelling in how it treats theological ambiguity and paradox. Brown presents the Hebrew Bible not as a single, harmonized voice, but as a conversation—sometimes even an argument—among multiple perspectives that are intentionally preserved rather than resolved.
One of the book’s central strengths is how it frames core theological questions without forcing tidy answers. What is holiness? Is it a divine quality humans are meant to imitate, or something that belongs to God alone and is only extended to humanity by grace? What is wisdom? Is it attainable in this life, or does it ultimately remain God’s exclusive possession? Brown shows that depending on where you read in the Old Testament, you will get very different—and sometimes conflicting—answers. Rather than seeing this as a problem, he argues that the biblical authors were comfortable with tension, contradiction, and unresolved questions.
According to Brown, these tensions are not flaws to be corrected but features meant to provoke reflection and discussion. The Old Testament, in this view, does not exist primarily to dictate what we must think or do, but to invite us into sustained engagement—to wrestle with the text, to argue with it, and to sit with its ambiguity. His commentary on Job is particularly excellent, capturing the book’s refusal to offer easy theological closure and its challenge to overly confident claims about God, justice, and suffering.
That said, while the book is deeply rewarding, I ultimately give it four stars instead of five. Not because of any weakness in Brown’s scholarship or writing, but because much of its core perspective echoes ideas I’ve already encountered—particularly the notion that the Old Testament is a multi-voiced text that does not always agree with itself and intentionally invites debate (Peter Enns has written several books on this subject). For readers new to this approach, the book will likely feel revelatory; for others, it may feel familiar.
Still, Sacred Tension is a thoughtful, well-argued, and theologically mature work—one that respects the complexity of the biblical text and resists the urge to flatten it into certainty.
One of the book’s central strengths is how it frames core theological questions without forcing tidy answers. What is holiness? Is it a divine quality humans are meant to imitate, or something that belongs to God alone and is only extended to humanity by grace? What is wisdom? Is it attainable in this life, or does it ultimately remain God’s exclusive possession? Brown shows that depending on where you read in the Old Testament, you will get very different—and sometimes conflicting—answers. Rather than seeing this as a problem, he argues that the biblical authors were comfortable with tension, contradiction, and unresolved questions.
According to Brown, these tensions are not flaws to be corrected but features meant to provoke reflection and discussion. The Old Testament, in this view, does not exist primarily to dictate what we must think or do, but to invite us into sustained engagement—to wrestle with the text, to argue with it, and to sit with its ambiguity. His commentary on Job is particularly excellent, capturing the book’s refusal to offer easy theological closure and its challenge to overly confident claims about God, justice, and suffering.
That said, while the book is deeply rewarding, I ultimately give it four stars instead of five. Not because of any weakness in Brown’s scholarship or writing, but because much of its core perspective echoes ideas I’ve already encountered—particularly the notion that the Old Testament is a multi-voiced text that does not always agree with itself and intentionally invites debate (Peter Enns has written several books on this subject). For readers new to this approach, the book will likely feel revelatory; for others, it may feel familiar.
Still, Sacred Tension is a thoughtful, well-argued, and theologically mature work—one that respects the complexity of the biblical text and resists the urge to flatten it into certainty.
May 20, 2025
This well-written book offers fundamental yet crucial insights and interpretations of the Old Testament. It covers critical topics such as the creation story, the nature of God, and theodicy. Brown argues that Scripture should be read dialogically, respecting its diversity and dissonance. The Bible is not a single book! It contains a collection of diverse authors, crafted over a thousand years. The implication is that the reader determines the ultimate significance of the text. This book is a valuable resource for serious readers of the Bible.
January 4, 2026
I love this book so much! William Brown teaches us to identify the tension inherent in the Holy Scriptures and reveals the heart of faith in God.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews