The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology [Paperback]

C. Marvin Pate (Author), J. Scott Duvall (Author), J. Daniel Hays (Author), E. Randolph Richards (Author), W. Dennis Tucker Jr. (Author), Preben Vang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2004

Among the several prominent themes in the Bible, the story of Israel is one that has attracted recent attention and study. The biblical story of Israel--in its election, sin, exile and restoration--is a finely articulated drama of the glory and the plight of the universal story of humanity and creation. And the story of Jesus, born from the womb of Israel as its Messiah and true seed of Abraham, provides the redemptive solution to Israel’s and the world's plight. This book by C. Marvin Pate, J. Scott Duvall, J. Daniel Hays, E. Randolph Richards, W. Dennis Tucker Jr. and Preben Vang explores the unitive theme of the story of Israel from Genesis to Revelation. Probing each section of Scripture--from Pentateuch, Psalms and Prophets to Gospels, Epistles and Apocalypse--the authors bring the contours of this story to light. From close-up examinations of key texts to panoramic shots of the biblical terrain, The Story of Israel unfolds an intriguing and compelling perspective on biblical theology. And with its features of recommended readings and study questions, it is a textbook suitable for classroom and individual study.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Story of Israel is an important volume on a crucial subject. While respecting the proper diversity of the different parts of the canon, the authors rightly recognize its essential coherence. The story of Israel is the story of a pattern of sin-exile-restoration. Written in a clear and engaging style, this book is a must-read for everyone interested in the message of the Bible. I particularly recommend it as a textbook for college or seminary classes." (Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College )

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (October 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083082748X
• ISBN-13: 978-0830827480
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story of Israel as metanarrative, June 25, 2009

By 

Scott A. Gray "The Reverend" (Coal Township, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (Paperback)

The authors of The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology endeavor in their work to address one single question in their introduction: "Is there a big picture or an overarching theme that unfolds the message of the Bible?" If there is one single idea that pervades the entire Bible, then the Bible is unified as a whole and brings together all the diverse motifs found throughout its pages. The authors want to produce "an overarching biblical theology that stresses large connecting motifs, a theology that attempts to step back from the trees for a moment and look at the forest as a whole (Pate 9). The authors assert that "the story of Israel--the story of God's creation, humanity's sin and resulting exile, and God's mission to restore his people--represents a prominent theological theme of Scripture" (Pate 278). Thus, the story of Israel and its paradigmatic framework of sin-exile-restoration is the metanarrative of the Bible and gives Scripture coherence, while acknowledging the diversity of the many parts of the canon. Each author of the Bible does not say the exact thing about the overarching theme, but rather each contributes their diverse experiences and theological understanding to the big picture.

These authors base their work on O.H. Steck who argued that the literature of Second Temple Judaism was dominated by the Deuteronomistic perspective of the history of Israel, which had five aspects (Pate 20-21). A point that is stressed is that not all five aspects need to be present for a text to be considered Deuteronomistic, therefore allowing the NT to fit into this theological perspective. These five aspects are then reduced to an overarching pattern of sin, exile, and restoration and this pattern appears in the major divisions of the Bible.

One reservation that I have with the thesis of the sin-exile-restoration paradigm is that it takes away from the story of creation and moves the story towards Israel, i.e. away from act one and towards act two. This makes creation itself subservient to the paradigm, to the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 and to the ensuing story of Israel. Did creation take place to realize the purpose of Israel? The authors have asserted that the story of Israel is transformed into the story of the gospel for the whole world. This notion is truncated--because of Jesus it is the story of Adam, not Israel, that's transformed into the story of the gospel for the whole world. The story of creation is a more comprehensive paradigm for biblical theology. Why would we want to start from sin, from the point of everything going wrong, to offer a coherent paradigm for the whole?

Yet, the authors have successfully demonstrated that their thesis of the story of Israel applies to enough of the Biblical material to be justified as a theme by which the Bible can be viewed comprehensively. Even as biblical studies diverge into narrow specializations, and some raise the question whether there is any continuity between the OT and NT, Christians can find connection between the Old and New Covenants by this overarching theme. The authors have, therefore, made a significant contribution by demonstrating that there is an organic unity to the Bible. Instead of focusing on the trees of the forest and not knowing how they fit in, we can view the entire forest because of The Story of Israel.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but could be better, April 20, 2006

By 

Jason D. Wood "J Wood" (Cordova, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (Paperback)

This book by Pate, et al, left me wanting more. This crew comes at the issue of Biblical Theology from a progressive dispensationalist perspective, however they do not give their own views full explanation particularly in the chapter on Revelation. As a non-dispensationalist, I was quite interested in seeing their view on the issue. They do make some good insights, but overall I found reading it a bit slow at times. As a student of Scott Hafemann, I should add that they also misrepresent his view of the Old Covenant on p. 219. His actual view is that the Old Covenant is very much over and done with. But that's another issue.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing & Interesting, May 25, 2007

By 

Michael Peterson "regular reader" (Fort Wayne, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (Paperback)

The premise of this book is to mount a case for a common theme or thread that runs throughout the entire Bible: The story of Israel. The Story of Israel is the story of Sin - Exile - Restoration. My interest was peaked from the beginning of the book and the authors do an excellent job of maintaining my interest and making an intriguing case. Watching the story of the Bible unfold as viewed through the lens of the overarching story of God's people - Israel - was fascinating and helped better my understanding of Scripture. Highly recommended!