Date of Award
12-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Primary Advisor
Rodney Ashlock
Secondary Advisor
Janine Morgan
Committee Reader
Melinda Thompson
Abstract
In the New Testament, Jesus tells his followers to go into the world and preach the good news of the kingdom of God. One aspect of this kingdom is God’s love for all creation. However, the missional call in the Old Testament has been largely ignored. Some Old Testament scholars have argued in favor of a mission to the nations in the Hebrew Bible on the basis of Isaiah 40-55. Others have argued against it saying that the prophetic message here is for reform directed toward their own community. Still, the genre of the call narrative and its role in deciphering the Israelite mission to the nations has yet to be discussed in detail. This project will explore the missional nature of God by looking at the call narratives in the Hebrew Bible. It will argue that the call narratives found in the Hebrew Bible demonstrate that the people of Israel were called to be participants in the LORD’s mission of reaching the nations and restoring creation. After defining missio Dei according to modern scholars as well as the place of the call narrative genre in the Hebrew Bible, it will examine the specific calls of Abram, Deutero-Isaiah, and Jonah. Through this discussion, it will argue that God does in fact use his chosen people of Israel to enact his mission for restoring creation. Finally, it will give some concluding insights on what these call stories can tell Christians for missio Dei in the modern world.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Rideout, Brianna, "A Blessing to All Nations: Examining Call Narratives in the Hebrew Bible" (2017). Honors College. 30.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/honors/30