Old Testament theology

Last updated March 18, 2023

Old Testament theology is the branch of Biblical theology that seeks theological insight within the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. It explores past and present theological concepts as they pertain to God and God's relationship with creation. While the field started out as a Christian endeavor written mostly by men and aimed to provide an objective knowledge of early revelation, in the twentieth century it became informed by other voices and views, including those of feminist and Jewish scholars, which provided new insights and showed ways that the early work was bound by the perspectives of their authors.^[1]^{: xv ff}

History

The discipline of Old Testament (OT) theology is a rather recent development, barely going back further than the beginning of the nineteenth century. The very name "Old Testament" theology designates it as a particularly Christian enterprise; the conversation with Jewish scholars has been limited.

The earliest investigations of OT theology (OTT) started in recognition of the changing social, political, and religious conditions in which the various OT books were written. But a history-of-religions approach to OT theology soon met the obstacle of deciphering exactly when specific theological concepts developed and re-emerged.

It was not until 1787 that Johann Philipp Gabler made a distinction between dogmatic and biblical theology. Until then the OT was viewed in a systematic sense and only in relationship to New Testament (NT) understanding. Gabler began to study the OT in a critical sense looking at how the theology of ancient Israel would have been reflected in the OT books. This was a new way to look at the OT, as Robyn Routledge wrote in Old Testament Theology, “The OT was not written as a theological document, and a systematic approach necessarily involves imposing an alien order and structure on it.”

Walther Eichrodt wrote his two volume OTT, published in 1933. His approach was similar to Gabler’s in that they both looked for the historical context of the books, but differed by systematizing it. Eichrodt thought that the OT must be read in the way that the ancient Israelites would have, but there is one theme that acts as a “glue” that keeps all the theology together. The theme he saw was the Sinaitic Covenant. He saw other themes as well, but this was the core of the OT. He picked themes that, he thought, came up naturally in the OT, i.e. God and the people, God and the world.

When Gerhard von Rad his OTT in the 1960s, he rejected Eichrodt’s views on a systematic OTT and one central theme in the theology of the OT. He instead emphasized the dynamic nature of the Israelite faith. Von Rad argued that the events of the OT are based on historical events, but the final draft of the OT conveys the events which fit the needs of a new generation. He argued the OT recorded the Heilsgeschichte, a word he coined, which is the story of salvation viewed through the eyes of faithful Israelites.

In the 1970s Phyllis Trible pioneered a Christian feminist approach to OTT, using the approach of rhetorical criticism developed by her dissertation advisor, James Muilenburg.^[2]^{: 158–159}^[3]^[4]

In 1987 the Jewish biblical scholar Jon Levenson published an essay, Why Jews Are Not Interested in Biblical Theology, which challenged the findings and methods of the fields of biblical theology and historical criticism, which has subsequently been widely discussed.^[5]^[6] In the late 1990s his body of work as of that time was reviewed by Marvin A. Sweeney and put in the larger context of the field of biblical theology; Sweeney wrote: "A great deal of his work focuses on the seminal question of identifying the role that Christian theological constructs have played in the reading of biblical literature, even when the reading is presented as historically based objective scholarship, and of developing reading strategies that can remove these constructs in order to let the biblical texts 'speak for themselves.' Work of this kind naturally paves the way for the development of Jewish biblical theology."^[7]

Approaches

Some theologians base their theology solely on observation of the presentation of God found in the sacred documents, a descriptive approach. Others try to establish the message of the text as a normative guide for the Christian church today, a prescriptive approach.

Typology is an approach to biblical interpretation in which an element within the Old Testament is perceived to suggest one found within the New Testament. The first is seen as the type and the completion is recognized as what Bernard Ramm described as the antitype. The type or antitype can be an event, person, or event; however, often the type is related to the messiah and often connected to the idea of salvation. "The use of Biblical typology enjoyed greater popularity in previous centuries, although even now it is by no means ignored as a hermeneutic" (Ramm, 1970, pp. 223).

