Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon

by Ben Witherington III

In Biblical Theology, Ben Witherington, III, examines the theology of the Old and New Testaments as a totality. Going beyond an account of carefully crafted Old and New Testament theologies, he demonstrates the ideas that make the Bible a sacred book with a unified theology. Witherington brings a distinctive methodology to this study. Taking a constructive approach, he first examines the foundations of the writers' symbolic universe - what they thought and presupposed about God - and how they revealed those thoughts through the narratives of the Old and New Testaments. He also shows how the historical contexts and intellectual worlds of the Old and New Testaments conditioned their narratives, and, in the process, created a large coherent Biblical world view, one that progressively reveals the character and action of God. Thus, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and the Father, Son, and Spirit in the New Testament writings are viewed as persons who are part of the singular divine identity. Witherington's progressive revelation approach allows each part of the canon to be read in its original context and with its original meaning.

Genres: Theology

504 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2019

About the author

Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is on the doctoral faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including The Jesus Quest, The Paul Quest, and The New York Times bestseller The Brother of Jesus. He has appeared on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN.

Reviews

[Travis Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witherington contends, if we take the Bible as a whole, reading it progressively beginning to end, all the various strands—the Trinitarian God, the covenants, the meaning of redemption—are revealed piecemeal, but fully converge in meaning by the end (i.e. the New Testament onward to the end of the canon). Absolutely agree, in theory, but it’s hard to write a book about it. Witherington admits this, but still takes up the task, tracing different theological strands in their course through the Bible until they all (mostly) converge for the conclusion. Jam packed with insights in every chapter, and he covers seemingly everything, but the difficulty in a book that covers every single thing is that it’s hard to remember any one thing. Publishers give us margins for a reason though! And judicious underlining and note taking marks the helpful spots to turn back to for future use.

[Zach Waldis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably my third entry into so called "Biblical Theology", as I have previously read Childs and Goldingay. To sum up Witherington's argument (and it is difficult as he enjoys meandering through exegesis of the Biblical texts. He's quite good at it, but it's clear he doesn't preach every Sunday), in terms of the whole of Scripture Ben wants to emphasize 1) God's consistent character coupled with progressive revelation in the canon and 2) the discontinuity between the covenants. Though Ben sometimes bashes Luther, and has a strong place for moral striving in this work, I don't see how statements like "since Christians are not under the Old Covenant in any of its manifestations" (448) is anything but Lutheran. Granted, to my knowledge the Luther/Calvin divide on the law is the most prevalent one out there, but Ben seems to want to be his own man on this issue.

I'm not sure I have a better sense of the big story of God after reading this book, and while it was interesting, I can't say I recommend it for those seeking to understand the whole of the Bible.

[Luke Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book had solid insight inside but was super dry. If one wants good scholarly work this book is a go to but be ready to read dry and small print.