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The Problem of the Old Testament: Hermeneutical, Schematic, and Theological Approaches
Biblical Foundations Book Awards Finalist For Christians, the Old Testament often presents a conundrum. We revere it as God's Word, but we don't always comprehend it. It has great truths beautifully expressed, but it also has lengthy lists of names that we cannot pronounce, detailed rules for religious rites that we never observe, and grim stories that we never tell our children. Theologians and laypeople throughout church history have struggled to define it, interpret it, and reconcile it with the New Testament. In The Problem of the Old Testament , Duane A. Garrett takes on this conundrum and lays a foundation for constructive study of the Old Testament. He surveys three primary methods Christians have used to handle the Old Testament, from the church fathers to hermeneutical, schematic, and conceptual. Garrett also explores major interpretive topics such as the nature of the law, the function of election and covenants, and how prophecy works, boldly offering a way forward that is faithful to the text and to the Christian faith. "I argue," Garrett writes, "that the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and that it is authoritative and edifying for Christians." This thorough, accessible work is essential reading for all students of Scripture seeking to discover the Old Testament's riches beyond the challenges.
- GenresTheologyOld Testament
408 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2020
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About the author
Duane A. Garrett
19 books46 followersDuane A. Garrett is John R. Sampey Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served on the faculty at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Bethel Seminary, Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary, Mid-America Baptist Seminary, and Korea Baptist Seminary. He has authored numerous books, including Song of Songs in the Word Biblical Commentary, A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew, Angels and the New Spirituality, Authority and Interpretation, and Hosea and Joel in the New American Commentary. He is the general editor of The Archaeology Study Bible (Zondervan).
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December 15, 2020
Some books are well-written, insightful, constructive, educational, etc. … and then there are game changers. I reckon that this book may very well be one of those – if for no one else, then at least for me. I foresee that this book will stand out as one of the books that may eventually prove to have contributed more to influencing or shaping my own views on interpreting the Old Testament than any other book. (But I might have to read it again).
The author argues that both the allegorism of the Alexandrian school and the superior Antiochene method of interpretation failed to address the problem of explaining what the Old Testament is all about. Covenant theology and dispensiationalism also failed, alongside various conceptual solutions for interpreting the Old Testament. The author’s solution is to divide the Old Testament into two complementary collections of text (with some conceptual “bridges” between them): “election literature” and “wisdom literature”. (This distinction reflects the distinction between God as Creator, and Him being the “God of salvation history”.) Apart from the wisdom literature, which deals with “the rules by which life is governed” and pertains to all of humanity, the old testament is all about God’s election of the nation of Israel for a specific purpose. (Neither God’s covenantal relationships nor the Kingdom of God should be regarded as the central theme that unifies all of Old Testament scripture; apart from wisdom literature, it is all about God’s election of Israel.) With the inauguration of the New Testament era, Israel is neither replaced by the church (as averred by supersessionism within covenant theology), nor does the church operate alongside Israel (as in classical dispensationalism), but the Gentiles are grafted into national Israel. In other words, the Church has become part of Israel as an elect people: “Their history has become our history, their God has become our God, their Scriptures have become our Scriptures, and their identity and election have become ours as well. We are Gentiles, but like adopted children, we look upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as our forebears. … We recognize ourselves not just by analogy but by family identification—we have been adopted into this people.” (Garrett’s view is perhaps closest to progressive dispensationalism in some respects - I think, but I could be wrong - although Garrett believes that there is inconsistency when it holds to a premillenialistic eschatology.)
The discussion regarding the covenants (Chapter 8) offers a lot to ponder. As an example: Garrett differentiates between Genesis 12, 15 and 17 (dealing with the Abrahamic covenant) as follows: Gen. 12 is a promise, not a covenant; Gen 15 involves a unilateral covenant, whereas Gen 17 involves a bilateral covenant (of circumcision), which is a secondary covenant and not the same as the covenant of Gen 15. He has an interesting proposal for understanding the law according to four functions, rather than the Protestant distinction between the civil law, ceremonial law and moral law, which he finds wanting (Chapter 9). His chapter on the narrative texts of the Old Testament (Chapter 10) is also intriguing, although I am not yet too sure what to think of the notion of allusive patterns – interesting, insightful, and appears to make sense, but should it be employed as a hermeneutical tool? Is it not possible to ultimately come close to allegorism, with interpreters subjectively reading patterns into text where none is supposed to be seen? It appears as if Garrett doesn’t think so, because he claims that “a genuine allusive pattern is reasonably obvious.” The allusions that Garrett discusses, moreover, “imply that Jesus is bringing a theological theme of the Old Testament to its culmination”. The merit of allusive patters surfaces in the “case studies in prophesy” (Chapters 11-12). However, I would have to go back to study these chapters (especially Chapter 11 on Hosea) more intensively: one cannot simply read through it; one has to crawl through it, very slowly, while reading through all the referenced Biblical texts (and some commentaries).
