Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture

by R.W.L. Moberly

A top Old Testament theologian known for his accessible and provocative writing probes what is necessary to understand and appropriate the Hebrew Bible as a fundamental resource for Christian theology and life today. This volume offers a creative example of theological interpretation, modeling a way of doing Old Testament theology that takes seriously both the nature of the biblical text as ancient text and also the questions and difficulties that arise as believers read this text in a contemporary context.

Walter Moberly offers an in-depth study of key Old Testament passages, highlighting enduring existential issues in the Hebrew Bible and discussing Jewish readings alongside Christian readings. The volume is representative of the content of Israel's Scripture rather than comprehensive, yet it discusses most of the major topics of Old Testament theology. Moberly demonstrates a Christian approach to reading and appropriating the Old Testament that holds together the priorities of both scholarship and faith.

Genres: Theology, Old Testament, Christianity, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Religion

352 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2013

About the author

Walter Moberly (PhD, University of Cambridge) is an English theologian and professor of theology and biblical interpretation at Durham University.

He was awarded an M.A. at Oxford and both an M.A., Ph.D. Cambridge, UK. He is also an ordained priest in the Church of England.

Also known as Walter Moberly.

Reviews

[Chad D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walt Moberly is my favourite OT theologian, and this is one of his best books. He writes about very challenging passages and explains not only how one might understand them but how one might live them. His conclusion says that Scripture is like music or like drama, that its end goal is performance in a life. Performing these texts, and his hermeneutic informing and informed by them, would be beautiful to watch and live.

[Daniel Supimpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

From all the Old Testament theologies I've read so far, Moberly seems one of the most elegant. In terms of style and accessibility, I find it better than most recent influential OT theologies such as those by Brueggemann, Childs or House.

His approach is noteworthy for at least two aspects: one, this is a Christian reading of the Old Testament, not a mere history of ancient Israelite thought. Moberly affirms from the outset (and acts accordingly throughout) that he will read biblical texts from a "Christian frame of reference." He insists that every reader brings along their own perspectives and possibilities to the text, and he wants to be aware of that in himself. Following pretty much Childs' canonical method, he then aims to construct a hermeneutical bridge that recognizes the OT as an entity with its own voice, but still the first part of the Christian canon.

The second accent of Moberly's theology is its representative character. Rather than a comprehensive exploration of any single corner of the canonical texts, of Israelite religion or of Christian re-readings of the OT, Moberly starts each chapter with an emblematic text that works well as a focal points for the whole theological stream in the OT. For instance, his first chapter deals with the Shema. For him, that was not only an essential creedal statement for both early Jews and early Christians, in face of which any interpretation would be tuned, but the Shema represents the proper posture vis-à-vis the presence of this Unique God and His revelatory words among a group of human beings called to be His covenantal people. If they are to listen to God's words, they will be ordered and bring order to the whole cosmos, just like in Genesis 1.

Overall, Moberly provides a rich and lively assessment, interested in questions of existential questions of humanity, but with no easy 7-steps-to in matters of the life before God or the Scripture. For those interested in the movement of theological interpretation of Scripture (TIS), this is a valuable reading.

[James Korsmo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Old Testament theology is quite different in approach from many things put forth under that title. Instead of a veritable catalog of all the themes in the Old Testaement (a worthwhile but certainly daunting enterprise), Moberly has chosen instead to vigorously engage a representative (but certainly not random) selection of texts. The book is surprisingly readable, and I found it to be consistently insightful. Themes such as monotheism, election, prophecy, wisdom, and messianic exegesis come in for very helpful study through the lenses of the various texts. This is an outstanding example of theological interpretation of Scripture, attuned to the original world of the text while also listening keenly for deeper resonances and learning from later readers (both ancient and modern). I found the chapter on whether God changes and the chapter on faith and perplexity in the Psalms to be particularly outstanding among this consistently excellent offering. Highly recommended.

