The structure of Biblical authority

by Meredith G. Kline

Book by Meredith G. Kline

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, Old Testament

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Meredith G. Kline was Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He received his B.D. and Th.M. degrees from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) and his Ph.D. degree in Assyriology and Egyptology from Dropsie College. Professor Kline maintained an active writing and teaching ministry, serving on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California. He was also an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The collection of essays in the recently-published Creator, Redeemer, Consummator, a festschrift written in honor of Dr. Kline, attests to the indelible influence his work has exerted on contemporary biblical and theological scholarship.

Reviews

[Mykaël Arsenault]

Le livre de Kline offre une exploration en profondeur de la nature alliancielle de toute l'Écriture. C'est un livre riche, qui a ajouté une profondeur significative à ma façon de voir la Bible. Il permet de comprendre la structure de la Bible. Kline note que l'alliance biblique s'inscrit parfaitement dans les formes de traités du Proche-Orient ancien utilisés entre un suzerain et son vassal.

[Michaël St-Amour]

Vous aimez le sujet des alliances? Le canon biblique? Vous souhaitez en apprendre davantage sur ces sujets?
Dans ce bouquin, Meredith G. Kline travail sa plume de fer pour traiter de sujets comme le canon biblique, les alliances et leurs donnés bibliques par rapport aux traités d'alliances antiques, lier les deux pour démontrer l'intérêt de l'adoption d'un canon alliancelle.
Plusieurs études connexes sont également étudiées comme l'intrusion du décalogue, la bénédiction rédemptrice, etc.
En bref, Meredith Kline a fait un brillant travail sur La Structure de l'autorité biblique.

[Todd Miles]

There is a lot of helpful material in this book. The title is a bit misleading. The book is largely about the covenant as canon in the Old Testament. Kline only hints at the possibility of extending this same argument to the New Testament as well. See Kostenberger and Kruger: "The Heresy of Orthodoxy" for a canonical defense of the New Testament that develops Kline's argument for the NT. The last half of the book offer "collateral studies" covering ethics and an argument for the book of Exodus being a Gospel in genre. "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" by Bauckham provides more insight into the genre of "Gospel."

[Daniel Kleven]

“Covenant” is by and large a foreign concept to most modern, western readers. We struggle to really understand the covenants of the Bible, even the most important covenant of all, the New Covenant. Kline’s book offers an in depth exploration of the covenantal nature of all of Scripture. This is a rich book, one that added significant depth to the way I view the Bible, Old and New Covenants both.

[Paul SHane]

Loved this book. One of the most readable from Kline IMHO. Excellent background to understanding the legitimacy and accuracy of the scriptures, especially as it pertains to the O.T.

[Paul]

"We're about to read from Meredith Kline, shall we stand?" - Old Testament prof in one of my first seminary classes

This book is a collection of important writings by Meredith G. Kline on the topics of canon & covenant. Whether or not you agree with him, he's never boring.
What is the relationship between kingdom and covenant? What evidence do we have to believe that kingdom & covenant necessarily require a fixed canon? How does the very structure of the Bible testify to its covenantal nature? What are the functions of particular sections of the Hebrew Scriptures (law/prophets/writings) and what are their counterparts in the New Testament? Why do we have these particular kinds (genres) of writings and not others? Why did Moses write Deuteronomy the way he did? What is the structural connection between the genres of the gospels and the book of Exodus?
Inside this book, Kline proposes elaborate answers to these and many other questions.

Caveat - I'm not a fan of Kline's view on Mosaic republication and of several other views associated with it (like intrusion ethics) that are found in this book. It's still a beneficial read.

[Eddie Mercado]

4.5 stars rounded down. Very good book, but I wish there was more material covering Canon and the NT. I suspect Michael Kruger would be helpful given then gap in this book. The article on Intrusion Ethics was superb: “it was the ethics of the Cross, itself an intrusion of final judgment into mid-history, that was intruded into the Old Testament age in the divine command to sacrifice Isaac.”

[Pat Reeder]

Kline offers unusual but penetrating technical analogies between ancient near eastern treaties, God’s covenants, and the existence of a biblical canon—as it were, a growing body of promises and relevant historical materials bearing witness to those promises. Some of his analogies feel stretched but the more I think about them, the more persuasive they seem.

[Jake Brinkman]

A short, helpful book introducing the concept of canon and genre in Biblical literature.

[Jon Vos]

Very thought-provoking. Some of the “collateral studies” are just incredible. “Intrusion and the Decalogue” alone is worth buying the book.

[David]

A very thought provoking book by a Reformed theologian from the 1970s who delves into the covenantal background of both the Old and New Testaments. Kline notes that the biblical covenant fits comfortably into the Ancient Near Eastern treaty forms used between an overlord and his vassal. This has implications for how we view Scripture. Since a covenant was a document not easily changed, the covenantal model has a higher view of Scripture. Kline continues by accepting the Reformers view that the Scriptures form the church, not the church forming the Scriptures. Much of his discussion of the Old Testament is not new to me. His connection of the New Testament to the ancient covenant form, and particularly seeing many connections between the book of Exodus (and Moses) with Jesus is enlightening. I found this an area that will require more investigation. With the establishment of the new covenant he tends to discount the value of the Old Testament for use by the Church. I disagree with him on this point.

[Nate Walker]

Fascinating take on OT as following an ancient treaty structure—Israel is YHWH's vassal kingdom that he has rescued from the Egyptians, and she in turn owes him allegiance as her suzerain Lord. The parallels to ANE treaties of suzerains and their vassals are compelling. The OT, and particularly Deuteronomy, gives the terms of their treaty, and therefore stands itself as a canon. This is also a compelling argument for dating Deuteronomy (and therefore the whole Pentateuch) to the second millenium BC.

Some helpful articles in the end as well on eschatological intrusion and ethics (for example, in the cleansing of Canaan), and Exodus as providing the genre for the gospels.

[David]

A very dense book to get through. It was rare that I could follow what Kline was doing, but when I did catch a glimpse, it was great stuff.

"Christology...proclaims the name of Jesus, the Lord of the covenant, revealing him as God present with his people, the primary reality of God's covenant relationship to man, and as Savior of his people, the central reality of the redemptive covenant relationship."

[Keith Darrell]

Dr Kline is not always the most cogent writer, but this is an outstanding little work that is worth the investment of your time. The basic idea of the book is that inherent in the covenant is an authoritative treaty, or text, that operates as the canon for the King and his subjects. So, the idea of canon is not something given to us by men, but is inherent in the nature of the Covenantal Lord. Really good stuff.

[Andy Smith]

A really good book that explains the importance of the suzerin-vassel paradigm on our vision of covenant and canon. Very well done, and enlightening. The weakness is Kline's treatment of the New Testament, which is limited by his area of expertise, which is Old Testament.

Overall, very good and worth the read, especially ch. 2 of Part I.

[Henry]

Again, the depth of Kline's thought is amazing. A neat, small book that covers a lot of material.

[Patrick Malone]

The Structure of Biblical Authority changed my understanding of the structure and nature of the Bible.