John Goldingay's evangelical approach to OTT exhibits an interesting concept and has opened up new ways in which to examine the Old Testament and its relationship to Israel and the New Testament. This approach does not attempt to read Jesus into the OT through typology or any other artificial techniques. It does observe that the God of the OT exhibits grace persistently, undeterred by the lack of human obedience or response.

This evangelical approach insists that Jesus operated in the same way as the God who sent Abraham to a new land strictly out of love for him and the people he would guide into the Promised Land. Goldingay stated “The structure of Old Testament faith is itself that structure of the gospel - or rather, the structure of the gospel is the structure of Old Testament faith” (Goldingay, Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation, p. 100). It is the pattern of love in the Old Testament story which fuels the fire that continues in the Gospels. In order to have a true relational (covenant) connection there needs to be a true love relationship. A theological approach which depends entirely on historical facticity ignores the fact that the emphasis of the OT is on this relationship. Events occur and are remembered precisely because they depict elements of the relationship.

Whatever approach is used, interpreters must describe as well as possible what their methodologies and presuppositions are for carrying out their work. Then careful textual, linguistic, literary, historical, semantic, and philosophical exegesis must establish the basic foundational themes and aspects of any OT theology. Currently, a multifaceted and interdisciplinary approach is being developed. Anthropology, sociology, psychology, poetics, and linguistics offer helpful insights to mine the riches of these ancient revelation documents. Paul D. Hanson observed, "the rich diversity of traditions found in the Old Testament does not yield a chaotic theological picture, but one that is both dynamic and unified. The reason is that this approach goes beyond analysis of individual periods or traditions to grasp the overall development of biblical theology, by paying attention to all levels of tradition and all periods."

Identity of God

YHWH (yod, he, vav, he), the name of the God of Israel, is called the tetragrammaton (= four letters). OT scholars believe that the name derives from the Hebrew verb “to be.” The name of God was revealed to Moses in the Old Testament book of Exodus 3:13-15. Through this passage, readers can see the personality of God revealed. Because the earliest writing in the Hebrew language did not utilize vowel marks and the Hebrew people revered God so much that they declined to pronounce the name aloud, the true pronunciation of the name of God has been lost due to a lack of use. Medieval Jewish scholars developed a system for inserting vowel marks into the consonantal text. Due to the tradition of reading aloud the word "adonai" (my Lord) whenever YHWH was encountered in the text, scribes inserted the vowel marks for "adonai" into the consonants Y-H-W-H. Centuries later, German translators of the Hebrew text transliterated the name of God as "Jehowah" and English translators followed the lead producing the word "Jehovah."

The OT presents YHWH as covenant maker and keeper. A covenant is a formal and binding agreement, under seal, between two or more parties, for the performance of some action. Those named in the covenant understand that it is not a trivial matter and the parties are expected to uphold the terms of the covenant. YHWH is portrayed throughout the OT as the initiator of covenants with people. Five main/major covenants give structure to the OT: Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and the New Covenant (as prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel). The first four of these covenants were specific covenants which YHWH made with individuals in a way that affected both them and the people to whom they belonged. Some of the applications of these covenants were specific to the individuals, while other aspects pertained to the nation of Israel and/or the world.

As the initiator of covenants, YHWH is depicted as providing all the necessary conditions for a covenant to occur. Moreover, YHWH is not only maker of the covenant; he is also the keeper of the covenant. His keeping of the covenant, specifically the unconditional covenant was not contingent upon the people keeping their end of the bargain. Even when the people break conditional covenants, YHWH executes a plan to bring them back into the covenant.

Related Research Articles

The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BCE prophet Isaiah ben Amoz, but there is extensive evidence that much of it was composed during the Babylonian captivity and later. Johann Christoph Döderlein suggested in 1775 that the book contained the works of two prophets separated by more than a century, and Bernhard Duhm originated the view, held as a consensus through most of the 20th century, that the book comprises three separate collections of oracles: Proto-Isaiah, containing the words of the 8th-century BCE prophet Isaiah; Deutero-Isaiah, the work of an anonymous 6th-century BCE author writing during the Exile; and Trito-Isaiah, composed after the return from Exile. Isaiah 1–33 promises judgment and restoration for Judah, Jerusalem and the nations, and chapters 34–66 presume that judgment has been pronounced and restoration follows soon. While virtually no scholars today attribute the entire book, or even most of it, to one person, the book's essential unity has become a focus in more recent research.

