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<p>This dissertation argues that domination in its many forms (political, economic,
cultural, theological) continues to significantly affect Old Testament hermeneutics
and homiletics. Those who write about preaching the Old Testament frequently depict
the Old Testament as a sort of Suffering Servant—despised, rejected, and acquainted
with grief. However, as a review of literature in chapter 2 shows, despite the helpful
strategies and insights offered by homileticians who write on Old Testament preaching,
the majority do not significantly address larger issues of domination and marginalization
in their treatment of these texts. By contrast, a close reading of the four Suffering
Servant Songs as preaching in chapter 3 highlights several key ways in which domination
affected, and continues to affect, homiletical approaches to the Old Testament. These
insights are developed further in chapter 4 by reflection on the work of Alexander
Deeg, a German, Christian homiletician learning from Jewish hermeneutics and working
to undo centuries of Christian domination. Examination of recent leading African American
homileticians in chapter 5 also shows a long-standing and developing homiletic that
frequently draws on the Old Testament to respond directly to contexts of injustice.
</p><p>Preaching the Old Testament with an awareness of ancient and contemporary domination
leads to a different homiletic approach. The Old Testament becomes an ally and example
for combatting marginalization and a model for proclaiming older texts in new contexts.
Further, Second Isaiah’s use of the Servant trope, Alexander Deeg’s work on preaching
in the presence of Jews, and the witnesses of African American preaching invite Christian
proclamation that focuses on undoing the oppression of othering, preaches with the
Spirit, announces the Liberating, Creator God, and engages messianism without being
anti-Jewish. These approaches demonstrate that the Old Testament sings good news,
especially in contexts of suffering and domination.</p>
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