The God of Israel and christian theology - part two

The post-supersessionist proposals of R. Kendall Soulen

On Kendall Soulen’s book ‘The God of Israel and Christian Theology

By: J. Bol

In my first article about the book ‘The God of Israel and Christian Theology’ I discussed several of Kendall Soulen’s most important arguments for the theological untenability of replacement theology. The article ended with a discussion of the deeply radical influence of what Soulen calls the ‘canonical narrative’ and the structural nature of supersessionism connected closely to it. I refer the reader to my first article about Soulen’s book for his arguments and for his discussion of the central concept of ‘canonical narrative’ in Soulens analysis of the origin of replacement theology. The history of Israel and her relationship with God stood in the shadow of the Gospel from the very beginning in this ‘canonical narrative’, the basic concept of of the four highlights in salvation history as developed by the early second century church: Creation-Fall-Coming of Christ and the End. Soulen remarks in this respect: “As a result, God’s identity as the God of Israel and God’s history with the Jewish people become largely indecisive for the Christian conception of God.”(p.33).

Many have taken leave of the old supersessionism since the Holocaust. But the question of what should take its place is still hanging – life size – over the church market, and this makes many to feel uneasy. That is not surprising, for the question is far from easy to reply to. It will not disappear on its own however. The cracks in the old story have become too visible for that to happen. Soulen delves deep into the above-mentioned question in the second half of his book. He does so in a very fruitful and valuable manner. I hope to set out some of his main thoughts in this second article.

New theological concept necessary

Christendom is in urgent need of a new story as far as the relationship of the Church with Israel is concerned – a new look at Scripture that has thoroughly divested itself of anti-Judaism and supersessionism. And that can still be considered truly scriptural at the same time, within orthodox parameters, correct doctrine that is the result of correctly interpreting the Word of truth. The standard must be set high when seeking the contours and principles for such a new theological design. The ambition should be for a concept to see the light of day that does substantially more justice to Old and New Testament Scripture together – more than the dominant replacement thinking did for 1,800 years. Of course we do not need to turn our backs on 1800 years of doing theology. To do so would not only be undesirable and foolish, but also impossible, in fact. Whichever way you look at it, we are standing on the shoulders of those who went before us theologically, on the shoulders of the centuries-old church. No, the only way to go is to question the in many ways rich theological legacy of the church anew, and to put it to the test in the light of the new insights into Church-Israel theology. And then to have the nerve to adjust the ‘old story’ where needed, and, if necessary, to rewrite it, on the basis of the better insights which have been gained – according to the old recipe of ecclesia reformata semper reformanda – a nice motto that is more often alluded to than put into practice, unfortunately.

With what suggestions does Soulen come forward for the adjustment of the old ‘narrative’, the old story, and what arguments from Scripture does he put on the table for his suggestions? It is good to remind ourselves in this respect of one of Soulen’s quotations that has already been mentioned in the first article: “ If Christians today are rethinking their traditional theological posture toward the Jewish people , it must be because of the reasoned conviction that in doing so they are being more truthful and more faithful to the God they worship and confess. To do so merely out of a desire to avoid offense or in a spirit of ” theological reparations” would contribute nothing to the genuine reform of Christian living, and would in the long run contribute only to cynicism and disappointment. Only when recognition of supersessionism’s inadequacy stands at the center of the church’s posture toward the Jewish people are there real grounds to hope for a renewal of Christian theology and Christian living .” (p.5) This appears to me to be a fair, sound and simultaneously promising starting point. It is both principally theocentric and theological.

What is the benefit?

