Toward an Old Testament Theology

by Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Recognizing the major crisis in biblical theology, namely the inability of the discipline to restate and reapply the authority of the Bible, Walter Kaiser here offers a solution to the unresolved issues of definition and methodology in Old Testament theology. A proper understanding of biblical theology, explains the author, 'shows us an inner center of plan to which each biblical writer consciously and deliberately contributed; however, this inner biblical unity, which biblical theologians traditionally have been loathe to adopt for fear of gratuitously imposing a grid of their own devising over the text, is a center that is inductively supplied and confirmed by the text of Scripture itself. That center is the promise of God.' In Part I of his book, Dr. Kaiser discusses the inherent difficulty in determining the true nature, method, scope, and motivation for Old Testament theology. In Part II, he applies his solutions clearly and methodically by chronologically discussing the Old Testament eras from the Prepatriarchical (Prolegomena to the Promise) to that of the Postexillic (Triumph of the Promise). A special section examines the connections between Old and New Testament theology. 'This textbook is different,' says Dr. Kaiser, 'in that it takes the Bible's own system of organization as the solution to the very issues that have perplexed us the most, while also strictly observing the historical sequence of divine revelation.' Toward an Old Testament Theology includes an annotated bibliography and topical, Scripture, and name indexes.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Biblical Studies, Christianity, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1978

About the author

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. (PhD, Brandeis University) is president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and at Wheaton College. Kaiser is active as a preacher, speaker, researcher, and writer and is the author of more than forty books, including Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament and The Majesty of God in the Old Testament.

Reviews

[Salvador Vivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este es un libro que me ha costado calificar. Pocas teologías del Antiguo Testamento se dedican a hacer un trabajo bíblico y de desarrollo de ciertos conceptos teológicos fundamentales. La mayoría de libros de este tipo prefieren partir de una acercamiento de alta crítica, donde se parten de los supuestos de las diversas tradiciones religiosas judías para definir qué textos pertenecen a qué costumbre y como artificialmente el pueblo judío "creó" el Antiguo Testamento.

Este libro no es así. Parte de la idea fundamental de que la tradición que sostiene la inspiración del texto y la veracidad de los hechos descritos en el Antiguo Testamento. Esto es importantísimo para no terminar sobrehumanizando el texto. Kaiser se dedicó a hacer lo que este tipo de libros deben hacer, exponer el texto y no suponer contextos insospechados.

Su desarrollo de la "promesa de Dios" como hilo conductor me parece loable. Sin embargo, no me termina de convencer que ese sea el único y verdadero centro teológico de Antiguo Testamento. Sigo creyendo que El reino de Dios sigue siendo un tema mucho más abarcador del AT. Además, su acercamiento dispensacionalista es algo que no me termina de agradar, más cuando se dedica en partes a defender esa postura, en vez de exponer el contenido teológico de los libros del AT.

Creo que este es un libro que puede ser una buena introducción a la teología veterotestamentaria, pero debe ser tratado con pinzas en los aspectos que mencioné anteriormente.

[Matthew Pascavage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long read. Very interesting look at how God has revealed himself to his people before he sent down his son. That being said, this was written in the style of a textbook and although I gained a lot of information I had to push through multiple days, and pause multiple days in between chapters.

[Nazario Ralios · Rating 5 out of 5]

excelente

Recomiendo este libro, este excelente trabajo le mostrará la unidad y uniformidad de las Escrituras. Le ayudará a entender de que Dios siempre ha tenido un solo plan y este es revelado progresivamente y cumplido en Jesucristo.

[Vanjr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book covering the overall theme of the OT. It is not an "introduction to" the OT-a good understanding before reading is very helpful. It does has some short sections on the individual books but the emphasis is always on the overall theology. Kaiser sees "the promise" to Abraham as the major theme and draws that out of each group of books (11 groups, such as pre-patriarchal, patriarchal, mosaic, etc.).
I found this a good overview. I have been exposed to this type of teaching in the past so it was not new to me, but the presentation was good, particularly as I have studied more and gotten bogged down by the details and lost sight of the forest.

