For both aspiring and seasoned expositors, or mature laymen of the church, Toward an Exegetical Theology presents a careful treatment of many aspects, which make up the core of expository preaching. The expositor will find this book a valuable resource in sermon preparation and right thinking concerning his calling, and the layman will find it to be (though technical in places) an excellent, volume to guide their thinking in evaluating and caring for the shepherd to whom they will submit themselves and their families.
This volume was written by then, President and now Old Testament Professor of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Dr. Walt Kaiser, Jr. in 1998. His passion for correct exegetical handling of the Bible is evident early on in this work, as he writes of himself, “So strong is this writer’s aversion to the methodological abuse he has repeatedly witnessed-especially in topical messages-that he has been advising his students for some years now to preach a topical sermon only once every five years–and then immediately to repent and ask God’s forgiveness!” (19) While firm, yet not at all pugnacious in style, Kaiser then proceeds to lay out in detail, much of the methodology and proper motivation of exegetical research in preparation for faithful exposition of God’s Holy Oracle.
Having laid out the deplorable nature of material coming from many pulpits spanning the globe and its history, Kaiser establishes a baseline of definitions from which he works in the remainder of the book. He draws from a deep well of history as he clarifies the timeless nature of the task of a faithful preacher. Of Luther he candidly writes, “Luther’s clear (was he ever veiled in his thought?) affirmation that the single meaning of the text is the only proper basis of exegesis marked another new impetus in Biblical interpretation.” Kaiser illustrates with a quote from Luther himself, who wrote of another interpreter, “’Origen’s allegories are not worth so much dirt,’ for ‘allegories are empty speculations…the scum of Holy Scripture.’” (60) And so the direction for the remainder of Toward an Exegetical Theology is set. Dr. Kaiser is an ardent champion of careful exegetical method that carefully mines the authorial meaning from the Bible.
Chapters 3-8 deal with the various syntactical analyses that make up the body of faithful exegetical work. This is the section that expositors may find challenging, grammarians will find exciting and that laymen may find illuminating as they listen carefully to what they are being taught. This reviewer gets the sense that Kaiser is exhorting listeners to be as Bereans, seeking to actively listen and engage with their shepherd, and to place fear into the hearts of those considering exegetical work. Regarding the culture Kaiser writes, “The exegete must resist the temptation to impose a mold over the text…to deal with one of the contemporary issues that our culture wants to have solved.” (153) While portions of this section seemed to be needlessly technical, this reviewer was reminded that it will appeal to those whom God has gifted in that regard.
The third section carefully places potential solutions before the reader as they consider some of the genres found in Scripture. Chapters 9 & 10 were particularly powerful for this reviewer, given the time that Kaiser spends taking the content of the previous section and putting it to application. Kaiser spends time in prophecy, narrative, and poetry. But far from a spoon-fed approach, this reviewer found Dr. Kaiser to be the instructor that his position would indicate. In that, his arguments present a range of potential solutions, and allow the reader to grapple with their own discernment and habits in working with God’s Word to mankind. Consider the following regarding narrative and the technique of, “…principalizing [which] becomes most important in treating historical and narrative texts…seeks to bridge the ‘then’ of the text’s narrative with ‘now’ needs of our day; yet it refuses to settle for cheap and quick solutions which confuse our own personal point of view (good or bad) with that of the inspired writer.”(197) The book is filled with practical nuggets of this type that will inform and challenge preachers and laymen to carry the technical to the practical.
Overall, toward an Exegetical Theology presents itself a powerful tool in the arsenal of material aimed at proper handling of “the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). It is a work that is thoroughly indexed for use as a reference work. It may also be valuable for the realignment of a servant needing to reacquaint himself with the solemn task of expository preaching.
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