Soulen devotes the second half of his book to formulating and laying the ground for such a new theology of the Church-Israel relationship as carefully and as thoroughly as possible. He does not shrink from making some radical new hermeneutical choices when necessary in this respect. He bases these choices on Scripture itself however. Some readers will by now doubtlessly be asking themselves where they have heard such reasoning before. Such sound distrust is necessary. New insights must always be tested against Scripture. I am of the opinion that Soulen’s theological proposal will come through critical research of its scriptural merits largely unscathed. That is the critical approach which must and can be taken to the book. There is however yet another approach by which Soulen’s design should be looked at, and that seems to me to be at least as necessary, it is the question as to what benefit Soulen’s concept brings us. In what ways does the concept possibly do more justice to the testimony of the Old and New Testaments taken together? What possibilities do his proposals offer for the further development of a theology in which Israel is allowed to play an equal title role next to the Church – a theology that does justice to the details of the Old and New Testament Scriptures taken together? And what is the possible dividend as far as the chances of a better relationship with the Jewish people are concerned? And does his concept also procure any benefit to the church’s understanding of itself? These are not unimportant questions in the light of the ever increasing confusion in many western churches in many areas. Christianity in Western Europe is going through an identity crisis that is inextricably linked to the broader crisis that is presently affecting the Western world. I cannot get away from the impression that Soulen’s concept could bring some solace in this area as well.

I will attempt to sketch as clearly as possible a number of important aspects of Soulen’s concept for a better Church-Israel theology. I wish to point out emphatically that one should read his book for oneself in order to acquire a complete picture of Soulen’s concept and his arguments. Within the scope of this article I can do little more than introduce his concept to the reader and to sketch some of his major arguments. And, I hope passionately, to make the ready thirsty to read the book for him- or herself. For what Soulen has to offer in this intelligent and creative theological concept is more than worthwhile.

A Triple blessing

Let me begin at the beginning: Genesis. Soulen builds his concept to a large extent on his reading of Genesis 1 to 12. This reading is surprising. It is a different way of looking at very well-known parts of Scripture. This is why the first reading really takes some effort and time to grasp the line of thinking.

According to Soulen we find the basic outline of God’s great plan – by which He will eventually bring His creation to completion – in the first two chapters of Genesis. Soulen calls this plan God’s ‘economy of consummation‘. The notion of the ‘economy of consummation’ occupies a central place in his theological concept. God’s great final purpose with His creation is the ultimate worldwide shalom for Israel and the nations, the new heaven and the new earth where Gods righteousness will dwell forever. Soulen calls God’s great plan to redeem His creation from the consequences of the fall and the power of Satan God’s ‘economy of redemption’. I shall comment later and in more detail on the relationship between the ‘economy of consummation’ and the ‘economy of redemption’ in Soulen’s concept. In his discussion of the first two chapters of Genesis, Soulen remarks that God blesses His creation no less than three times in the creation story. God blesses the beings that live in water and the fowl in Genesis 1:22. He blesses the first human couple in Genesis 1:28. God blesses both the animals and the human couple with the words ‘be fruitful and increase in number’. Soulen then postulates that this blessing of God is crucial to finally make the whole of creation complete until its final state of true shalom. In blessing His creation God emphatically pledges Himself to His creation and to this final goal that He has for it.

Soulen: ” As represented in the Scriptures , God’s work as Consummator revolves around God’s blessing and its power to communicate life , wholeness, well-being and joy to that which is other than God.” (p.115). This blessing, which God gave immediately, at the very beginning of His creation, constitutes a crucial part of Gods ‘economy of consummation’ according to Soulen. God will continue to give His creation this blessing, whatever the cost, until it finally reaches its final goal of the eschatological shalom. It is not easy for us, modern people, to estimate the true value of this thought. The fact that plants, men and animals are still reproducing, until today, is usually seen purely as a natural, obvious, merely biological process in our heavily secularized era – as a kind of mobile perpetuum. The fact that it is actually dependent upon God’s active and continued blessing of his creation is something that even believers sometimes are not really aware of anymore. This blind spot of many in no way detracts however from the fact that life is still a great miracle, thanks to God’s blessing, and that life itself is a proof of God’s faithfulness.

