A Boundless God
The Spirit according to the Old Testament
by Jack Levison
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Pub Date Feb 18 2020 | Archive Date Mar 06 2020
Baker Academic & Brazos Press | Baker Academic
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Description
The word rûaḥ (commonly translated as breath, wind, spirit, or Spirit) occurs in the Old Testament 378 times--more frequently than torah, shalom, or Sabbath. In this volume, a popular Old Testament scholar, whose previous books have received wide acclaim, cracks open the challenging and provocative world of the Spirit in the Old Testament, offering readers cogent yet comprehensive insights.
Grounded in scholarship yet accessible and inviting, this book unlocks the world of the Spirit, plunging readers into an imaginative realm of fresh senses, sounds, and skills.d The book gives readers the opportunity to recapture Israel's tenacious sense of the Spirit's energy as it was expressed by a series of vibrant verbs: blowing, breathing, coming, resting, passing, pouring, filling, cleansing, standing, and guiding. Readers will encounter in these pages all of the Old Testament expressions of the Spirit--passages that will challenge the conventional, confront the commonplace, and transport them to a world of wisdom, work, and wonder.
Advance Praise
“In this fluent and elegant book, Jack Levison makes two points of fundamental importance for Christian theology: (1) the Christian understanding of the spirit must be grounded in the multifaceted rûaḥ (breath, wind, spirit) of the Hebrew Bible and (2) the saving spirit of God cannot be divorced from the spirit/breath that gives life. A remarkable and subtle contribution to biblical theology.”—John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale Divinity School
“It’s well known that the Hebrew word for spirit is also the word for wind and for breath, but I don’t think anyone has done as much with that fact as Jack Levison in this book. He shows how the word rûaḥ speaks of the spiritual and the material not as two separate things but as related facets of the way that God in his liveliness involves himself in the world. It is appropriate that this book on the spirit should be inspiring. A beautiful combination of the academic and the nurturing, it works by careful, thoughtful, life-giving study of whole passages where rûaḥ appears, and it invites measured and reflective assimilation.”—John Goldingay, professor of Old Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary
“A Boundless God offers us a careful study of rûaḥ from the Jewish Scriptures that takes the reader on a journey into an expansive vision for what is meant by talk of the breath, wind, spirit, or Spirit of God. Jack Levison demonstrates the depth and breadth of the rich and full experience of God as Spirit and of God and spirit in bringing humanity to the fullness of life. Readers will be challenged to lay down old paradigms and dichotomies and to embrace an understanding of the spirit that is far more nuanced than before, all while being confronted with a vibrant, fresh, and life-filled vision of how God moves among his creation in and by the spirit.”—Lucy Peppiatt, principal, Westminster Theological Centre, United Kingdom
“By allowing the Hebrew Scriptures to speak with their own voice, Levison has demonstrated that spirit in the witness of ancient Israel overflows our neatly drawn theological boundaries. The result is a fresh theological vision of the mystery of life that we share with all of creation. I found this book richly stimulating.”—Frank D. Macchia, professor of Christian theology, Vanguard University of Southern California; associate director of the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, Bangor University, Wales, United Kingdom
“It’s easy for Christians to imagine that in the Old Testament the holy spirit is mostly waiting in the wings until a grand entrance can be made in the New Testament. But in A Boundless God Jack Levison shows this to be entirely false. From the spirit that broods over the face of the deep in Genesis to a remnant of the spirit found in Malachi, the Old Testament is saturated with the holy breath, wind, and spirit of God. A Boundless God is a remarkable achievement, alerting the reader to the ubiquitous and transforming presence of the holy spirit throughout the Old Testament.”—Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church, St. Joseph, Missouri; author of Postcards from Babylon
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781540961181 |
| PRICE | $21.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 208 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Mark K, Educator
Jack Levison, “A Boundless God: The Spirit according to the Old Testament” is an eye-opening adventure into the vast and complex Hebraic understanding of the Spirit and the Spirit’s working in the world. If you are looking for a book that intelligently captivates and provocatively stimulates and expands our knowledge of the Spirit, this is definitely a book you want to pick up!
Nicholas V, Reviewer
A BOUNDLESS GOD might have a misleading title, but it is certainly a worthwhile read! "Finding Christ in the Old Testament" is a bit of a trend over the past several years in books, conferences and sermons. While this book focuses on the Old Testament, it focuses instead on the use of the word "Spirit" or "spirit" in the OT, and what it can teach us as Christians.
Some people --- Christians and nonbelievers alike --- have the mistaken idea that the God presented in the OT is different from the God we find in Jesus and the writings of the New Testament. And some might believe that the Holy Spirit is also much different in the Old in comparison to the New. While the fully-formed doctrine of the role of the Holy Spirit as the third Person of the Godhead is only fully fleshed out in the NT, the auhtor of this work does a thorough word study of every appearance of "spirit" or "the Spirit" which occurs in the OT. This serves as proof that the Holy Spirit has always been an active participant in the works of God, and reading this book will open many eyes, and serve to make subsequent readings of the OT more meaningful. This volume is unique to treating this study of "spirit" for the entire OT. I heartily commend this book to pastors and teachers, as well as to any believer who wants to learn more about the Holy Spirit and see Him in action in all parts of Scripture.
