A Boundless God: The Spirit According to the Old Testament

by Jack Levison

This readable, well-organized survey explores the fascinating intersection of breath and Spirit in the Old Testament.

194 pages, Hardcover

Published February 18, 2020

About the author

Jack Levison has a passion for ideas and an obsession with writing. Eugene Peterson called his book, Fresh Air: the Holy Spirit for an Inspired Life, “a rare and remarkable achievement,” and Scot McKnight, author of The Jesus Creed, considers Filled with the Spirit as “the benchmark and starting point for all future studies of the Spirit.” His latest books launch into what is for many readers foreign territory: The Holy Spirit before Christianity (Baylor University Press, 2019) and A Boundless God: The Spirit according to the Old Testament (Baker Academic, 2020). To support his writing obsession, Jack has received grants from the National Humanities Center, the Lilly Fellows Program, the Louisville Institute, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Rotary Foundation, the International Catacomb Society, the Sam Taylor Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Jack holds the W. J. A. Power Chair of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He lives in Dallas with his wife of 37 years, Priscilla Pope-Levison, associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies at Perkins. His two adult children, Chloe and Jeremy, live in Dallas, as well, and are the source of considerable levity.

Reviews

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book. It's goal is commendable--take a look at how the OT uses the term ruakh, meaning wind/breath/spirit/Spirit. But the author's presuppositions are so pitiful that any important he might bring to the topic is lost. Moses didn't write the pentateuch. David didn't write Psalm 51. Daniel didn't write Daniel. Isaiah didn't write the second half of his book. The judges were terrible. God "reneges" on his word. The latter portions of the OT contradict the earlier portions. I could go on, unfortunately, but you get the point. The question is--if you believe this stuff, why even bother?

Portions of the study were interesting, particularly those seams between the various renderings I mentioned--s/Spirit, wind, etc. Unfortunately, English translations have to choose, and nuance can be lost. So Levison seeks to show us the broadness of the word. But he probably embraces the ambiguity a bit too much, which increases his chances to wax poetic but decreases the utility of his study.

In the conclusion, very oddly, he cautions against driving too big of a wedge between the Old and New Testaments. But then he does that very thing and places NT believers ("Christians") in an entirely different category than OT believers. If you're willing to hammer that wedge into place, how do you complain about the others? This is just one example of the nebulous and questionable theology pervading the book. A disappointment, by and large. I do like the Van Gogh on the cover, though; I must say that.