The principal of mutual blessing

Soulen makes yet another remarkable observation on the basis of the first two chapters of Genesis. According to Soulen, God Himself also laid a basic pattern of mutual blessing within creation itself. To what is he referring? On the basis of the creation story Soulen concludes that God composed His creation of, and divided into, what one could technically describe as ‘complementary entities’ – in other words: pairs that are dependent upon each other, that need each other. In this way, according to Soulen, the notion of relationship is inherent in the basic structure of creation itself. Soulen refers in this respect to the relationship between husband and wife, the generational bond within a family, the parent-child relationship but also man and his relationship with nature as a steward. The relationship between Israel and the nations, which goes back to the call of Abraham and God’s covenant with him (Gen.12, 15, 17) also fits into this principle according to Soulen. The creation story itself already points to Israel’s calling according to Soulen. I shall say more about this further on in the article. According to Soulen all these relationships, which are inherent to creation, are intended by God to be just as many opportunities to be able to be a blessing for the other: the man to the woman and the woman to the man, the parent to the child and the child to the parent, the brother to the sister and the sister to the brother, the Jew to the Greek and the Greek to the Jew, friends to one another etcetera. So God not only blesses His creation, He also lays down a basic principle of mutual blessing within creation itself. Soulen remarks in this respect that God could have created a completely different kind of creation. That thought is also difficult to grasp, but Soulen is right of course. We are so used to creation being as it is, and to the creation story, that we find it difficult to imagine that creation could have been very different. God is sovereign, is He not? But God has wanted creation to be exactly like it is. And He therefore very consciously has wanted this pattern of relationships in his creation. Soulen calls this the principle of ‘mutual blessing’.

It is as clear as day that sin seriously threw this idyllic ideal into turmoil and that many of these relationships have become hotbeds of conflict and misery as a result. This however in no way alters God’s original intention of ‘ mutual blessing’.

This principle of ‘mutual blessing’ takes center stage in Soulen’s theological proposal for a supersessionism free theology. It is a crucial part of the ‘economy of consummation’ itself. In other words, the principle of ‘mutual blessing’ is fundamental to God’s all-embracing plan of bringing His creation to its final completion – the eschatological shalom for Israel and the nations. It will not succeed without it.

This idea of ‘mutual blessing’ in the basic concept of creation itself contains some very attractive features. It calls for associations with notions such as harmony, being complementary to and caring for one another. It is fundamentally different from the antithetic thinking that is encrusted in replacement theology: the church instead of Israel. Soulen’s setting center stage the notion of ‘mutual blessing’ does indeed present something of a new paradigm: the church being called from the outset to be a blessing to Israel; and Israel being called to be a blessing to the nations (and, therefore, to the church too). If this is indeed presenting a new paradigm, it is one that challenges Christians to make getting along with one’s fellow man in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount of paramount importance in practice as well in teaching. The paradigm would be congruous with the spirit of the double love-commandment that both Jesus and Paul hold in the highest esteem. In the light of 1800 years of anti-Judaism, a paradigm of ‘mutual blessing’ is an alluring perspective for the development of a theology that is devoid of replacement thinking.

Consummation and Redemption

The Bible shows very clearly that sin and unbelief threaten to block this divine programme time and again, and sometimes even have seemed to damage it to the point of no repair. Scripture testifies in several places to the fact that there are sometimes very great tensions between God and humanity. And the history of the world unto this very day is full of everything that is in opposition to this principle of mutual blessing. That is why the ‘economy of redemption’ is so very crucial. The end and final worldwide shalom will never be achieved without the saving, reconciling suffering and death and victorious intervention of Jesus, the promised Messiah. Soulen makes use of two concentric circles to make his view of the relationship between the two ‘economies’ clear. The outer circle thereof is the ‘economy of consummation’ – the basic principle of God’s great programme of bringing creation to the end phase of salvation history, the final Messianic Shalom. The inner circle thereof represents the ‘economy of redemption’ which takes place within the broader context of this ‘economy of consummation’.

It is clear that this grates against the classical narrative of the early church. The ‘economy of redemption’, the redemption from sin, is in the classical narrative the determining broad context from which meaning is given to all the details of Scripture. Consequential reading of the Old Testament through the spectacles of the New Testament and almost exclusively Christocentric hermeneutics are essential to this classical narrative. Soulen is correct when he remarks in this respect that everything undoubtedly does depend on Christ, but that not everything is about Christ. (P. 175).

