The precise definition of covenant (Heb. b’rith, Gk. diatheke) is a matter of scholarly debate, but many contemporary scholars would agree that it denotes a sacred relationship of obligation established by means of an oath. The oath could be expressed in words, rituals, or both. The resulting obligations were sometimes expressed as laws in a text documenting the covenant relationship. Many are also convinced that covenant was, in essence and origin, a legal means to extend kinship bonds to a party not related by blood. Therefore, familial language (“father,” “son,” “brother”) and affective terms (Heb. ahaba, “love”; hesed, “faithfulness”) were often used to describe or prescribe the relationship of the parties. Other scholars would define covenant in a more limited fashion, as a “solemn promise made binding by an oath,” or even merely as a synonym for “duty” (German Pflicht) or “obligation” (German Verplichtung). Covenant is certainly a central theme in biblical literature, biblical theology, and biblical religions. A series of covenants between God and central figures of sacred history (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David) structures the so-called “Primary History” of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis through Kings). Covenant themes and motifs are significant, even dominant, in the Psalms and (Latter) Prophets. Only in the wisdom literature is the covenant theme muted, though it is often present subtly and implicitly. The New Testament presents Jesus as the anticipated “anointed one” come to establish the new covenant promised by the prophets (cf. Jer. 31:31; Luke 22:20). Rabbinic thought everywhere presupposed (and presupposes) a covenant between Israel and God, as discussed in Sanders 1977 (cited under Covenant in Paul Generally). Likewise, various early Church Fathers recognized the divine economy (i.e., salvation history) as divided into stages marked by covenants with key biblical figures. Explicit discussion of the covenant or covenantal concepts faded in the medieval period, but again became a major theological topos in the Reformation, especially within the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition, which continues to produce a disproportionate amount of scholarship on biblical covenants. The Dispensationalist movement in American Protestantism likewise takes great interest in covenant as an organizing principle for the stages of salvation history. Within Catholic theology since the mid-20th century, there has been a revival of interest in the covenant and its significance for biblical studies, sacramentology, and liturgy. There was a flurry of interest in covenant in critical scholarship in the mid-20th century, when parallels between ancient Near Easter covenant texts and those in the Old Testament were first recognized. Enthusiasm has since waned, but research continues steadily, albeit more slowly.
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