Doctrine of Revelation and the Hebrew Bible

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Luke Wisley

Revelation can broadly be described as God’s self-disclosure to humanity. Brevard Childs states that the goal of God’s self-disclosure is so that all may see and know him.[1] Thus, God’s revelation proceeds from his activity and to understand his actions is to know God.[2] In the Hebrew Bible, God’s revelation comes in different variety of media: fire, thunder, a whisper, a donkey but these often are related to and initiated through his spoken word, in turn bringing upon some type of action.[3] Two examples that I think this can be seen is through creation and covenant.

In the creation story, God’s word is portrayed as the actor. The Psalmist states that it was by God’s word that creation came forth (Psalm 33:6, 9). In God’s self-disclosure to humanity in Genesis 2:17, God commands Adam to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This command has an implicit promise that if Adam and Eve refrained from eating of the tree they would continue to live in the blessings of the garden and an explicit promise that if they did eat they would die. For Adam and Eve, because of their disobedience, God’s word of judgment becomes actualized. Their knowledge of God and his action of one who blesses and provides in the garden now include a God who judges and is more concealed outside the garden.

Another significant high point in the Hebrew Bible is the Abrahamic covenant. In Genesis 12:1-3 God establishes a relationship with Abram through the utterance of a promise—heir, land, nation, and international blessing.[4] God commits himself to Abram and to Abram’s family. God reveals himself to be loyal and will bless his family. God’s act in revealing himself again begins by establishing a particular relationship through his word. Likewise, it seems that God’s disclosure is initiated freely by himself, but is actualised by Abram believing by faith.

It seems that from the perspective of these examples of the Hebrew Bible that God’s self disclosure has a tight relationship to the obedience and faith of his people. I think this brings an interesting perspective to Christian theology which rightly understands God’s initiative in revelation, but what role does the idea of understanding, listening, and obedience play in this self-disclosure?

[1] Brevard S Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989), 43-44.

[2] Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context, 45.

[3] Timothy Ward, Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2009), 21.

[4] Paul R House, Old Testament Theology (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 75.

STR Article Accepted

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Matt Emerson

I received exciting news this morning that my article “Victory, Atonement, Restoration, and Response: The Shape of the New Testament Canon and the Holistic Gospel Message” has been accepted for publication the Winter 2012 issue of Southeastern Theological Review. This article was a fun one to write, since it was the first new project I’ve worked on using the methodological and theological foundations I proposed in my dissertation.

Here’s an abstract-like paragraph from the introduction:

The canonical shape of the New Testament aids the reader in understanding the biblical gospel as a threefold work of victory over evil, restoration of creation, and redemption from sin through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, as well as the proclamation of the church of that work both in announcing it and calling the nations to respond to it. This will be demonstrated through attention to the shape of the fourfold gospel corpus and Acts, the placement of Revelation at the end of the canon, and the shape of the epistles. In searching the biblical material, primary emphasis will be placed on demonstrating that Christ’s work, and therefore the gospel, includes victory, atonement, and restoration. Some brief concluding thoughts on the need for a personal response to Christ’s message, and that response’s part in the gospel, will also be offered.

The Cohesion of the Biblical Witness: Inner-Biblical Use of Scripture–Mark Boda

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Luke Wisley

I’ve been reading through Hearing the Old Testament edited by Bartholomew and Beldman. I thought this quote from Mark Boda was worth passing along.

This hermeneutical agenda for biblical theology, which arises from the self-witness of Scripture, explains the ubiquitous interconnections between the various parts of the canon. The Old Testament canon itself displays inner cohesion through the regular use of quotations, allusions, and echoes of earlier Old Testament passages. This trend, which is observable in the Old Testament, only increases in the New Testament. It is important to take a closer look at this phenomenon of inner-biblical connectivity by looking at the ways the New Testament writers used the Old Testament and the ways Old Testament writers used other parts of the Old Testament. The biblical witness itself lays the foundation hermeneutically for Christian biblical theologians to follow as they seek to read the Old Testament as Christian Scripture.