With his unfortunately too meager discussion of the soteriological significance of the reconciling suffering and death of Jesus in the last chapter of his book, Soulen might load the suspicion of the more skeptical reader onto himself that he might not subscribe to the classical confession concerning the vicarious atonement, the reconciling suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Fortunately that is not the case. In correspondence with him on this subject the author has informed me that he endorses the criticism that the treatment of this subject in the last section of his book is with hindsight indeed too meager. And that he in absolutely no way distances himself from the confessions of the reformation and the classical revival movements in this respect. This was amply confirmed during a series of lectures the author gave in the Netherlands in March 2012. His teaching at the premises of Christians for Israel in Nijkerk and at the Free University of Amsterdam was very well received. The issues of christology and soteriology are being addressed at much fuller length by the author in his new book ‘ The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity’, published in the fall of 2011.

Soulen’s choice of making the ‘economy of consummation’ the broader context within which the ‘economy of redemption’ is being played out is an essential part of his new theological concept. On the one hand he intends to do justice with this concept to what he sees as the core confession of the Christian faith: ‘the God of the Hebrew Scriptures acted for the salvation of the whole world in Jesus of Nazareth’. On the other hand, he seeks to create room this way for a fully-fledged place for God’s dealings with Israel in the context of a renewed Christian theology. By this move Soulen brings about a change in the ‘canonical narrative’ of the early church. As a result of this alteration, the history of Israel – as it is described from Genesis 12 right up to the book of Malachi – is promoted in one go from being background material to the Gospel story to being the plot itself – the ‘plot’ of God’s all-embracing intention of bringing His creation to its final completion. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in that ‘core plot’ not degraded to background music but belongs to the inner concentric circle and is in this way essential part of the core plot. So there is no consummation without redemption.

Israel alluded to even in Genesis 2

Soulen is able to bring yet more to the surface in support of his theological concept from the first twelve chapters of Genesis. Back to the role of God’s blessing in Genesis.

The third blessing is mentioned in Genesis 2:3. This is the blessing of the seventh day, on which God rested from all the work of creation that He had brought into being. According to Soulen this third and last blessing in the creation story, after the completion of creation, is the high point of the creation story.

Soulen: “God’s Sabbath blessing forms the true climax of the passage and simultaneously points forward to God’s history with Israel, for it is here that God’s Sabbath will first be commanded and observed ( Exod 16:23; 20:8-11). The relation of the three blessings anticipates the contents of the canon as a whole: God’s blessing as Creator prepares for God’s blessing as Consummator. God’s blessing as Consummator crowns God’s blessing as Creator.” (p. 118).

So according to Soulen the reference to the Sabbath in Genesis 2 does point forward to the future existence of Israel later in history. Moreover, Israel is the only nation that receives the commandment to observe the Sabbath from God. This is an argument for Soulen to suppose that God was already before the fall in Genesis 3 intending to call Abraham, and to bring forth the people of Israel from his loins. If this conclusion is right, then God had the election of the Jewish people already in mind before there had even been any question of the fall. In that case this passage of Scripture presents a different story than the one we are used to, and that definitely takes some getting used to! But the strength and the attraction of Soulen’s conclusions is that they present a basis – from Scripture itself – for a fundamentally different look at the place of Israel within the whole of theology. This exegesis by Soulen makes it possible to no longer connect the election of Israel exclusively with the fall and its resulting need of a Saviour. Jesus did of course come from the people of Israel, as the Scriptures clearly testify. But according to classical replacement theology the Jewish people’s mission has been fulfilled since Jesus’ coming. And this is just the point that Soulen contests so emphatically. His conclusion from Genesis 2:3 is so intriguing in that light. It provides an argument to situate God’s election of Israel even before the fall, within the basic pattern of creation itself. This presents a fundamentally different view of God’s motives in calling the people of Israel into being. It results in the place and role of Israel in the whole of God’s plan of salvation being no longer solely and only explained soteriologically. And Israel’s role is therefore not finished with the coming of Jesus.

The calling of Israel

Soulen sees Genesis 1 to 12 as an expanded creation story. After the first seven days follow the fall, the coming into existence of the generations that are the descendants of the first parent couple, the flood and again a line of generations that are the descendants of Noah, his three sons and their wives. Soulen then points to the fact that, in spite of the catastrophes of the fall – Cain’s murder of Abel, the earth that is filled with violence and the flood – God nevertheless continues to bless His creation. Each catastrophe has huge and dire consequences and yet both man and animal remain under God’s blessing and multiply anew, become numerous and fill the earth nevertheless. And this, as has already been mentioned before, is less self-evident than many assume. Who is not acquainted with the reaction of parents to the birth of a child: it is a miracle! Right up to the present day science, with all its knowledge, has not been able to penetrate into the secret of life. God does not withdraw His hand of blessing from His creation, in spite of sin. And He promises a Saviour in Genesis 3:15 who will finally bruise Satan’s head.

