Reviews Divorce and Remarriage by David Instone-Brewer

"The fruit of tremendous research and superb scholarship. Some readers will not hold identical conclusions, but all will be challenged by the author's pastoral sensitivity and his command of the pertinent literature."   Randall Jay Religion and Theology June 2003

Full review:
	David Instone-Brewer, research fellow at Tyndale House (Cambridge, England) has provided readers with a careful and scholarly reevaluation of the biblical norms for divorce and remarriage. Unconvinced that scriptural grounds for divorce and remarriage have been accurately interpreted throughout Christian history, Instone-Brewer methodically investigates the social and literary context(s) in which the intended audience would have received and understood these teachings. The author maintains that because the early Church lost its Jewish and Greco-Roman world view before the second century, the context neces-sary to grasp the authentic meaning of those texts was hindered. With great clarity and with a profound grasp of ancient literature, Instone-Brewer takes his readers back to walk a mile in the sandals of scrip-ture's intended audience. The first eight chapters delve deeply into the Biblical data pertain-ing to divorce and remarriage as well as the historical and literary context of the scriptural witness. Instone-Brewer analyzes the pertinent historical, theological, social and literary world of the ancient Near East and Judaism. The first two chapters discuss the relationship between the literature of the ancient Near East and the Pentateuch in order to emphasize their utilization of con tract /covenant language and to dis-tinguish the rights afforded to women through the divorce certificate provided in the Pentateuch. In the third chapter the author details the later prophets who describe the marriage between God and Israel and Judah. Instone-Brewer contends that God is offended by the one who breaks the nuptial vows, rather than by the divorce itself since God has personally experienced the pains of rejection and divorce. The fourth and fifth chapters detail the changes of the intertestamental period and the evolution of divorce and remarriage in rabbinic teaching, namely, systematizing grounds for divorce and conditions for remarriage. The author pays particular attention to the cultural significance of Shammai and Hillel and their disputes that Jesus entered into. In the sixth and seventh chapters the teachings of Jesus and Paul are examined. Instone-Brewer uses the Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic literature in order to understand Jesus and Paul's acceptance of certain kinds of divorce and remarriage through a careful study of porneia, Jesus' use of 'abbrevia-tion' and the cultural context in which they taught. The eighth chapter explains the vows undertaken as spouses enter into the marital con-tract. The ninth chapter guides the reader through the diverse inter-pretations held by leading theologians throughout Christian history, in the last two chapters contemporary interpretations as well as a reiteration of the author's view are proffered. Instone-Brewer has provided a valuable resource for students, teachers and those involved in Christian ministry. His work is the fruit of tremendous research and superb scholarship. Some readers will not hold identical conclusions, but all will be challenged by the author's pastoral sensitivity and his command of the pertinent literature. Randall Jay, Woodard Silver Spring, Maryland
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