Mark J. Boda (“Biblical Theology and Old Testament Interpretation” in Hearing the Old Testament, ed. Craig Bartholomew and Dave Beldman, Eerdmans, 2012). 135

Jewish and Christian Biblical Theology

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Luke Wisley

In my Hebrew Scripture Theology seminar we had a seminar on Jewish Biblical Theology. A Jewish Biblical Theology has unique challenges: history of the discipline, conceptual coherence. But one thing I found interesting is its shared challenge with Christianity in what role will each religion’s other authoritative texts. Because both Judaism and Christianity have other authoritative texts when interpreting the Hebrew Bible, can there be fruitful dialogue over its theology?

I think this may be the most significant question for the outcome of a Jewish Biblical Theology in general and for Jewish-Christian theological-dialogue. If a Jewish theologian wishes to approach the theological task normatively, then he or she will not approach only the Hebrew Bible but must address Judaism’s other authoritative texts such as Midrash, Talmud, Targums, mystical literature, medieval and modern works of liturgy, Halakhah, commentary, philosophy, Kabbalah, and Hasidism. The inclusion of these texts and the dialogue each of them have with the Hebrew Bible changes the message of the Hebrew Bible on its own.

Likewise, a Christian perspective must address what role the New Testament will play. From a normative position, I’m not sure how a Christian would not include the New Testament. The New Testament serves as the telos of the Hebrew Bible that leads to a Christian reading. I think it would be beneficial that both Judaism and Christianity be in dialogue over the theology of the Hebrew Bible, but the way forward in dialogue will not be over the normative message but will be descriptive by nature.

If anyone else has been reading in this area, what are your thoughts?

Paul Joyce appointed to Samuel Davidson Chair–Kings College London

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Luke Wisley

Back in April, Paul Joyce was appointed to the Samuel Davidson Chair at Kings College London. Paul was previously at St. Peter’s College Oxford and has garnered international acclaim for his work in Ezekiel. I’ll always remember my first SBL in New Orleans when I was invited to the Oxford reception and I was introduced to Paul. He spent several minutes engaging me with questions about school, and introducing me to a number of other Old Testament faculty. There were many other (read: more important) figures at this reception and I was very humbled by his patience and his charity. He is more interested in lifting those around him up, rather than himself. If all Christian scholars were like Paul, Biblical Studies would be a healthier, less insecure environment.

Kings conducted an interview with Paul about his background and goals as the new chair. You can read the interview here. His post begins September 2012 and I am sure he will be great at Kings. Good luck Paul.

Southeastern Theological Review’s Round Table Discussion with Michael Licona

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Luke Wisley

I’m thankful for STR for conducting a round table discussion concerning some of the brouhaha around Licona’s interpretation of Matthew 27. I won’t get into my own personal feelings of how this situation unfolded. You can read the dialogue here and decide for yourself.

(HT Ben Blackwell)

Scots Translation of the New Testament

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Luke Wisley

Here was an interesting (and short) blog post from the New College Librarian on the 30th Anniversary of the translation of the New Testament into Scots. The New Testament is currently on display at the library at New College.

This post provoked a couple of thoughts: firstly, I was surprised that it wasn’t until 1983 that there was a translation of the New Testament into Scots (I have to admit my ignorance when it comes to the Celtic languages and this may not be a big deal because of the English translation of the New Testament). Secondly, the great need for good translations of both testaments for the many people groups with never seeing the Bible in their own tongue. Below is a 10-minute video of a people group receiving a translation of the New Testament into their own heart language.

Michael Kruger on the basis of distinguishing heresy from orthodoxy in the early church

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Luke Wisley

Over at Canon Fodder (which is the best name I’ve heard for a blog), Michael Kruger has been discussing misconceptions of the NT Canon. In his latest post he discusses the basis for distinguising heresy from orthodoxy in the early church. I really enjoyed what he writes concerning the role of the Old Testament in the early church.

Routinely overlooked by those in the Bauer camp—ironically in a Marcionite fashion—is the decisive role played by the Old Testament amongst the earliest Christians. M.F. Wiles once declared, “There was never a time when the Church was without written Scriptures. From the beginning she had the Old Testament and it was for her the oracles of God.”[1] Aside from the numerous examples of Old Testament usage within the New Testament itself, quotations from the Old Testament are abundant within the writings of the apostolic fathers and other early Christian texts. Thus, right from the outset, certain “versions” of Christianity would have been ruled as out of bounds. For example, any quasi-Gnostic version of the faith which suggested the God of the Old Testament was not the true God but a “demiurge”—as in the case of the heretic Marcion—would have been deemed unorthodox on the basis of these Old Testament canonical books alone. As Ben Witherington has observed, “Gnosticism was a non-starter from the outset because it rejected the very book the earliest Christians recognized as authoritative—the Old Testament.”[2] So, the claim that early Christians had no Scripture on which to base their declarations that some group was heretical and another orthodox is simply mistaken. The Old Testament books would have provided that initial doctrinal foundation.

[1] M.F. Wiles, “Origen as Biblical Scholar,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible: From the Beginnings to Jerome (ed. P.R. Ackroyd and C.F. Evans; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 454.

[2] Ben Witherington, The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magadelene, and Da Vinci (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004), 115.

You can read the entire post here.

Emmanuel Tov

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Luke Wisley

Many thanks to David Stark for his post making me aware of Emmanuel Tov’s Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert are available as PDF’s in Tov’s publication section of his website.

Book Notice: Hearing the Old Testament: Listening for God’s Address

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Luke Wisley

A book to keep your eye on if you are interested in theological interpretation is Hearing the Old Testament: Listening for God’s Address (Eerdmans) edited by Craig G. Bartholomew and David J.H. Beldman. In the Preface Bartholomew and Beldman lament that the Old Testament is for the most part unknown by the majority Christians and that there are far too few books to assist Christians to feast upon it as Christian Scripture. Their response to the famine is this edited volume with the goal of listening for God’s address through the Old Testament:

At the heart of the hermeneutic advocated in this book is the belief that our love for the Old Testament and our desire for God will come together only when we make the goal of our interpretation to listen for God’s address. If Scripture is God’s Word, then any other goal is inadequate.

Hearing the Old Testament boasts an impressive collection of contributors beginning with Bartholomew’s opening chapter, “Listening for God’s Address: A Mere Trinitarian Hermeneutic for the Old Testament.” Part II of the volume concerns methods in interpretation and is appropriately named, “Learning to Listen.” Essays from Part III are involve listening to the different sections of the Old Testament. Part IV concludes the volume with, “Hearing and Preaching the Old Testament.”

What stands out about this volume is the careful editorial process. Contributors to Part II, “Learning to Listen” first read Bartholomew’s chapter on Hermeneutics and then were invited to interact either positively or negatively with his essay. Contributors to Part III were asked to write their chapters after reading Bartholomew’s chapter and the chapter’s on “Learning to Listen.” Part IV was then written in light of the Parts I-III. This type of editorial planning should bring a certain type of cohesion that normally lacks in an edited volume. I only hope that future volumes may follow suit.

The List of chapters and authors:

Listening for God’s Address: A Mere Trinitarian Hermeneutic for the Old Testament by Craig G. Bartholomew
History of Old Testament Interpretation by Al Wolters
Philosophy and Old Testament Interpretation by Bartholomew
Literary Approaches and Old Testament Interpretation by David J.H. Beldman
History and Old Testament Interpretation by Tremper Longman III
Biblical Theology and Old Testament Interpretation by Mark J. Boda
Canon and Old Testament Interpretation by Stephen G. Dempster
Mission and Old Testament Interpretation by Christopher J.H. Wright
Ethics and Old Testament Interpretation by M. Daniel Carroll R.
Hearing the Pentateuch by Gordon J. Wenham
Hearing the Historical Books by Iain Provan
Hearing the Psalter by J. Clinton McCann Jr.
Hearing the Old Testament Wisdom Literature by Bartholomew
Hearing the Major Prophets by Richard Schultz
Hearing the Minor Prophets by Heath Thomas
Hearing and Preaching the Old Testament by Aubrey Spears

Secundum Scripturas

Biblical Theology According to the Scriptures

Category Archives: Biblical Studies