The Pentateuch as Formative Narrative
The Pentateuch is not primarily a legal code or a theological treatise but a story — the story of how God created the world, called a people, and began the long process of redeeming what sin had broken. This narrative character is not incidental but essential: the Pentateuch forms the identity of the covenant community by giving it a story to inhabit. Israel knows who it is because it knows whose story it is living in — the story of the God who brought them out of Egypt, who made covenant with their ancestors, who is leading them to the promised land.
Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon's Resident Aliens (1989) argues that the church's primary task is not to apply timeless principles to contemporary situations but to inhabit the story of God's redemptive action in history. This narrative theology approach, while developed in a New Testament context, is deeply rooted in the Pentateuch's own understanding of how God forms his people: through the telling and retelling of the foundational story (Deuteronomy 6:20–25; 26:5–9).
The Shema and the Formation of Identity
Deuteronomy 6:4–9 — the Shema — is the theological center of the Pentateuch's narrative theology. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." This command is not merely a theological proposition but a formative practice: it is to be recited daily, written on doorposts and gates, bound on hands and foreheads, and taught to children. The Shema forms the identity of the covenant community by embedding the story of God's uniqueness and Israel's total devotion in the rhythms of daily life.
Jesus's identification of the Shema as the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29–30) establishes its continuing normative significance for the new covenant community. The church, like Israel, is formed by the story of the one God who has acted decisively in history — now in the person of Jesus Christ — and who calls his people to total devotion in response.
Preaching the Pentateuch as Formative Story
The narrative theology of the Pentateuch has significant implications for preaching. Preachers who understand the Pentateuch as a formative story — not merely a collection of moral lessons or theological propositions — will preach it in a way that invites the congregation to inhabit the story rather than merely learn from it. The goal is not information transfer but identity formation: helping the congregation understand that they are living in the same story as Abraham, Moses, and the wilderness generation.
Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book (2006) argues that the goal of biblical preaching is not to explain the text but to enable the congregation to enter it — to live inside the story of Scripture rather than merely observing it from the outside. This approach is particularly appropriate for the Pentateuch, whose narrative structure is designed to form the identity of the covenant community through the telling and retelling of the foundational story.
Implications for Ministry and Credentialing
Preaching the Pentateuch as formative narrative — rather than as a collection of moral lessons — transforms how congregations engage the five books of Moses. Pastors who understand the narrative theology of the Pentateuch will preach it in a way that forms the identity of the covenant community rather than merely informing their minds. Abide University trains ministers in the narrative theology and homiletical skills needed for this kind of formative preaching.
For ministry professionals seeking to formalize their expertise, the Abide University Retroactive Assessment Program offers a pathway to academic credentialing that recognizes prior learning and pastoral experience.
References
- Hauerwas, Stanley. Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony. Abingdon Press, 1989.
- Peterson, Eugene H.. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading. Eerdmans, 2006.
- Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Baker Academic, 2002.
- Brueggemann, Walter. The Creative Word: Canon as a Model for Biblical Education. Fortress Press, 1982.
- Goldsworthy, Graeme. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Eerdmans, 2000.