John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology (3 vols.)

by John Goldingay

Publishers:

IVP Academic; IVP

, 2003–2009

Overview

In three volumes, John Goldingay explores Old Testament theology as narrative, belief, and ethos. His Old Testament Theology is not only a scholarly contribution to the ongoing quest of understanding the theological dimensions of the First Testament. Preachers and teachers will prize it as a smart, informed, and engaging companion as they read and represent the First Testament story to postmodern pilgrims on the way. This is Old Testament theology that preaches.

The first volume focuses on the story of God’s dealings with Israel, or Israel’s gospel. The second volume investigates the beliefs of Israel, or Israel’s faith. The third volume discusses Old Testament perspective on the life that Israel should live in its present and future, including its worship, prayer, spirituality, practices, attitudes, and ethics before God.

The Logos edition of these monumental works will streamline your research time. Each subject theme and verse reference link to the rest of your digital library. Whether these books are required reading for a class, additions to a reference library, or aids for sermon preparation, John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology series will prove to be a priceless addition to your collection.

Key Features

• Focuses on Old Testament theology as narrative and gospel
• Presents a new perspective on the Old Testament
• Gives full treatment of the major themes of Old Testament faith
• Studies Israel’s vision of life before God
• Explores Old Testament ethics

Product Details

• Title: John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology
• Author: John Goldingay
• Publisher: IVP
• Volumes: 3
• Pages: 2,743

Old Testament Theology, vol. 1: Israel’s Gospel

• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 940

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this first volume of Old Testament Theology, John Goldingay focuses on narrative. Examining the biblical order of God’s creation of and interactions with the world and Israel, he tells the story of Israel’s gospel as a series of divine acts. This is an Old Testament theology like no other. Whether applying magnifying or wide-angle lenses, Goldingay is closely attentive to the First Testament’s narrative, plot, motifs, tensions, and subtleties. Brimming with insight and energy, and postmodern in its ethos, this book will repeatedly reward readers with fresh and challenging perspectives on God and God’s ways with Israel and the world—as well as Israel’s ways with God.

In this volume, John Goldingay, as usual, presents himself as a knowledgeable, sensitive interpreter who pays close attention to the text and to the faith given through the text. The focus on narrative indicates the peculiar way in which biblical faith is mediated that is not excessively tamed by the usual categories of doctrine, piety, or morality. The title of volume one, Israel’s Gospel, exhibits Goldingay’s acute theological passion, one that warrants close, sustained attention.

—Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary

Old Testament Theology, vol. 2: Israel’s Faith

• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 891

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

In a style that cleaves closely to the text, Goldingay offers up a masterful exposition of the faith of the First Testament, one born of living long with the text and the refined skill of asking interesting questions and listening with trained attention. Never one to sacrifice a close hearing of a text for an easy generality, or to mute a discordant note for the sake of reassuring harmony, Goldingay gives us an Old Testament theology shot through with the edge-of-the-seat vitality of discovery.

The fruit of a lifetime of teaching and reflection, exhaustive in scope and mature in articulation, John Goldingay has assembled a vast reflective account of what the Old Testament says about God, Israel, humanity, and creaturely existence. Goldingay especially enjoys the challenges of the Old Testament for present faith and life, and he rises to them. Comprehensive and engaging.

—Christopher Seitz, professor of biblical interpretation, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto

Old Testament Theology, vol. 3: Israel’s Life

• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 912

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this third volume of his critically acclaimed Old Testament Theology, John Goldingay explores the Old Testament vision of Israel’s life before God. Goldingay sees three spheres of life giving order to Israel’s vision: its life in relation to God, its life in community, and the life of the individual as a self. Within these frameworks he unfurls a tapestry that is as broad and colorful as all of life, and yet detailed in its intricate attention to the text.

With this final volume John Goldingay has given us the third pillar of an Old Testament theology that is monumental in scope and yet invites us to enter through multiple doors to explore its riches. Students will profit from a semester in its courts, and ministers of the Word will find their preaching and teaching deeply enriched by wandering its halls and meditating in its chambers.

The fruits of Goldingay’s lifelong devotion to the study of the Old Testament are visible on every page. This work is a sure and steady guide that will lead the reader into the riches of Israel’s legacy and its God.

—Gary Anderson, professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, University of Notre Dame

In the third and final volume of his massive Old Testament Theology, John Goldingay turns to ethics and explores ‘the life of the children of God’ (Barth). He shows how this is presented as response to the gospel as Israel experienced it and as an expression of their faith in Yhwh. Goldingay sees the ethics of the Old Testament as a direct call to us today: the presentation is as far from antiquarian as it could be. Christians and Jews alike will need to ponder this challenging work.

—John Barton, Oriel & Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford

John Goldingay writes with magisterial knowledge of the biblical texts and a keen eye for how to open them in fresh ways for scholars, teachers, preachers and all serious readers. Drawing deeply and widely on the scholarly literature—and also on literature that most scholars would not think to consult—he demonstrates with utter lucidity and conviction how the Hebrew Scriptures present a vision of life in community that is still sane, salvific, and maybe even more essential for this generation of faith than for our ancestors.

—Dr. Ellen Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke Divinity School

Finally, Goldingay’s OT ethics! In a highly readable fashion he demonstrates masterfully that Israel’s vision of life before God is not irrelevant to modern existence. In fact, the communal shape of Israel’s faith, as well as its profound sense of individual responsibility and freedom, cast our own society’s peculiar sicknesses into sharpest relief and point firmly in the direction of a cure. This is first-rate, thrilling stuff—the appropriate culmination of a glittering trilogy.

—Stephen B. Chapman, associate professor of Old Testament, Duke University

With his characteristic thoroughness and engaging writing style, Goldingay offers a rich reflection on the life God expects of his people. This third volume of his tripartite theology begins with God himself as the appropriate place to ground the meaning and significance of this life. It then turns to explain the centrality of the communities within which individuals share their existence, grow in virtue and find their true self. Faith in action, worship and spirituality as inseparable from ethics, and leadership as service—these are a few of the emphases of the message of the Old Testament developed in this work. Read Israel’s Life and deepen your appreciation of the Old Testament’s relevance . . . and enhance your vision of a life well-lived and pleasing to God.

—M. Daniel Carroll R., professor of Old Testament, Denver Seminary

About John Goldingay

John Goldingay is David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His books include Models for Scripture, Models for Interpretation of Scripture, Walk On, and commentaries on Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel.