The God Who Provides: Biblical Images of Divine Nourishment.

THE GOD WHO PROVIDES: BIBLICAL IMAGES OF DIVINE NOURISHMENT. By L. Juliana M. Claasens. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2004. Pp. xxiii + 14.5. Paper, $20.00.

This monograph is the expansion of the author's Ph.D. dissertation from Princeton Theological Seminary. She focuses on texts that reveal no explicit association of God with femaleness. Emphasizing the role of metaphor, here the metaphor of the God who feeds, she ably demonstrates that this female image of God enriches our ways of taking about God. Thus associations of the provision of food permit one to say something new about associations we have of God.

Following a model for biblical theology based on the work of M. Bakhtin, Claasens constructs a dialogue of both biblical and postbiblical voices around the metaphor of God's provision of food. In every case the metaphor is studied in its own biblical context. To enhance her presentation, she adds both Jewish and Christian voices. Not infrequently there merges the countervoice of different and even contradictory voice. Nonetheless the metaphor always remains open--it is never quite finished. Even though the metaphor may at first register shock, there is the eventual recognition that the metaphor says something vital about God. Indeed in the Eucharist the metaphor becomes a symbol.

Although God's provision of manna in Exodus 16, Numbers 11, etc. finds expression in so-called gender neutral texts, Numbers 11:11-12 and Deuteronomy 32:13-14 allow one to read the former texts by understanding the God who nourishes in maternal terms. In fact, in some of the rabbinic interpretations there is a dear link between manna/food imagery and nursing imagery. "This narrative (Num 11:11-15) portrays God as the One who functions as the Mother, the One who "nurses' Israel by providing food enough for each day" (p. 7). Thus Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 reflect God as an attentive mother who hears Israel's cries, carefully notes her children's complaints, and springs to action. However, one should also note that this metaphor of the God who feeds has its negative aspect, e.g., in the quail account in Numbers 11:1, 10, 33. In punishing the rebellious, God functions as a disciplinarian. Deuteronomy 8:15, moreover, links both metaphors: God is nurturing mother and disciplinarian. By having no surplus or scarcity of manna, God also appears as the competent household manager--a metaphor that challenges believers to create a social scene marked by equality and fairness.

In Genesis 1-2, Job 38, and Psalms 104: 145-47 the God who provides is personally involved in the life process of all creation. As a result, there is a vital connection between God's gift of life and God's gift of food. In turn, this metaphor of God's providing food for all creation offers an alternative moral vision that impacts our experience of God and our place in the world. In contradistinction to these texts, however, there are others where God does not feed, e.g. in Joel and Lamentations. Nevertheless this God who withholds food functions as an important countervoice that must be kept in tension with the God who provides food. While God does not hear Zion's plight in Lamentations 2, the narrator does--and perhaps the reader as well. To be sure, Second Isaiah re-reads Lamentations, offering hope to the exilic community.

In restoration texts, such as Jeremiah 31:11-14, Joel 2:18-19, and Amos 9:13-15, God is depicted as reversing the people's fortunes by once more providing food. Significantly, postbiblical texts continue the notion of God's eschatologlcal banquet in Isaiah 25:6-9. A particularly relevant restoration text is Isaiah 66:11-13 with its image of a newborn who nurses from the abundant milk that Mother Zion makes available. "This striking metaphor ... encourages us to think differently about the other texts that use the metaphor of the [sic] God's renewed provision of food" (p. 81). Thus the female associations of Isaiah 66 and the image of God hosting a banquet in Isaiah 25 challenge the reader to imagine God as a hostess who throws a great party.

In the final two chapters Claassens discusses the role of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 9 as well as related texts and God's provision of food in the Second Testament (especially Luke and John) respectively. She uses Philo to great advantage in the former where he states that God is said to feed, or actually nurse, God's children through wisdom. Moving beyond the biblical texts, the author considers the metaphor of the God who feeds and the Eucharist. Here she duly notes that the God who enabled the saving work in Jesus is indeed the God who feeds.

This is a very compelling study that enhances our appreciation of the gynomorphic images for God in the Bible. An added feature of the work is the adroit use of rabbinic texts and commentaries by authors such as Philo. Moreover, the author also offers practical pastoral dimensions. For example, this "portrayal of the God who feeds in female terms invites the church to recover the female associations of the metaphor ..." (p. 111). This monograph is a very auspicious start fur a young scholar.

John F. Craghan

Darboy, WI 54915