Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method [Paperback]

Sidney Greidanus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

Christ-centered preaching from the Old Testament has been largely overlooked by contemporary scholars, but Greidanuss landmark study remedies this situation. Emphasizing the necessity of preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Greidanus traces the history of christological preaching; interacts with contemporary hermeneutical discussions; and offers concrete steps to help you move from Old Testament text to Christian sermon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802844499
• ISBN-13: 978-0802844491
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Evangelism > Preaching
  • #43 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Evangelism > Sermons

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Review of Preaching Christ from the OT, February 15, 2001

By 

Todd Murphy (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Paperback)

In this work, Greidanus takes up his pen to develop a theme he only touched upon in his previous work, "The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text." This is the theme of preaching Christ. The bold departure that this book makes is that Christ should also be the very center of every sermon from the OT.

At this point one may seem skeptical to ask if he is suggesting that preachers should read Christ into OT texts that were not historically about Christ. He addresses this both historically and methodologically with a firm no.

The thought of the book progresses smoothly and naturally. The first four chapters of the book are an historical survey of preaching Christ throughout Church history. This survey focuses in on the Patristic and Reformation periods.

In the last four chapters, Greidanus turns to a viable methodology for preaching Christ from the OT. For Greidanus, (who is firmly anchored in Dutch Reformed covenant theology), Christ is the center of all of the history of remption to which all the OT institutions and events ultimately pointed.

The work is both timely and provocative. It is sure to challenge any average preacher, especially those who deliver a steady diet of New Testament based sermons.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Valuable for Seminarians and Pastors, July 9, 2005

By 

Joshua V. Schneider (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Paperback)

Greidanus tackles a crucial topic in this book and handles it quite well. He notes that the Biblical (and particularly OT) illiteracy prevalent in the Christian church at large is in a large part due to the paucity of preaching from the Old Testament. Yet pastors often struggle to know how to preach from OT texts, and when they do they often fall into numerous pitfalls.

Greidanus does an excellent job of critiquing numerous pitfalls that the preacher might encounter in preaching the OT, especially those that would insufficiently address the text itself (i.e. using the text as a 'pretext' to skip to some other idea) or the more deadly error of ignoring the centrality of Christ in the sermon. Along with St. Paul, Greidanus exhorts the reader to be constant in preaching Christ crucified, and that generically 'God-centered' preaching is not enough. The task of the preacher is to specifically show how the fulness of God's self-revelation and salvation is found in Christ Jesus.

So in order to prepare the preacher for this great task, Greidanus provides an excellent review of major preachers/theologians in the history of the church, to see how they preached Christ from the Old Testament. As the author comes from a Calvinist background, I think he misrepresented Luther slightly, but overall he gave a fair and balanced critique of the preachers. He did critique Calvin's 'theocentric' method of preaching as insufficient. AFter his examination of historical preachers, Greidanus sets out at length to show positive methods for preaching Christ from the OT while remaining faithful to the text. He provides several sound approaches and shows step-wise how to apply each method. He offers samples on both easy and harder texts for preaching Christ in the OT.

Overall I found the book very helpful, and would expect that preachers from a variety of traditions could still read his book with great benefit. I think one aspect that I'd critique is that he was somewhat over-restrictive in the ways he saw fit to preach Christ from the OT. He was right to criticize the excesses of the allegorical method so common in the early church, but he seems to have an unnecessary concern about potential misuse of the 'details' of the OT texts. He harps on this point over and over, that the preacher should never attempt to draw out parallels in details of a text to the New Testament when preaching the typological method. But regardless, any reader will be able to see and examine for themselves the gamut of possibilities in OT preaching that Greidanus presents, and learn how best to apply them.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most helpful books on preaching that I've read, May 17, 2000

By 

ROBERT C STALLMAN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Paperback)

Preachers face a wide range of homiletical choices, and many disagree about what counts for "good preaching." In light of first-century options, the Apostle Paul stood with this plain conviction: "We preach Christ crucified" (1 Cor 1:23). Likewise, Greidanus' burden is crystal-clear: "In preaching any part of Scripture, one must understand its message in the light of that center, Jesus Christ" (p. 227).

Greidanus, professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, blends hermeneutics and homiletics to help pastors work out their commitment to Christ-centered preaching. First, he demonstrates the necessity of preaching Christ and preaching from the Old Testament (chs. 1-2). He then surveys the instructive but rather checkered history of christological interpretation as expressed in preaching from apostolic to modern times (chs. 3-4). The theoretical foundation of the book which follows is a well-illustrated treatment of seven biblical ways in which the testaments are united in Christ (chs. 5-6). These are the ways of redemptive-historical progression, promise-fulfillment, typology, analogy, longitudinal themes, New Testament references, and contrast. He concludes by laying out a 10-step process for the construction of Christ-centered sermons and invites the student into his study (so to speak) to work through the process with six separate messages (chs. 7-8).

Given the challenges of interpreting the Old Testament christologically and the temptations to engage in man-centered preaching, pastors desperately need encouragement and help to address the Church and world today with genuine Christ-centered, biblical preaching. Readers will immediately notice the Reformed theological framework of the book and may take issue with some individual interpretations, but none should miss or minimize the enormous help it offers. Greidanus is hermeneutically convincing and homiletically sound. This book will inspire you with fresh possibilities for presenting the life-changing message of Jesus!