2025.08.04 | Christian A. Eberhart and Wolfgang Kraus, eds. Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 506. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

Review by Levi Baker, William Tennent School of Theology.

Arising from a 2019 interdisciplinary conference at the Lanier Theological Library, this volume of twenty-eight essays explores various aspects of covenant across the social world and literature of the OT, NT, late antiquity, and beyond. The volume consists of an introduction and eight parts, and the editors promise to offer a “detailed, comprehensive, and thorough presentation of the tremendous range of covenantal concepts and their complexities in biblical and cognate literature throughout the ages” (p. 1). 

After the editors’ introduction, Siegfried Kreuzer’s history of research essay begins the investigation. Kreuzer summarizes critical biblical texts and outlines scholarly trends on the origin of “covenant” in Israel, from the late 19^thcentury to present day. He illustrates the impact the discovery of various ANE covenantal texts from Hittite, Neo-Assyrian, and Aramaic kingdoms had upon scholarly debates regarding the dating of OT covenantal texts, the emergence of the covenant idea, covenant’s place in OT theology. Significantly, Kreuzer disputes the common hypothesis that the notion of a national covenant between God and Israel was inspired by Assyrian “loyalty oaths” (p. 29), instead proposing a “development” out of 8^th– and 7^th-century prophecy (p. 34). 

Poppy Tushingham’s treatment of Assyrian adê covenants naturally follows, the sole essay in the ANE section. After this essay, nine contributors examine the Hebrew and Greek Bible, exploring distinct corpora, editions, and translational matters. Thomas Hieke observes that the few words “syntactically associated with” the Torah’s eighty-two occurrences of ברית (“covenant”) also relate to Abraham throughout the Torah (p. 68), who Hieke concludes “prefigures the overall concept of covenant in the Torah” (p. 84). Then Richard Bautch investigates the covenant with Levi (appearing only in Mal 2:4, 8), relating its polemics to the diversity of “covenantal perspectives that emerge during the Persian period” (p. 89). In the next two essays, Karin Finsterbusch investigates differences among the “versions” of Jeremiah’s new covenant promise (LXX, Hebrew Vorlage, and MT) and the “literary editions” of Ezekiel and what these differences reveal about conceptions of covenant (pp. 109; 121). Next, Eberhard Bons surveys the covenant theme across the Psalter. Significantly, Bons notes the lack of clear references to the specific covenants from the Pentateuch (p. 161). After this, Manfred Oeming examines covenant in the Achaemenid period, giving special attention to the evidence from Nehemiah 8–10. Next, Bonifatia Gesche explores Sirach 44–50, the hymn called “praise of the ancestors” (p. 192). Significantly, she draws upon Jan Assman’s distinction between covenants of “loyalty” and “truth” to explain why the Mosaic covenant is omitted in the hymn (an instance of the former), yet the Noahic, Abrahamic, and Aaronic covenants are highlighted (p. 204). Macatangay explores nine works to highlight the diverse ways the concept of covenant was received in the Apocrypha. Specifically, these texts “reconceive the obligations and the divine promises in order to actualize them” in their present circumstances (p. 228). Finally, Martin Rösel concludes the third section by defending the Old Greek translators’ choice διαθήκη for ברית as “appropriate” since the term “accentuates the one-sidedness of God’s deeds for his people” (p. 243). Thus, he contests Ernst Kutsch’s influential alternate conclusion (cf. pp. 14, 505).

The fourth part of this volume considers Second Temple Judaism with four essays. The first two, written by Brent Strawn and Heinz-Josef Fabry, examine uses of ברית in sectarian and non-sectarian texts, respectively. Notably, when Fabry compares these two corpora, only in the former does the idea of a “special election of a community” develop (p. 304). ^[1] Then, in nuanced examination of Philo and Josephus, Gert Steyn helpfully outlines how and why these interpreters avoid or modify critical aspects of covenant emphasized in the Bible and their limited use of διαθήκη. Finally, in his exploration of covenant across the OT Pseudepigrapha, Matthias Henze asserts the idea of covenant “was widespread but not ubiquitous” (p. 336), and he delineates some key differences across the corpus.

