Old Testament Theology Devotionals
Posted
Thursday, January 25, 2007
by
Charlie Trimm
Categories:
Old Testament
I try to avoid reading really big books because they take too long to read, but I do make exceptions.
Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel by John Goldingay has been a very good exception, in spite of the fact that it is only volume one of the a projected three
volumes(the third is not yet published) and this volume all by itself is 900 pages. The author goes over the history of Israel in the OT in this first volume and analyzes various theological trends and points in the texts. Therefore, he skips over most of the laws, poetry and prophecy in this book and covers them in the next two volumes. Goldingay is also not exactly the most conservative author around, as he treads closely to open theism and does not sound like he would sign an inerrancy statement. But he has great things to say! I'm only on page 300 right now, and I'm thinking that I will be reading this book for a long time, but this has been one of the funnest theology books I have read for quite some time. I have been essentially reading it like a devotional book, since Goldingay has so many applicational and relevant points for belivers today. He does a masterful job drawing implications from the text and putting together various ideas, as well as having fun in his writing. For example, he kept on referring to wisdom in Proverbs 8 as "Ms. Insight." One of the points he was making in the section on Abraham was that most of Genesis after Genesis 12 is full of challenges to God's promise to Abraham. While I had seen this before, I had seen it so clearly presented, including the idea that Abraham was supposed to be a blessing to all people, but instead he started out bringing grief to Pharaoh and others. But God is faithful to fulfill his promises, even when he seems to take his time. I highly recommend this book to help you systematize your thinking on the OT as well as to be challenged and encouraged in your personal walk with God.
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