I look forward to reading future books building on the ideas of this book. Garrett calls this book “a prolegomenon” and on many occasions indicates that he hopes to expand on certain topics. But it would also be interesting to observe how others might respond who would critically engage with this book. (I am curious to know how this book will be judged by proponents of different covenantal viewpoints, for example, and how well the book will be received by the academia in general.) Many of his ideas will probably still have to be worked out into other theological themes such as ecclesiology and eschatology. But Garrett himself recognises that there is a lot that he has not yet addressed in this book.
The author argues that both the allegorism of the Alexandrian school and the superior Antiochene method of interpretation failed to address the problem of explaining what the Old Testament is all about. Covenant theology and dispensiationalism also failed, alongside various conceptual solutions for interpreting the Old Testament. The author’s solution is to divide the Old Testament into two complementary collections of text (with some conceptual “bridges” between them): “election literature” and “wisdom literature”. (This distinction reflects the distinction between God as Creator, and Him being the “God of salvation history”.) Apart from the wisdom literature, which deals with “the rules by which life is governed” and pertains to all of humanity, the old testament is all about God’s election of the nation of Israel for a specific purpose. (Neither God’s covenantal relationships nor the Kingdom of God should be regarded as the central theme that unifies all of Old Testament scripture; apart from wisdom literature, it is all about God’s election of Israel.) With the inauguration of the New Testament era, Israel is neither replaced by the church (as averred by supersessionism within covenant theology), nor does the church operate alongside Israel (as in classical dispensationalism), but the Gentiles are grafted into national Israel. In other words, the Church has become part of Israel as an elect people: “Their history has become our history, their God has become our God, their Scriptures have become our Scriptures, and their identity and election have become ours as well. We are Gentiles, but like adopted children, we look upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as our forebears. … We recognize ourselves not just by analogy but by family identification—we have been adopted into this people.” (Garrett’s view is perhaps closest to progressive dispensationalism in some respects - I think, but I could be wrong - although Garrett believes that there is inconsistency when it holds to a premillenialistic eschatology.)
The discussion regarding the covenants (Chapter 8) offers a lot to ponder. As an example: Garrett differentiates between Genesis 12, 15 and 17 (dealing with the Abrahamic covenant) as follows: Gen. 12 is a promise, not a covenant; Gen 15 involves a unilateral covenant, whereas Gen 17 involves a bilateral covenant (of circumcision), which is a secondary covenant and not the same as the covenant of Gen 15. He has an interesting proposal for understanding the law according to four functions, rather than the Protestant distinction between the civil law, ceremonial law and moral law, which he finds wanting (Chapter 9). His chapter on the narrative texts of the Old Testament (Chapter 10) is also intriguing, although I am not yet too sure what to think of the notion of allusive patterns – interesting, insightful, and appears to make sense, but should it be employed as a hermeneutical tool? Is it not possible to ultimately come close to allegorism, with interpreters subjectively reading patterns into text where none is supposed to be seen? It appears as if Garrett doesn’t think so, because he claims that “a genuine allusive pattern is reasonably obvious.” The allusions that Garrett discusses, moreover, “imply that Jesus is bringing a theological theme of the Old Testament to its culmination”. The merit of allusive patters surfaces in the “case studies in prophesy” (Chapters 11-12). However, I would have to go back to study these chapters (especially Chapter 11 on Hosea) more intensively: one cannot simply read through it; one has to crawl through it, very slowly, while reading through all the referenced Biblical texts (and some commentaries).