Christian Eberhart’s wide-ranging essay begins the fifth section devoted to the NT. He examines the use of διαθήκη within the Synoptics’ words of institution, the OT passages evoked (especially Exod 24:3–8; Jer 31 [MT]/ Jer 38 [LXX]), the writers’ aims, and their differing “interpretive trajector[ies]” from these OT texts. (p. 414). Three subsequent essays consider NT epistles, with Florian Wilk, Jens Herzer, and Wolfgang Kraus offering treatments of the Corinthian correspondences, Galatians and Romans, and Hebrews, respectively. Significantly, Wilk concludes that although covenantal language is “rare” in these letters, the biblical concept of covenant can play a determinative role for Paul’s theology (p. 451).^[2] Kraus offers a historically and exegetically informed treatment of the meaning of διαθήκη across Hebrews. Finally, Martin Karrer’s fascinating essay concludes the NT section. Drawing upon literary and manuscript evidence to explore the sole but climactic reference to covenant in Revelation, he asserts it functions as a “reminder” of Christianity’s Jewish “roots” and “the enduring relevance of God’s covenant” (p. 536). 

The sixth and seventh sections treat covenant in the early church and late antiquity, respectively. Martin Meiser surveys early church writings (until approximately the fourth century), highlighting how earlier authors emphasized the “coherence” of the old and new covenants while later authors emphasized the “difference” (p. 541). In contrast, Tobias Nicklas considers the fragmentary evidence of early Christian apocryphal writings. He concludes that the notion of covenant “does not play a major role in many Greek and Latin Christian apocryphal writings”; in the few exceptions, the texts offer a “spectrum of voices” (p. 581). The remaining essays in the late antiquity section consider the covenant idea in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho as well as the covenant theologies of Jerome and rabbinic literature. Interestingly, Sara Ronis observes that rabbinic covenant theology centered around the bodies of (circumcised) Jewish men and “the actions of their actual bodies” (p. 641). The volume’s final section includes two essays considering covenant’s place within the arts and modern systematic theology. 

The editor achieved their stated aim, and several notable strengths contribute to this volume’s success. First, the work represents the fruit of extensive planning, expertise, and diligent work—both by the editors and the contributors. Notably, the conference was first imagined in 2012, and post-conference further articles were added afterwards to fill gaps in treatment (p. iv). The volume covers most conceivable aspects of the covenant idea that one would hope to find, and the individual essays are the product of rigorous scholarship and include robust bibliographies. Second, most of these international scholars (with three continents represented) are leading experts in their field, having published widely on related topics. Third, the contributors draw upon multiple disciplines to consider numerous aspects related to covenant including etymology, lexical-semantic meaning, manuscript evidence, translational issues, the social world of ancient covenants, the aims and contours of the varied literature discussing covenants, and the history of interpretation.

However, most of the OT and Greek Bible contributors appear to assume that OT covenantal texts are later than their traditional date—a safe assumption within mainstream OT scholarship. Yet several contributors also apparently assume that Assyrian loyalty oaths and/or the 7^th-century BCE reflects the critical period of emergence for the notion of a covenant between God and Israel. While this might be the mainstream position, there are solid defenses of earlier dates for the covenant’s origin and key biblical covenantal texts.^[3] This assumed consensus likely shaped the decision to include only a single essay on Assyrian treaties in the ANE section even though Siegfried Kreuzer’s impressive inaugural essay considering the origins of the covenant idea highlights several ANE covenants that predate the Assyrian loyalty oaths by centuries and repeatedly draws attention to how OT scholarship has dated and redated OT covenantal texts by comparing them to these very ANE covenants. Thus, the emergence of covenant in Israel and the dates of the OT covenantal texts addressed in this volume are connected, foundational concerns. Given this reality, it is surprising that the ANE section and entire volume, respectively, contain no essays devoted to Hittite suzerain-vassal treaties or alternate theories regarding the influence of other ANE covenants for the origins of covenant in Israel.

Despite this omission, the editors and contributors still succeeded in producing an outstanding work of scholarship that fills a lacuna. Indeed biblical and theological scholars owe a debt of gratitude to Drs. Eberhart and Kraus, Mohr Siebeck, and the contributors. The volume’s primary audience is fellow scholars, and even seasoned researchers will find it instructive. This book should also be required reading for advanced graduate and postgraduate students in biblical and theological studies.

Levi Baker
William Tennent School of Theology
Lbaker[at]williamtennent.org

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^[1] “einer besonderen Erwählung der Gemeinde” (my translation; p. 304). 

^[2] See Wilk’s assessment: “So rar die Verwendung der biblischen Bundesterminologie in ihnen ist, so grundlegend ist die paulinische Theologie hier jeweils vom biblischen Bundeskonzept bestimmt” (p. 451).

^[3] Kenneth A. Kitchen and Paul J. N. Lawrence, Treaty, Law and Covenant in the Ancient Near East, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012), esp. 3:117–213, 259–61. See also the debate between Joshua Berman, Bernard Levison, and Jeffrey Stackert regarding Hittite and Assyrian treaties and Deuteronomy in JBL and JAJ.