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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magisterial work, January 13, 2010
This review is from: Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
Now that the third and final volume of John Goldingay's tremendous work is now available, one can properly assess just what he has left us with. The short answer is this: it is simply a magisterial effort. It is a first class work which will be irreplaceable for many years to come.
It is simply amazing for a variety of reasons, not least of which is its massive length. The three volumes comprise over 2,500 pages (2743 pages to be exact). Bear in mind that in the decade he took to pen this, he also produced a number of other important works, including his equally impressive 3-volume commentary on the Psalms, which totals over 2200 pages! Talk about prolific.
This OT theology is simply superb. Goldingay is just utterly steeped in the Old Testament, and has done a superlative job of elucidating its themes, its theology, its vision, its grandeur, and its contents. Almost every aspect of OT studies is entered into here, and he is always up to the task.
The first volume focuses on "Israel's Gospel". It examines the OT narratives from creation to the first coming of Christ. The second volume deals with "Israel's Faith". This concentrates on the Prophets, the Wisdom writings, and the Psalms. Volume three centres on "Israel's Life". It examines the ethical, spiritual and worshipping life of Israel.
Goldingay is of course a Christian but he argues that we must consider the OT on its own terms. He rightly notes that "the Old Testament's insights must be seen in light of those of the New, but only as long as we immediately add that it is just as essential to see the New Testament's insights in light of those of the Old."
Or as he says further on, "It is inappropriate to describe the New Testament as the `authoritative interpretation' of the Old without adding that the Old Testament is the authoritative interpretation of the New."
Indeed, he reminds us of the vital importance of the OT: "only when people have learned to take the Old Testament really seriously can they be entrusted with the story of Jesus." We fail to properly understand the NT gospel unless we have a firm grasp of the OT.
Goldingay is more than qualified to tackle this job. He has been for many years Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, and is one of the world's leading evangelical OT scholars. He has penned numerous important works on OT topics, and this trilogy is in many ways his magnum opus, capping off a distinguished career.
Of course other helpful OT theologies written from an evangelical/conservative viewpoint have appeared over recent times. One thinks of John Sailhamer's Introduction to Old Testament Theology (1996); Paul House's Old Testament Theology (1998); and Bruce Waltke's An Old Testament Theology (2007), for example.
But this is by far the most comprehensive, the most detailed and the most incisive work going. Anyone wanting to master the OT needs this superb set. Mind you, I find myself disagreeing with the author on a regular basis. For example, he is quite open to freewill theism, and thus his take on such areas as divine omniscience and impassibility will not please everyone.
But he certainly gets one thinking, and he is always careful to tentatively - and respectfully - push what might be considered controversial topics. His many decades of careful scholarship and theological awareness, combined with a more than capable writing style, make this work a pleasure to read and a joy to contemplate.
If you get only one Old Testament theology, get this three volume work.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 stars, July 27, 2010
This review is from: Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
I would like to thank InterVarsity Press Academic for graciously providing these review copies.
John Goldingay is the David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. His other other works include Theological Diversity and the Authority of the Old Testament, God's Prophet, God's Servant: A Study in Jeremiah 40-55, a three volume commentary on the Psalms (V. 1, V. 2, V. 3) in the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, a commentary on the Minor Prophets in the New International Bible Commentary series, a two volume lay level commentary on Genesis (V. 2), a commentary on Daniel in the WBC series, and the other volume in the Old Testament Theology series Vol. 3: Israel's Life.
This is the first of three volumes that will certainly be remembered as Goldingay's magnum opus. This first installment, Israel's Gospel traces the story of Israel from Genesis to the Return from Exile to examine the history and its narrative interpretation by the scribes of Israel. We see not only in the title of this work, but also in Goldingay's explicit discussion and the final chapter concerning the coming of Jesus that he is interested in writing a Christian Old Testament theology. This does not mean a theology where the text of the Old Testament is read to affirm one's theological or exegetical convictions about the New Testament, but one that does not pretend to be a objective reader and interpreter. He also seeks to construct the proper understanding of the Old Testament as the lens through which Jesus and the rest of the New Testament is read. Overall, Goldingay's purpose is to write his understanding of Old Testament theology, not to argue against or provide substantial interaction with others, though he certainly seems aware and understanding of them. In addition, both of the first two volumes are written in what you might call a Hebrew way. It is clear that Goldingay has been deeply influenced in his writing by his reading and immersion of the `First Testament' and his style of description is reminiscent of the narrators themselves.
