How should Christians read the Old Testament today? Answers to this question gravitate between two poles. On the one hand, some pay little attention to the gap between the Old Testament and today, reading the Old Testament like a devotional allegory that points the Christian directly to Jesus. On the other hand, there are folks who prioritize an Old Testament passage's original context to such an extent that it is by no means clear if and how a given Old Testament text might bear witness to Christ and address the church. This volume is a tribute to Willem A. VanGemeren, an ecclesial scholar who operated amidst the tension between understanding texts in their original context and their theological witness to Christ and the church. The contributors in this volume share a conviction that Christians must read the Old Testament with a theological concern for how it bears witness to Christ and nourishes the church, while not undermining the basic principles of exegesis. Two questions drive these essays as they address the topic of reading the Old Testament theologically. Christology. If the Old Testament bears witness to Christ, how do we move from an Old Testament text, theme, or book to Christ? Ecclesiology. If the Old Testament is meant to nourish the church, how do scriptures originally given to Israel address the church today? The volume unfolds by first considering exegetical habits that are essential for interpreting the Old Testament theologically. Then several essays wrestle with how topics from select Old Testament books can be read theologically. Finally, it concludes by addressing several communal matters that arise when reading the Old Testament theologically.

This collection of essays is drawn from a series of previous collections to which the author has contributed that were designed to honour senior scholars in the discipline of Old Testament study. Each of these essays reflects a distinct intention depending on the nature of the original collection in which they appeared and the scholar who was being honoured. Taken together, however, this collection amounts to an articulation of Brueggemann's distinctive approach to theological interpretation ofthe Old Testament. Already in his major volume on Old Testament theology, Brueggemann proposed a dynamism of tension, dispute, and contradiction as the text of ancient Israel sought to give voice to the mystery of God as a sustaining and disruptive agent in the life of the world. Over a long period of time, this collection reflects the author's growing clarity about the task of Old Testament theology. It further reflects on the nature of the biblical text and the way in which the God who inhabits the text runs beyond all of our attempts to define and explain. These essays reflect not so much on methodological issues, but take up the substantive questions that regularly occupied these ancient text-makers.

This prodigious work offers a broad selection of essays that present Knierim's distinct method for the discipline of Old Testament studies. One subject deals with the implications of his method for New Testament studies.

The discipline of Old Testament theology seeks to provide us with a picture of YHWH and his relationship to the world as described in the Old Testament. But within this discipline, there are many disagreements about the key issues and methodologies: Is the Old Testament unified in some way? Should the context of the theologian play a role in interpretation? Should Old Testament theology merely describe what ancient Israel believed, or should it offer guidance for the church today? What is the relationship between history and theology? All these considerations and more result in so many different kinds of Old Testament theologies (and so many publications), that it's difficult for students, pastors, and laity to productively study this already complex field. In Understanding Old Testament Theology, professors Brittany Kim and Charlie Trimm provide an overview of the contemporary approaches to Old Testament theology. In three main sections, they explore various approaches: Part I examines approaches that ground Old Testament theology in history. Part II surveys approaches that foreground Old Testament theme(s). Part III considers approaches that highlight different contexts for doing Old Testament theology. Each main chapter describes both common features of the approach and points of tension and then offers a test case illuminating how it has been applied to the book of Exodus. Through reading this book, you’ll hopefully come to see the Old Testament in a fresh light—as something that’s alive and active, continually drawing us into deeper encounters with the living God.

Looks at theological writings from the Reformation to the present, offers profiles of important scholars, and discusses neo-orthodoxy, the impact of archaeology, and the church

A top Old Testament theologian known for his accessible and provocative writing probes what is necessary to understand and appropriate the Hebrew Bible as a fundamental resource for Christian theology and life today. This volume offers a creative example of theological interpretation, modeling a way of doing Old Testament theology that takes seriously both the nature of the biblical text as ancient text and also the questions and difficulties that arise as believers read this text in a contemporary context. Walter Moberly offers an in-depth study of key Old Testament passages, highlighting enduring existential issues in the Hebrew Bible and discussing Jewish readings alongside Christian readings. The volume is representative of the content of Israel's Scripture rather than comprehensive, yet it discusses most of the major topics of Old Testament theology. Moberly demonstrates a Christian approach to reading and appropriating the Old Testament that holds together the priorities of both scholarship and faith.

Paul R. House provides a comprehensive theology of the Old Testament, carefully exploring each Old Testament book, thematically summarizing its content, and showing its theological significance within the whole of the Old Testament canon. Student friendly and useful to a wide audience, this impressive work has proved a profitable read for many.

This groundbreaking reference tool introduces key names, theories, and concepts for interpreting Scripture.

Contributors from both historical and biblical studies profile the methods, perspectives and seminal works of major biblical interpreters from the second century to the late twentieth century. Includes introductory essays for each period and bibliographies of each interpreter. Edited by Donald K. McKim.

In this extensively revised and updated edition of The Flowering of Old Testament Theology, Professor Ollenburger provides help for beginning theological students, who are frequently overwhelmed by the proliferation of volumes dealing with Old Testament theology, to say nothing of the variety of approaches used in these works. This textbook has been re-issued with a new title, Old Testament Theology: Flowering and Future. Selected essays include key theological statements of Otto Eissfeldt, Walther Eichrodt, Theodorus C. Vriezen, George E. Wright, Gerhard von Rad, Walther Zimmerli, John L. McKenzie, Ronald E. Clements, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Samuel L. Terrien, Claus Westermann, Brevard S. Childs, Rolf Knierim, Horst D. Preuss, Walter Brueggemann, Paul R. House, Bernhard W. Anderson, Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Hartmut Gese, Phyllis Trible, Jon D. Levenson, John H. Sailhamer, Gunther H. Wittenberg, James Barr, R.W.L. Moberly, and Mark G. Brett. An appendix contains Johann P. Gabler's 1787 seminal essay on biblical theology. An extensive bibliography and indexes of authorities and Scripture references conclude the volume. - Publisher.