Creation and the Persistence of Evil
Princeton University Press
Published in 1994
ISBN 9780691029504
Review by David Burnett
“Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Divine Drama of Omnipotence” has become one of my favorite books in OT Theology. This title, for some conservative evangelicals, will open your mind to the reality of some difficult subjects in the OT. Granted many conclusions or interpretive decisions that are made in the book may be called into question, he deals with many themes in the Hebrew scriptures that are often read over by mainline evangelicals which are critical to OT theology. Not only this, but the book will help all those who are unfamiliar with the warfare motifs in apocalyptic literature and allow them to begin making connections, not only in the OT genre, but in NT apocalyptic as well. Theologically the Christian may run into some difficulties, but keep the big picture in mind. Anyone entering into the study of the OT and is curious with many mythical sounding texts will be challenged with Levenson’s reading of the texts and their context. This is an important book and there is much to be gleaned from it in terms of the mythopoeic background for many of the polemics in the Hebrew Bible. Levensons grasp of the language, culture, and background of the Hebrew Bible is displayed in this creative and provacative book that will challenge the Christian theologian.
