Rolf Jacobson, professor of Old Testament and Alvin N. Rogness Chair of Scripture, Theology, and Ministry at Luther Seminary, is author of “The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the Old Testament: Israel’s In-Your-Face, Holy God.” Published in 2018 by Fortress Press, the book explores the narrative arc of the Old Testament, as well as the Psalms.
Jacobson opens the book by comparing God in the Old Testament to C.S. Lewis’ Aslan: “God is wild. Not safe. Not tame.” Throughout the book, he shows how the Old Testament reveals a God is at once both holy (“God’s very voice hurts our ears”) and gracious and merciful. This is a God who gets in people’s faces with both his holiness and his gracious love.
Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary’s William Marcellus McPheeters professor emeritus of Old Testament, describes the book as “a remarkable, accessible, winsome guide to the complexity of the Old Testament for any reader who does not know where to begin. This book will be a rich resource for study groups that want to grow and are at ease with irreverence.”