[Gage Terrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even in the title, Kaiser confesses that this is not a full-fledged theology of the Old Testament. Kaiser is coming from a quasi-dispensational conservative background. He approaches the Old Testament as Scripture, authoritative and infallible. His view that there is a single Author of the Old Testament who also happened to be the Lord of History, namely, Yahweh. This leads Kaiser to conclude that there must be a single overarching theme in all of Scripture. To him, the Old Testament is neither merely a history book nor a Jewish religious text but the story of God Himself that He has given to the world. Kaiser argues that promise is the single most predominant theme that ties all of Scripture together. He not only argues this epistemologically and methodologically but goes on to make his case in the Old Testament. This book is structured canonically and semi-chronologically. Thus, Kaiser starts in Genesis and traces “the promise” through Chronicles.

Kaiser starts the book by examining the history and the weakness of Old Testament Theology (OTT). He says that the OT needs to be ‘freed from the shackles’ of historical-critical and other methods of OTT. Whether you believe in inspiration or not, the canon should be heard on its own terms (28). In contrast to the other methods that theologians employ, Kaiser suggests a “inductively derived theme” which OT writers were aware of (32 italics his). Kaiser believes that blessing/promise is the theme that can be arrived at inductively, and which the OT writers were aware of. This theme of blessing/promise is seen in creation; it is given to Adam and Eve in Genesis three, it finds great expression in Abraham’s narrative; Moses, David, and the prophets also continued this theme. God’s promise to bless the world through Abraham’s seed is what Kaiser believes is the major theme that can be traced throughout the entire Old Testament.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and I plan to wrestle with it more. I was taught by Michael Vlach that the Kingdom of God is the chief theme of all of Scripture, but Kaiser gave Vlach a run for his money. The strengths of this book are many. First, his response to the trends in OTT were much appreciated. His willingness to call out the absurdity of liberal-critical scholarship was a breath of fresh air. Second, I truly felt like he was trying to be inductive and let the text speak. That is rare. Often scholars, whether they admit it or not, are really writing to defend their system or paradigm. I did not get that sense from Kaiser.
That being said, I am not convinced of the ‘one single theme’ approach to OTT. First, I find it troubling that evangelical scholars with similar hermeneutics cannot come to an agreement on what the one driving theme is. Second, I fear that this approach will develop into its own hermeneutic and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you decide that “promise” or “kingdom” or “covenant” is the key them then it is a lot easier to start seeing it throughout the Bible. While I appreciated that Kaiser did not commit the linguistic fallacy of assuming that only the word “promise” was significant to his theme, I was hesitant to follow every connection to promise that he made.
I found myself agreeing with pretty much all of what he had to say. The promise to Abraham is crucial to the OT and lays the foundation for God’s relationship with Israel and the world. One thing I found more appealing about his view than the ‘Kingdom’ view I had been taught was that I feel his view better encapsulates wisdom literature. It was always hard to see how Job, Proverbs, and the non-enthronement Psalms contributed to the Kingdom theme. The promise/blessing theme fits perfectly with the wisdom literature. Job was the only outlier, and Kaiser tried to incorporate his book by referencing his view of the afterlife.
Kaiser’s inductive method, surveying all of Scripture and extrapolating the concept of promise, was quite the feat. I wish he had more help and more people to help him develop these ideas. Because of this book, I have a much greater appreciation for the concept of promise/blessing, although I remain unconvinced that it is the chief theme of Scripture that all writers were consciously aware of.

[Darwin Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you take an OT Theology class, they want you to figure out what the overarching theme of the OT is, or if there even is one. This makes you have to read different OT theologians, to see what they came up with as the theme (or not) and be able to discuss and debate these in class. Various themes have been discovered (and all have been rebuffed to some extent, either in favor of others or in favor of none at all). This is the essence of an OT Theology class. The theme that Kaiser hit upon was that of "Promise and Fulfillment," by the way. It is - like all the others - a good one.

What I liked this book for was Kaiser's common-sense (albeit fairly conservative) view that "The text should be taken at face value, unless there is some good reason not to take it that way." Of course discussing and debating what might be a "good reason" is also fun in an OT Theology class and will often lead to more livelier arguments than those about the overarching theme!

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a class on Old Testament.