I look forward to reading future books building on the ideas of this book. Garrett calls this book “a prolegomenon” and on many occasions indicates that he hopes to expand on certain topics. But it would also be interesting to observe how others might respond who would critically engage with this book. (I am curious to know how this book will be judged by proponents of different covenantal viewpoints, for example, and how well the book will be received by the academia in general.) Many of his ideas will probably still have to be worked out into other theological themes such as ecclesiology and eschatology. But Garrett himself recognises that there is a lot that he has not yet addressed in this book.
July 4, 2021
Summary: An exploration of how and whether Christians ought read the Old Testament, contending that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament and that its material still has authority and edifying value for the Christian.
We Christians have a problem with the Old Testament. We struggle to define what it is. We find it hard to read. And we struggle to reconcile it with the New Testament. How do we understand “Messianic prophecy”? How do we understand the Law in relation to Christ? What is the relationship between Israel and the church? In this work, Duane A. Garrett attempts to chart a way through this thicket of problems, proposing that the Old Testament remains authoritative for the church and edifying for the believer.
Garrett begins by surveying how the post-apostolic Fathers approached this question. While much remained unresolved, they identified the Old Testament as canonical, identified a core of texts that were fulfilled in Christ while seeing some passages as allegories of Christ, saw it as a source of moral instruction and a theological authority in their polemic efforts. He then explores two hermeneutical approaches that began early and have had continued influence at various points in church history: the allegorical approach of Alexandria and the literal approach of Antioch. The allegorical approach was uncontrolled; the literal could be argued to say nothing beyond the immediate context of the text (e.g Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s own day and that is it).
He then turns to the schematic approaches used to connect the two testaments. He considers Covenant Theology, noting the difficulty of finding the language of the covenant of works and the covenant of grace in scripture. In opposition is Dispensationalism, often problematic as historic events unravel prophetic schema and because it excludes large parts of the Old Testament from the effective canon, even while it remains in the formal canon. He follows this discussion with one of conceptual solutions considering the meaning of the canon, the meaning and focus of biblical theology, and models for organizing Old Testament theology. He concludes that no single approach is adequate and believes only a hybrid model is sufficient.
The third part of the book is Garrett’s articulation of his own approach. He contends for an approach that is neither supercessionist nor dispensationalist with regard to Israel, rooted in the promise to Abraham that includes the blessing of the nations through Israel fulfilled in Christ for Israel but also including the Gentiles. He also considers the Old Testament under the two headings of Election Literature and Wisdom Literature. He focuses the remainder of this volume to Election Literature (alluding to future volumes where I assume he will discuss Wisdom Literature).
He starts with the successive covenants of the Old Testament and the developing understanding of how Israel is chosen to bring blessing and redemption to the world, chosen in Abraham, given the pedagogue of the Sinai covenant to teach, and the Davidic Covenant of an everlasting future Davidic king. These all point to a fulfillment beyond the Old Testament horizon, found in the New Covenant in Christ. Garrett turns to the Law and traditional understandings, particularly of the divisions of civil, ceremonial, and moral law–a division made nowhere in the Law itself. Garrett sees the law as part of a covenant document at the same time demonstrating a need for a new covenant, fully realized in Christ. It is both an ideal of righteousness and basis of judgement. Finally, for the believer, the law is a teacher that in Christ leads those who meditate upon it into the righteousness which is theirs in Christ.
Garrett discusses narrative, and particularly allusive patterns in narrative, where later material alludes to earlier material. He notes that we ought read such material backward, to prior texts and not forward to future ones. Finally, Garrett discusses prophecy, looking at Hosea and Joel as case studies. Considering Hosea 11:1 (“Out of Egypt I called my son.”) Garrett argues that Hosea is using representative recapitulation and that while this is not a prediction of Jesus time in Egypt, Matthew uses the same method of representative recapitulation in his account of Jesus. Hosea doesn’t predict Jesus, but Jesus fulfills Hosea, or is the culmination of this allusive material. Garrett, in an appendix, applies a similar approach to Isaiah 7:14.
