Between Hearing and Silence

John Kessler is Professor of Old Testament, Tyndale University College and Seminary. He resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Kessler has provided a comprehensive, even exhaustive study of the topic. The study is balanced and informed, respectful of scholarship and reverential in handling the text. --G. Michael O'Neal, Campbellsville University "Perspectives in Religious Studies" ...Kessler offers a balanced and critical analysis and does not shy away from raising often-perplexing questions around divine-human communication. He provides a fascinating and important study which tracks the soundscapes of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible to offer a biblical theology of silence that draws out important themes to help define the relationship between God and God's people. --Mark Scarlata "Modern Believing" Readers will find here many insights into important theological issues in the Hebrew Bible from texts that may not be given as much attention as the grand themes of Scripture usually get in treatments of Old Testament theology. There is also much to think about for those desiring to grow in discernment of what God is doing in the world today, and how understanding the ways that God communicates, and how the silence of God can be understood relationally, are essential for discernment...The volume is a valuable resource for the church today in understanding and modeling from the Scriptures how the life of faith is lived out between 'hearing and silence.' --Paavo Tucker "Stone-Campbell Journal" Between Hearing and Silence provides carefully organized and analyzed forms of Old Testament silence, including readings of complex silences, like god's silence in Job. It expands the reader's point of view beyond the page and into dimensions of space, time, relationships, and politics. For those who have not paid attention to silences, this study will be eye-opening and immerse the reader into the emotional realm of biblical characters. For those interested in the theoretical sophistication of the analysis of silence, the book provides an example of how the multiple dimensions of silence can challenge biblical hermeneutics. --Brett J. Esaki "Reading Religion" Written for a general readership which draws on the Bible for contemporary life, this exploration of silence is also valuable to biblical scholars because Kessler's close reading of texts involving silence offers perceptive exegetical observations and thought-provoking considerations. --Thomas Renz "Journal for the Study of the Old Testament" A thorough and thought-provoking exploration. --Mark McEntire "Catholic Biblical Quarterly"