As has been said, Soulen sees the coming into existence of the generations, the nations, mentioned by name in Genesis 10, 11 and 12 as part of an expanded creation story. It is, moreover, the initial result of God’s commandment to multiply, to become numerous and to fill the earth. The coming into existence of many different nations is then unavoidable, as well as it is the God-willed consequence of his blessing of creation. Fill the earth and multiply ! In this respect Soulen points to the fact that there is both a horizontal and a vertical line to be found in the genealogies of Genesis10 and 11. There is a horizontal generational line in chapter 10, from Noah’s sons onwards, which results in the coming into existence of many different nations. And in chapter 11 we meet a vertical generational line that runs from Shem to Abraham. Soulen then sees Genesis chapter 12 as the completion of this whole episode of God’s creative work, which started in Genesis 1. This completion is the call of Abraham, who will call the people of Israel into being via the line of Isaac and Jacob. This call of Abraham is given a very fundamental role in Soulen’s concept. And judging by God’s choice of words when He calls Abraham, blessing once again plays a prominent role.

‘The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.‘ ( Gen. 12:1-3)

Soulen then makes the following observation with reference to this passage of Scripture. ” Contrary to a common Christian assumption, nothing about this passage or its immediate context suggests that God’s primary motive in calling Abraham is any special concern with the problem of sin, evil, or wickedness. To the contrary, God’s motive seems chiefly to be the sheer fecundity and capaciousness of the divine good pleasure. While God’s call of Abraham does indeed interrupt previous cycles of curse, this interruption appears to serve a more basic divine purpose. The same God who freely created the human family and blessed it with increase and growth ( Gen 1-11) now graciously promises to bless the world ( ” all the families of the earth”) in a new way that presupposes God’s previous activity but cannot be reduced to it.” (p. 120).

Here too we see that Soulen seeks to explain the significance of Israel’s election more broadly than simply and only doing so soteriologically. Israel’s role is apparently even still greater than the bringing forth of the promised Messiah. The coming of the Messiah constitutes a very essential part of Israel’s calling but according to Soulen it is definitely not the whole story.

The continuing central role of Israel

On the same page Soulen also writes the following, with reference to Gen. 12:1-3: ” Curiously, God’s promise to bless Abraham, like God’s blessing on creation, entails an inescapable moment of difference. On one side stand Abraham, Sarah, and their chosen descendants, on the other ” all the families of the earth” ( Gen 12:3; 28:14). The resulting distinction between Israel and the nations runs through the rest of the Scriptures like a golden thread.” ( p. 120-121).

On the basis of all this Soulen concludes that the distinction between Israel and the nations is meant and willed by God to be an everlasting fundamental distinction within humanity until the end, and that it can therefore never have been God’s intention that the Jewish people should in the end lose their identity by becoming completely assimilated into the Church. Both – Israel and the nations – are intended by God to be a blessing to each other, not only in the final shalom, but already now in the present time. The Jews who confess Jesus as the Messiah occupy a very special place in all of this. How horrible otherwise has been the relationship between Israel and the nations generally, and it is more often than not still marred by all kinds of antisemitism. I can do no better than to quote Soulen once again in this respect.

“In short ( and this is my proposal in the briefest possible compass), Christians should acknowledge that God’s history with Israel and the nations is the permanent and enduring medium of God’s work as the Consummator of human creation, and therefore it is also the permanent and enduring context of the gospel about Jesus. “” ( p. 110).