I think many of us have reached similar conclusions, if we are dissatisfied with the traditional schema. What Garrett does is help us think more deliberately about the “problem” of reading the Old Testament, the different kinds of material we find there, and how we read the narrative arc where so much allusive material occurs. He brings discipline to intuition as well as an approach that avoids supercessionism or artificial constructions not grounded in scripture. Most of all, he grounds a vision of the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ in a way faithful to good interpretive practice rather than forced or undisciplined approaches. I look forward to seeing how Garrett continues to develop this approach.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
We Christians have a problem with the Old Testament. We struggle to define what it is. We find it hard to read. And we struggle to reconcile it with the New Testament. How do we understand “Messianic prophecy”? How do we understand the Law in relation to Christ? What is the relationship between Israel and the church? In this work, Duane A. Garrett attempts to chart a way through this thicket of problems, proposing that the Old Testament remains authoritative for the church and edifying for the believer.
Garrett begins by surveying how the post-apostolic Fathers approached this question. While much remained unresolved, they identified the Old Testament as canonical, identified a core of texts that were fulfilled in Christ while seeing some passages as allegories of Christ, saw it as a source of moral instruction and a theological authority in their polemic efforts. He then explores two hermeneutical approaches that began early and have had continued influence at various points in church history: the allegorical approach of Alexandria and the literal approach of Antioch. The allegorical approach was uncontrolled; the literal could be argued to say nothing beyond the immediate context of the text (e.g Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s own day and that is it).
He then turns to the schematic approaches used to connect the two testaments. He considers Covenant Theology, noting the difficulty of finding the language of the covenant of works and the covenant of grace in scripture. In opposition is Dispensationalism, often problematic as historic events unravel prophetic schema and because it excludes large parts of the Old Testament from the effective canon, even while it remains in the formal canon. He follows this discussion with one of conceptual solutions considering the meaning of the canon, the meaning and focus of biblical theology, and models for organizing Old Testament theology. He concludes that no single approach is adequate and believes only a hybrid model is sufficient.
The third part of the book is Garrett’s articulation of his own approach. He contends for an approach that is neither supercessionist nor dispensationalist with regard to Israel, rooted in the promise to Abraham that includes the blessing of the nations through Israel fulfilled in Christ for Israel but also including the Gentiles. He also considers the Old Testament under the two headings of Election Literature and Wisdom Literature. He focuses the remainder of this volume to Election Literature (alluding to future volumes where I assume he will discuss Wisdom Literature).
He starts with the successive covenants of the Old Testament and the developing understanding of how Israel is chosen to bring blessing and redemption to the world, chosen in Abraham, given the pedagogue of the Sinai covenant to teach, and the Davidic Covenant of an everlasting future Davidic king. These all point to a fulfillment beyond the Old Testament horizon, found in the New Covenant in Christ. Garrett turns to the Law and traditional understandings, particularly of the divisions of civil, ceremonial, and moral law–a division made nowhere in the Law itself. Garrett sees the law as part of a covenant document at the same time demonstrating a need for a new covenant, fully realized in Christ. It is both an ideal of righteousness and basis of judgement. Finally, for the believer, the law is a teacher that in Christ leads those who meditate upon it into the righteousness which is theirs in Christ.
Garrett discusses narrative, and particularly allusive patterns in narrative, where later material alludes to earlier material. He notes that we ought read such material backward, to prior texts and not forward to future ones. Finally, Garrett discusses prophecy, looking at Hosea and Joel as case studies. Considering Hosea 11:1 (“Out of Egypt I called my son.”) Garrett argues that Hosea is using representative recapitulation and that while this is not a prediction of Jesus time in Egypt, Matthew uses the same method of representative recapitulation in his account of Jesus. Hosea doesn’t predict Jesus, but Jesus fulfills Hosea, or is the culmination of this allusive material. Garrett, in an appendix, applies a similar approach to Isaiah 7:14.
I think many of us have reached similar conclusions, if we are dissatisfied with the traditional schema. What Garrett does is help us think more deliberately about the “problem” of reading the Old Testament, the different kinds of material we find there, and how we read the narrative arc where so much allusive material occurs. He brings discipline to intuition as well as an approach that avoids supercessionism or artificial constructions not grounded in scripture. Most of all, he grounds a vision of the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ in a way faithful to good interpretive practice rather than forced or undisciplined approaches. I look forward to seeing how Garrett continues to develop this approach.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
March 25, 2024
Very stimulating. Garrett, a Hebrew language scholar, has a lot of original thought in this book. He clearly doesn’t settle for using the standard Systematic Theology structures. I like that. Hopefully, as he claims, this is just a starter book for what will become a multiple book project on how to read and live with the OT.