[Tim Michiemo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.1 Stars

R.W.L Moberly has attempted something unique in his book Old Testament Theology. As his subtitle states, this book is a study of the reading of the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture. Moberly is seeking to understand the Old Testament (OT) Scriptures through the lens of the "world in front of the text" (history of interpretation), rather than by "the world behind and within the text" (historical background). Thus, Moberly's book spends most of the time analyzing the OT within the perspective of its history of interpretation and offering a theological interpretation based upon that. As well, Moberly's book focuses on only eight key OT passages, rather than offering a broad overview or survey of the whole of the OT. Old Testament Theology merely offers snippets of OT passages that will hopefully grant the reader a guide on how to interpret the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture.

Now, I am no scholar or expert in the field of OT studies, but I want to offer a brief critique of Moberly's book. First off, I disagree with Moberly's hermeneutical method and theological interpretations, but I do believe Moberly's book has some helpful facets as well. One of the emphases of the book is that to rightly understand the OT we need to not merely focus upon the historical background of the text but as well understand how it's been interpreted throughout history. This he describes as focusing upon "the world in front of the text" which is done in addition to understanding "the world behind and within the text." Moberly does not reject historical background studies outright, but he believes a “fresher” interpretation of Scripture is accomplished whenever one pairs historical background studies with historical theological interpretation. I believe this truth is very helpful when interpreted the OT and working to understand its theology. There's a danger in focusing so much on the historical background of the OT that one loses the value of its final received form and how it has been interpreted throughout history.

The main issue I believe with this book is that Moberly does not receive the OT as divine revelation. He does not explicitly state this, but throughout the book, he accepts many of the claims of historical criticism and fails to deal with the text authoritatively. He does attempt to deal with the OT in its final form and considers how people have interpreted the text seriously. But he fails to fully accept the Scriptures as God's divine word. Many of his presuppositions concerning the construction of the OT defeat his argument that we are to take the text seriously. It’s only when we humbly receive the OT as God’s authoritative divine revelation that we can take the text seriously and rightly apply it to our own lives.


Hopefully, I am not being overly critical, but there is far too much at stake in the task of Biblical interpretation. And too much is lost when one does not take the Bible’s claims concerning its authority and inspiration seriously. I give this book 3 stars because Old Testament Theology is well researched, presented and written. Moberly knows his OT well and there are quite a few things that we can learn from his book. I suggest that if one reads this book, they read it with a careful mind and discerning heart, fully acknowledging that God's Word is divinely inspired, and taking in whatever you can. Otherwise, there are many other OT theology books that one can read that are far more helpful.

Read a more in depth review at https://loveaboundinginknowledge.word...

[Jonah Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though different from traditional OT theologies that outline major topics, doctrines, or books in the canon, Moberly structures his book around eight Old Testament texts. He provides sound exegesis with a breadth of insights into the history of interpretation of each passage, Jewish and Christian alike. The book contains nuanced arguments about language and interpretive contexts, but it is also very readable. Exploring how he unpacks each passage is a treat to read, and it is a book that spurs its readers on to not only further knowledge of Old Testament passages or topics but to true growth as believers, characterized by faithfulness to God.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a mixed bag for me - I really appreciated considering in depth the scripture passages he chose for this collection. Certainly some of the passages he chose I've read over without thinking about them much. And also because I'm neither a Protestant or a biblical scholar, I've not thought about the controversies and problems that Protestants and biblical scholars have with some of these texts. Moberly at times thinks outside the box, but I will say that at other times he is confined to contrasting with what other scholars say or trying to deal with the texts under the rubric that scriptures are self-contained and self-interpreting (in other words you must use only scripture to interpret scripture). I don't believe those rubrics are required by Scripture at all but come from Protestant thinking which rejects the church and Tradition and so is left with nothing else to guide its reading of scripture. But the Scriptures did not fall from heaven, but rather were written, edited, interpreted and collected by a community of faith and so can most authoritatively be read within the context of that community. Obviously those who formed the various books of the bible and assembled them together kept within those writings paradoxes, contradictions, ambiguities and tensions between texts, as well as more than one view point when considering any one issue. This is part of the depth of scriptures and helps prevent us from being enslaved to literalism. Just when we think we have systematically figured out everything about God and salvation, we encounter a "difficult" text which challenges our thinking. Maybe the whole point of that is so that we puny humans come to realize we are not God, and God is not simply like the most moral, wisest or most knowledgeable human, but truly is beyond all measure and His ways are not our ways. We encounter mystery in the Bible as we marvel at texts which are difficult. Dogmaticians and Protestants think they can figure it all out and make and nice and neat tapestry of the Bible, but the Bible is far more like a river fed by many streams and made up of many different currents. It is far more mysterious to figure out - just try holding a river in your hand.

[Gregory Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Moberly takes an interesting approach to the theology of the First Testament. Instead of covering lots of material and giving a wide scope of Jewish theology form a Christian perspective, he goes deep into 8 different subjects. By limiting himself to these 8 subjects, he not only explores important central themes to the First Testament, but is able to dwell upon the depth that these themes offer to the Testament as a whole. Consider the chapter on "Faith and Perplexity". This look at Psalms 44 and 89 plumb the depths of the apparent contradiction of God's promise to be faithful contrasted with the apparent absence of His presence. Moberly is able to take the time to evaluate the two Psalms in a ways that gives the reader the depth of understanding a cursory evaluation would miss. If you are at all interested in First Testament themes and theology, this book is a must read.

[Dennis Podryadchikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the area of Christian reading of the Hebrew Bible, Moberly presents a work that succeeds on more than one level. Even though his Old Testament Theology differs from a comprehensive work such as of von Rad or Brueggemann, Moberly focuses on major topics emerging from the texts: love, election, divine provision, sovereignty, humbleness, divine mercy, suffering, and wisdom. Both a scholar and minister will find many jewels for a personal and communal application. After reading the book, one cannot help but wonder if there will be another volume. Until then, we have this thought-provoking work.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and educated discussion on the old testament. Riddled with footnotes and factoids, the author brings in opinions and works of established persons to create a narration of context, approach, content, and understanding of the old testament.

I won this book through Goodreads Firstreads.

[Sgt Roman Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 STARS NOW CAUSE SOMEONE SAID IT MIGHT BE A GOOD READ. 5 STARS IF I'M RIGHT, AFTER I READ IT, SO FAR I READ A MAN MADE BIBLE CALLED KING JAMES, AND THE HOLY BIBLE {MAN MADE} LETS SEE IF THE WORDS IN THIS BOOK ARE NEW OR FAMILIAR.

[Werner Fourie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book! Read it if you can!

[Justin Dewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moberly offers inspiring reflection on significant biblical texts. This book will help you think about the Old Testament in new ways and encourage you to live differently.

[Lillian Shuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very impressed by how accessible Moberly managed to make various Hebrew terms, and scholarly concepts to which I had never before been exposed. I deeply appreciated his perspective on the worthiness of Old Testament study, and was convinced in several instances by points he made that shed a very different light on certain aspects of the text and how it was meant/should be read. I especially loved his chapter on the Psalms.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work on Old Testament theology. Insightful essays touching on a variety of themes (e.g., suffering, theodicy, God's love) which give us a sense as to how Moberly would do theological interpretation of the Old Testament. The clarity, insight and originality of these essays commend this book to anyone interested in studying the Old Testament and clearly demonstrate that Moberly is an Old Testament scholar worth reading.

[Robert Kauffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

This isn't another fashionable book covering a popular topic, the author is selective in subject matter, delves into his selections and presents a comprehensive understanding of the Jewish Bible. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to discover how the two Testament's come together.

[Ray Clendenen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. This is not the typical survey of OT theology that collates texts and topics, however. The chapters offer "representative readings, so as to try to convey some flavor of the OT as a whole." The first 5 chapters "seek to articulate theological and moral understandings that might all reasonably . . . be regarded as 'doctrinally foundational' for the vision of God and of human life with God" (p. 281). It covers the Shema, the election of Israel, the cherem, the manna, the repentance of God, and the book of Isaiah. The last 3 chapters have to do with "perennially problematic dimensions within human response to God." There is a chapter on Jonah's lack of understanding of divine mercy, Pss 44 and 89 and "the disparity between the expectations of faith and the disappointing and brutal realities" of life, and the book of Job. This is my first Moberly book, and I'm eager to read more. I greatly valued his close reading of texts in the context of the Bible as a whole.

[Matthew Bonzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful book that is grounded in exegesis.
There is a scholastic sanity and pastoral sensitivity that I did not expect from this book. With that said, Moberly is theologically left of me.