“ As attested by the Scriptures, God’s work as Consummator engages the human family in a historically decisive way in God’s election of Israel as a blessing to the nations. The resulting distinction and mutual dependence of Israel and the nations is the fundamental form of the economy of consummation through which God initiates, sustains, and ultimately fulfills the one human family’s destiny for life with God. So conceived, God’s economy of consummation is essentially constituted as an economy of mutual blessing between those who are and who remain different. Thus interpreted, God’s work as Consummator is inseparable from the open-ended history that unfolds between the God of Israel, Israel, and the nations. This history is not a more or less unfortunate consequence of sin, nor is it a merely prefigurative economy that prepares the way for something much higher and grander. Rather, God’s history with Israel and the nations is the enduring form of God’s gracious work as Consummator, apart from which the realization of the final end of human life is inconceivable. On this view, God’s primordial work as Creator is oriented from the outset toward God’s history with Israel and the nations, just as God’s history with Israel and the nations is oriented at every point toward God’s eschatological reign of shalom, where God’s work as Consummator will finally be fulfilled. ” ( p. 111-112)

An impossible contradiction

In this article I have deliberately focused on the central place of the notion of ‘mutual blessing’ in the concept which Soulen proposes. With this notion of ‘ mutual blessing’ Soulen has opened a discussion about something very crucial. It is clear that the notion of ‘mutual blessing’ is very closely linked with the central New testament notion: the double commandment to love in the New Testament. Brotherly love is preeminently the motive to be a blessing to others. The commandment to love is called the highest by Jesus and by the apostle Paul and it is paramount as well in the letters of the apostles John and James. It is the most important commandment given by Jesus and the apostle Paul ( Mt.22: 36-40; Rom.13:8-10; 1 Cor.13:1-3, 13; Gal.5:13-14; 1 Tim.1:5). As strong as the emphasis on this commandment is in the New Testament, just as poignantly scanty is the attention paid to the love commandment in by far the greater part of classical theology.

The teaching of contempt of the Jews anchored in classical theology cannot be reconciled with the command God that has given the nations in Genesis 12: to be a blessing to Israel. It is undeniable that the classic ‘Christian’ teaching of contempt stands in flagrant contradiction with the commandment to love one’s neighbor – a commandment that Jesus Himself nota bene reckons to the second part of the greatest commandment in the Law. However you look at it, in the light of the paramount priority given to brotherly love by both Jesus and the apostle Paul, the classical doctrine of replacement theology and the teaching of contempt that is inseparable attached to it, does have a very serious ethical and theological problem. It not only contradicts the greatest commandment, it also fails to comply with Gods command to bless Israel. What is even worse, classic replacement theology consistently cursed the Jewish people throughout the history of the Church from the second century onwards right into the 20th century. Seen in that light, the proposals Soulen makes for a theology which does not vilify but blesses are surely worth considering, to say the least.

Soulen’s concept is an important and theologically profound step forwards. It will most probably not be the last word on this subject. But his profound and creative way of doing theology is downright challenging and calls for further reflection, elaboration and development. The precious material Kendall Soulen has handed the church and the theological community through this remarkable book lends itself pre-eminently to just that. Who will take up the challenge?

With reference to ‘ The God of Israel and Christian Theology’ , R. Kendall Soulen, Fortress Press 1996

ISBN 13: 9780800628833
ISBN 10: 0800628837

Dr. R. Kendall Soulen is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and teaches Systematic Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. from Yale University, M.Div. from Candler School of Theology (Emory U), and Ph.D. from Yale University.
R. Kendall Soulen is also the author of ‘ The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity; Distinguishing Voices, volume 1, which was published in 2011.

He is as well the editor of Michael Wyschogrod’s book ‘ Abraham’s Promise; Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations’. Soulen wrote an introduction of 22 pages to the collection of essays and articles by this Jewish theologian whose theology has been an important source of inspiration for Soulen in writing his ‘ The God of Israel and Christian Theology’ .

The God of Israel and christian theology – part two

The post-supersessionist proposals of R. Kendall Soulen

New theological concept necessary

What is the benefit?

A Triple blessing

The principal of mutual blessing

Consummation and Redemption

Israel alluded to even in Genesis 2

The calling of Israel

The continuing central role of Israel

An impossible contradiction

Recommended further reading

The post-supersessionist proposals of R. Kendall Soulen

New theological concept necessary

What is the benefit?

A Triple blessing

The principal of mutual blessing

Consummation and Redemption

Israel alluded to even in Genesis 2

The calling of Israel

The continuing central role of Israel

An impossible contradiction

Recommended further reading

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