Contents

Testimonia
Part 1: The Old Testament as a Dying Language
1. The Old Testament Is Dying
A (Non)Telling Vignette
The Diagnosis, in Brief, with a Caveat
The Old Testament Is (Like) a Language
Plan of the Book and Two Additional Caveats
2. Initial Testing
The U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey
The "Best"(?) Sermons
The Psalms in Mainline Hymnody
The Revised Common Lectionary (and the Psalms)
Conclusion
3. On Language Growth and Change, Contact and Death
Language Change and Language Contact
Pidgins and Creoles, Pidginization and Creolization
Language Death
Conclusion
Part 2: Signs of Morbidity
4. The New Atheism
Dawkins and the New Atheists on the Old Testament
Answering Dawkins
Pidgin versus Pidgin
5. Marcionites Old and New
The Old Marcion
Tertullian contra Marcion
Von Harnack pro Marcion, or the New Marcion(ism)
Contra von Harnack, or the Deadly Ramifications
6. New Plastic Gospels: The "Happiologists"
The Bible and Your Best Everything Right Now!
Assessing Osteen "and Company"
Conclusion to Part 2
Part 3: Path to Recovery
7. Recommended Treatment
On Saving Dying Languages
Resurrecting Hebrew
Learning First, New, and Very Old Languages
Bilingualism and Code-Switching
It Could Happen to You (Us)
8. Saving the Old Testament
Evidence of Further Decline
Deuteronomy as a Model of/for Second-Language Acquisition (SLA)
9. Ways Forward and Not
The Most Basic (and Obvious) Recommendation: Regular Use
The Need for Adequate Linguistic Training
Intentionality in Language Practice and Language Learning
On Creating Bilinguals
On "Bothness"
The Challenge of Future Change
Music, Memory, Poetry, . . . and Children (Again)
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Newton Series
Appendix 2: Butler Series
Appendix 3: Cox Series
Appendix 4: Size of Testaments
Appendix 5: Sermon Data from Walter Brueggemann
Appendix 6: Old Testament Texts Used by Walter Brueggemann
Indexes

"Strawn has written a book of urgent practical theology based on prodigious research, grounded in keen theological sensibility, and addressed to an acute problem in the church, a problem that has immense implications for the wider culture in which the church dwells and to which it addresses itself. The language, effective use, and serious understanding of the Old Testament are 'on the brink of being lost.' Strawn shows that the danger runs from Marcion through the Revised Common Lectionary to the likes of Joel Osteen. In response, Strawn wisely urges an intentional pedagogy that includes hymnody, memorization, and sustained didacticism in order to create a 'cultural-linguistic community.' The work to be done is not for the fainthearted, but it is nonetheless work that must be done. Strawn shows himself to be a wise hermeneutist, an acute student of culture and of language, and a passionate witness in and for the life of the church. We have no other book like this; it merits wide attention."
--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary (emeritus)

"Strawn imaginatively reframes contemporary debate about the authority and use of the Old Testament. He develops a suggestive analogy between linguistic and biblical proficiency and shows how much contemporary use of the Bible, both within and outside the churches, is akin to speaking a pidgin or creole. He also indicates what can be done about it. This is a wonderfully illuminating and thought-provoking book."
--Walter Moberly, Durham University

"Combining cunning wit and wisdom and informed by linguistics, Strawn offers a way forward to bring new life to the Hebrew Bible in a culture of reading that prefers the simplistic and the superficial. His prognosis marks nothing short of a revival for this 'dying' Testament. This should be required reading for all students of Scripture, pastors included."
--William Brown, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Current concerns about biblical literacy are too narrowly focused. Strawn instead underscores the need for renewed biblical fluency. Like an endangered language used by a dwindling number of native speakers, the Old Testament as it is known today is all too often a partial and misleading caricature of the real thing. The remedy? Relearning how to 'speak Scripture,' fully integrating the Old Testament--with its surprising variety and challenging complexity--into Christian preaching, worship, and hymnody. Strawn brilliantly diagnoses the sickness and prescribes a promising cure in this highly insightful and urgently needed intervention."
--Stephen B. Chapman, Duke University