In forming his description of Israel's Gospel Goldingay uses the built in plot markers of the Old Testament narrative to form his own chapters: "Creation", "From Eden to Babel", "Israel's Ancestors", "The Exodus", "Sinai", "The Land", "From Joshua to Solomon", "From Solomon to Exile" and "Exile and Restoration." In his introductory chapter Goldingay does an excellent job of summarizing this storyline "God began. Humanity turned its back on God's instructions, and God started over. God promised, and a family grew. Israel cried out, and God delivered. God sealed, and Israel imperiled. God gave, and Israel took. Israel equivocated, and God accommodated. Israel turned away, and God wrestled. God preserved, and Israel turned back" (36).
There are two things in particular I found superior about his volume. First, this volume can serve as both a introduction to the history and story of Israel for less educated readers. Most books that deal with the history of Israel are done from either an apologetic stand point or a critical stand point and include much technical, which is important to the scholar, but less relevant to the pastor of educated laymen. Therefore I think it right to call this book a Theological History of Israel, and one that is first rate. Second, Goldingay's commitment to exegesis is clear throughout. He does not allow systematic theological statements to push individual texts beyond what they themselves say and he focuses on the actual contextual meaning of the text for Israel in that time for its meaning without looking for some later typology or cross reference that it may affirm. This is certainly not to say that these are not important areas themselves, but they should grow out of a previous theological reading of the text that focuses on its exegetical meaning. And that is precisely what Goldingay has given us.
As a note of critique, I am not sure if Goldingay would identify himself as an evangelical (which is not itself a critique at all), there was a certain lack of engagement with works by mainstream evangelical authors such as Tremper Longman III or Bruce Waltke. After reading I checked and neither appear in bibliography. Much of these two titans of the OT work has been in the poetic and prophetic books, but I know a few times reading where I thought that Waltke could have been considered on Genesis or Longman's work on divine warfare.
In the second volume, Israel' Faith, Goldingay focuses on the wisdom books and Psalms. While the first volume tells the story of God and Israel, Goldingay explains the identity of God and Israel in this volume. The fundamental goal of identifying God and Israel is seen in the second and third chapters, but this task overflows into others, which seem to be widely based on the conclusions made in "God" and "Israel". These include a chapter on the Exile "The Nightmare", the Return and beyond "The Vision", "Humanity", "The World", and "The Nations."
Again, I would bring up two notes of praise and one of critique. In praise, as in the first volume, Goldingay focuses primarily on the final form of the text and its historical situation. Again, this is excellent work. But in this volume, dealing with the material of wisdom and the Psalms Goldingay rightly sees more area to make broader statements of truth and identity. However, curiously with all the wonderful material available in the poetic canon I found "The World" chapter a bit short. This may be personal preference or the need to not make an already big book even bigger, but the relationship between God and his creation seem to be a large theme of the poetics that could have been discussed in greater detail.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Overview of the Theology of the Old Testament Story, May 31, 2011
This review is from: Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel (Vol. 1) (Hardcover)
This is a lengthy book that is a part of a monumental three volume set. Each text has a different purpose, not just flowing "chronologically" or "canonically" through the Old Testament (somewhat ironically, the title of the book is "Old Testament Theology," though throughout he calls it the "First Testament"). Volume 1 focuses on the main story line of the Old Testament all the way through the life of Jesus and the early Church. Rather than "seeing Christ in the Old Testament," Goldingay shows the life of Christ and the early Church as flowing from the Old Testament story.
I can see two noticeable effects of this approach. First, in telling the story, Goldingay treats texts together that some readers may not customarily think of together. For example, when discussing creation, he brings to bear all of the Old Testament material concerning creation, such as the early chapters of Genesis along with texts about creation in places like Job and Psalms. This may seem pretty standard to some; however, other circles tend to treat Genesis 1 and 2 in isolation from the rest of the Biblical material about creation. Of course, this introduces the reader to some tensions in the creation accounts. Yet Goldingay is comfortable with this (as am I).
Another effect is that the main story line is kept in tact without getting caught up in too many details. Those of us who work within a church context are all too familiar with either making commitments ourselves or working with those who make commitments to read through the Bible in a certain time period, whether it be 90 days, one year, or three years. People often abandon these commitments by the time they get to Leviticus if they even make it that far. I think part of the problem is that the overarching story line "stalls" a bit from roughly midway through Exodus to midway through Numbers. In my own opinion, this material, though important, is less captivating than the overarching narrative.
Goldingay's aim is to leave that material for another volume and to attempt to follow the overarching story as closely as possible in this first volume. For many, I think this will be a breath of fresh air.
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