May 18, 2024
Muy buenas reflexiones sobre las dificultades que presenta el Antiguo Testamento. Se aborda la intertextualidad, los pactos, las dispensaciones y otro tipo de soluciones al problema del Antiguo Testamento a lo largo de la historia.
February 17, 2022
Several Wow moments!
Garrett attempts to help Bible students understand the manner in which the Old Testament should be understood. First, he lays the ground work by detailing the problems Bible students face when trying to understand the Old Testament. For instance, unlike the New Testament, the Old is difficult to define. It’s also difficult to read at times because of the way obscure Hebrew is translated into the English (he proves this with several examples). Nevertheless, Garrett demonstrates there is a “description of the Old Testament that is comprehensive, contextual, and Christian”. He claims the Old Testament are scriptures for Christians.
He continues to describe the problem of the OT by discussing two early Christian interpretive schools which used allegorical and literal methods of interpretation. He describes how both are inadequate and yet continue to influence many today, adding to the problem of the OT.
He then mentions the OT books fit within two categories, Wisdom literature and Election literature. He claims both compliment one another but should be read and interpreted differently from one another.
Garrett discusses the problems of covenant theology and dispensationalism which add to the “problem of the OT” today.
His chapters on election and the covenants, the Law, and issues with narrative are commendable for sure.
Finally, he demonstrates the hermeneutic method of the prophets. He seeks to accomplish this through a study of Hosea and then Joel. He touches on the concepts of allusion , typology, fulfillment, and what he calls “representational recapitulation”. This section was very helpful to me as he details the way in which the OT prophets used the themes already familiar to God’s people through previous experience and the writings of Moses. He discusses how NT writers drew on the prophets in a similar fashion. He claims Hosea and Joel establish rules for understanding OT prophesy.
Overall this book was very helpful, well researched, and compelling. Coming from someone who doesn’t know anything about Hebrew, Garrett writes in a manner that is easy to read. I believe he was fair toward authors with whom he disagreed. He mentioned some areas for future study which I believe he intends to address in a future volume. This book grabbed my attention from the beginning and maintained it throughout and I believe will help in my studies of the OT. I definitely recommend it.
Garrett attempts to help Bible students understand the manner in which the Old Testament should be understood. First, he lays the ground work by detailing the problems Bible students face when trying to understand the Old Testament. For instance, unlike the New Testament, the Old is difficult to define. It’s also difficult to read at times because of the way obscure Hebrew is translated into the English (he proves this with several examples). Nevertheless, Garrett demonstrates there is a “description of the Old Testament that is comprehensive, contextual, and Christian”. He claims the Old Testament are scriptures for Christians.
He continues to describe the problem of the OT by discussing two early Christian interpretive schools which used allegorical and literal methods of interpretation. He describes how both are inadequate and yet continue to influence many today, adding to the problem of the OT.
He then mentions the OT books fit within two categories, Wisdom literature and Election literature. He claims both compliment one another but should be read and interpreted differently from one another.
Garrett discusses the problems of covenant theology and dispensationalism which add to the “problem of the OT” today.
His chapters on election and the covenants, the Law, and issues with narrative are commendable for sure.
Finally, he demonstrates the hermeneutic method of the prophets. He seeks to accomplish this through a study of Hosea and then Joel. He touches on the concepts of allusion , typology, fulfillment, and what he calls “representational recapitulation”. This section was very helpful to me as he details the way in which the OT prophets used the themes already familiar to God’s people through previous experience and the writings of Moses. He discusses how NT writers drew on the prophets in a similar fashion. He claims Hosea and Joel establish rules for understanding OT prophesy.
Overall this book was very helpful, well researched, and compelling. Coming from someone who doesn’t know anything about Hebrew, Garrett writes in a manner that is easy to read. I believe he was fair toward authors with whom he disagreed. He mentioned some areas for future study which I believe he intends to address in a future volume. This book grabbed my attention from the beginning and maintained it throughout and I believe will help in my studies of the OT. I definitely recommend it.
July 14, 2022
Great textbook for OT Theology. Has some dry chapters and while I didn't agree with the author on every point, Garrett made great thought provoking exegetical arguments.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews