GaryAnderson, That I May Dwell Among Them: Incarnation and Atonement in the Tabernacle Narrative . Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2023, xvi + 254pp. $35.99

Christian theologians know that the Scriptures must ground our theological reflections and shape our theological imaginations.When theologians turn to biblical scholarship to aid in the development of a biblical imagination, however, they often encounter a stumbling block: most 'biblical' scholarship is done in a strictly historicizing, immanentizing mode.It may uncover fascinating insights about the text, but is generally done in a way that cuts against the grain of the analogical, mythopoetic, theocentric perspective of the biblical writerespecially the priestly writer -himself.In this context, Gary Anderson's work across his career, and especially his new book, That I May Dwell Among Them, is a precious gift to biblical scholars and theologians alike, showing how the text, in various ways, invites theological reflection, and how such reflection can even illuminate the author's or compiler's original intentions.Anderson shows how insights from early Jewish and Christian interpreters uncover aspects of the text that the modern reader is not inclined to notice, which, when coupled with the historical discoveries of biblical scholars, produce fascinating results.The book focuses on the priestly 'tabernacle narrative' in Exodus and Leviticus.The first part of the book considers the priestly narrative in its own context, and the second part considers the priestly narrative 'in its larger canonical setting'.Chapter 1 describes how this book centres around '[a] God's decision to dwell among the people Israel and [b] be served by them at his altar' (p. 1).Chapter 2 considers certain mysteries associated with the tabernacle narrative, such as the fact that the narrative seems to have two climaxes, two theophanies, suggesting that these accounts may refer to a single event, that Exodus 40:34 'flashes forward' (p.38) to Leviticus 9:23-24.Chapter 3 continues to explore the significance of the tabernacle as the site of God's intimate, indwelling presence, now emphasizing it as the place where God is seen.Of course, this seems to be in tension with the parallel concern about the immense danger of seeing God, or even seeing or touching the furniture associated with tabernacle.With Chapter 4, we shift from the 'where' of worship to the 'how'.For most modern readers, sacrifice is inseparable from sin, guilt and atonement.Anderson seeks to reshape the reader's theological imagination, weakening the connection