- 400 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Enter the classroom of one of today?s premier biblical interpreters as he shares his infectious love for the Old Testament. This is where you begin the adventure of exploring the Bible?s First Testament. Some Old Testament introductions tell you what you could have seen for yourself. They might recount in detail what other scholars have said, and then tell you what you should think about it. But with refreshing directness, John Goldingay outfits you with basic knowledge, points out the main approaches, outlines the primary issues and then sets you loose to explore the terrain for yourself. Traverse the grand tapestry of the Torah. Discern the art and grain of biblical narrative. Listen to the cries, confessions and cadences of the Psalms. Probe the varied textures of wisdom literature. And ponder the prophets in the darkening nightmare of exile and the distant light of hope. More workbook than handbook, this introduction to the Old Testament is rooted in decades of tried and proven teaching. Goldingay displays a robust confidence in the truthfulness of Scripture combined with a refreshing trust in the reader's ability to grapple responsibly with the Old Testament. Even when the text hits you sideways, Goldingay encourages you not to squirm or run, but to grab hold and go deeper. Under his expert guidance the cordon between faith and criticism swings open into theological and spiritual insight.
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Part One
Introduction
101 | Approaching the Old Testament |
102 | The Old Testament as Scripture |
103 | Reading the Old Testament as the Word of God in Its Own Right |
104 | The Books in the Old Testament |
105 | How Did Old Testament Books Get Written? |
106 | Old Testament Story and Old Testament History |
107 | A Timeline for the Old Testament |
108 | Fact and Truth in the Old Testament |
109 | When the Old Testament Is Parable Not History |
110 | Reading the Old Testament Premodernly, Modernly and Postmodernly |
111 | The Geography of Canaan |
112 | The Geography of the Middle East |
113 | How Did the Old Testament Come to Be the Old Testament? |
114 | How Old and How Reliable Is the Old Testament Text? |
115 | Old Testament Translations and the Name of God in Translations |
116 | Israelites, Hebrews, Jews; Israel, Judah, Ephraim |
117 | New Testament Lenses for Looking at the Old Testament |
118 | The Apocrypha or Second Canon |
119 | Web Resources |
101
Approaching the Old Testament
- I read these books as the churchâs Scriptures, the canon or ruler for my thinking and life. As we often put it, they are âthe Word of God.â I therefore need to study them self-critically. Where they say something different from what Iâm inclined to think, I assume that Iâm the one whoâs wrong. As people often put it, I accept the authority of the Scriptures.
- In addition, they are works of literature, the products of Israelâs history, created through human processes, emerging from their Middle Eastern context. So I seek to understand them as human, historical, contextual documents, and not read into them meanings that would be alien to their writers and their first readers. That principle includes not reading NT ideas into them. Their being human and contextual doesnât mean that they are limited because they came into being before the modern age and before Jesus, that they are bound to contain mistakes. It does mean that we have to understand them in their context.
- In this connection, I use the methods of biblical criticism, not to criticize the text, but to understand it. Over time, âbiblical criticismâ came to be understood as criticizing the Bible, but it started off as a commitment to asking questions about the way church leaders and scholars interpreted the Bible, so as to let the Bible speak for itself. Itâs that use of biblical criticism that interests me.
- Because most church leaders and scholars in the West have been middle-aged white men, being critical also includes seeking to study the OT from perspectives other than those of middle-aged white men. Since Iâm one of those, do read books about the OT by other kinds of people.
102
The Old Testament as Scripture
103
Reading the Old Testament as the Word of God in Its Own Right
- The NT encourages us to get wisdom for life from the OT. These writings are able to teach us and train us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:14-17).
- However, itâs not true that the NT lies hidden in the OT, and that the OT is revealed in the NT. The OT tells us how God really related to people and really spoke to them. God did so in ways that were designed for them to understand; they were not obscure. The NT then tells us that the OT is the inspired and authoritative Word of God, which we should therefore take with absolute seriousness. It doesnât need decoding.
- The OT thus isnât a sneak preview of Jesus. Jesus isnât all God has to say; God has lots of other things to say, and he has said lots of them in the OT. If we narrow the OT down to what the NT says, we miss these things. It is the case that lenses provided by the NT sometimes help us see things that are there in the OT. But if we want to understand what God wants us to understand from the OT, we do best not to think too much about the NT because that tends to narrow our perspective.
- Itâs not true that the OT God is a God of wrath, and the NT God a God of love. In both Testaments, God is one who loves to love people, but who is prepared to be tough when necessary.
- Itâs not true that the OT offers a partial or incomplete or imperfect revelation. Or rather, there is one thing that the OT doesnât tell you but the NT does. That thing is (amusingly) the fact that some people are going to hell. Neither hell nor heaven comes in the OT. But the NT does also tell you that itâs possible to enjoy resurrection life: that because Jesus rose, we will rise.
- Itâs not true that the OT is a religion of law, and the NT a religion of grace. Because of this misunderstanding I donât follow the practice of referring to the opening books of the OT as the âLaw.â I rather keep the Hebrew word âTorahâ (which means âteachingâ). In both Testaments, God relates to people on the basis of grace but then expects them to live a life of obedience.
- Itâs not true that the OT is a book of stories about people who are meant to be examples to us. You only have to read the stories to see this point. Both Testaments are books of stories about what God did through people, often despite who ...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- Preface
- Web Resources
- Part One: Introduction
- Part Two: The Torah
- Part Three: The Prophets
- Part Four: The Writings
- Part Five: Looking Back over the Whole
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- Scripture Index
- Praise for An Introduction to the Old Testament
- About the Author
- More Titles from InterVarsity Press
- Copyright