The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during the 22 years from 593 to 571 BCE, although it is the product of a long and complex history and does not necessarily preserve the very words of the prophet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Testament</span> First division of Christian Bibles

The Old Testament is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in the Koine Greek language.

The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, also known in Hebrew as Miqra, is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures, including the Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. Different branches of Judaism and Samaritanism have maintained different versions of the canon, including the 3rd-century Septuagint text used in Second Temple Judaism, the Syriac Peshitta, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and most recently the 10th-century medieval Masoretic Text compiled by the Masoretes, currently used in Rabbinic Judaism. The terms "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Canon" are frequently confused with the Masoretic Text, however, this is a medieval version and one of several texts considered authoritative by different types of Judaism throughout history. The current edition of the Masoretic Text is mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with a few passages in Biblical Aramaic.

Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Covenant (biblical)</span> Religious concept in the Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible makes reference to a number of covenants with God (YHWH). These include the Noahic Covenant, which is between God and all living creatures, as well as a number of more specific covenants with Abraham, the whole Israelite people, the Israelite priesthood, and the Davidic lineage of kings. In form and terminology, these covenants echo the kinds of treaty agreements in the surrounding ancient world.

Jehovah is a Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָה‎Yəhōwā, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה‎ (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton יהוה is considered one of the seven names of God in Judaism and a form of God's name in Christianity.

In contrast to the variety of absolute or personal names of God in the Old Testament, the New Testament uses only two, according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.

The New Testament frequently cites Jewish scripture to support the claim of the Early Christians that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah, but few of these citations are actual predictions in their original context. The majority of these quotations and references are taken from the Book of Isaiah, but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.

The servant songs are four songs in the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, which include Isaiah 42:1–4; Isaiah 49:1–6; Isaiah 50:4–11; and Isaiah 52:13–53:12. The songs are four poems written about a certain "servant of YHWH". Yahweh calls the servant to lead the nations, but the servant is horribly abused by them. In the end, he is rewarded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosaic authorship</span> Belief that the Torah was dictated to Moses by God

Mosaic authorship is the Judeo-Christian tradition that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, were dictated by God to Moses. The tradition probably began with the legalistic code of the Book of Deuteronomy and was then gradually extended until Moses, as the central character, came to be regarded not just as the mediator of law but as author of both laws and narrative.

This is a glossary of terms used in Christianity.

The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament both contain narratives, poems, and instructions which describe, encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish and regulate violent actions by God, individuals, groups, governments, and nation-states. Among the violent acts included are war, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, murder, rape, genocide, and criminal punishment. The texts have a history of interpretation within the Abrahamic religions and Western culture that includes both justification of and opposition to acts of violence.

John Edgar Goldingay is a British Old Testament scholar and translator and Anglican cleric. He is the David Allan Hubbard Professor Emeritus of Old Testament in the School of Theology of Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

Phyllis Trible is a feminist biblical scholar from Richmond, Virginia, United States. Trible's scholarship focuses on the Hebrew Bible and she is noted for her prominent influence on feminist biblical interpretation. Trible has written a multitude of books on interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and has lectured around the world, including the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada, and a number of countries in Europe.

Samuel Lucien Terrien was a French-American Protestant theologian and biblical scholar. A professor at Union Theological Seminary for thirty-six years, he is known for his biblical commentary, particularly for his scholarly contributions to the study of Job and the Psalms in the Old Testament and for his book, The Elusive Presence (1978), in which he presented a new theology of the presence and absence of God written largely in the context of cult, not covenant. It incorporated both Old and New Testaments in a broader ecumenical context and introduced a way for future theologians to ask how the presence of God is experienced by engaging the wisdom traditions to explore how ‘empirical observation can testify to a divine presence in human life just as visionary experiences can.'

Isaiah 52 is the fifty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This chapter includes from verse 13 the start of the fourth of the songs of the "Suffering Servant".

Isaiah 50 is the fiftieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This chapter includes the third of the songs of the "Suffering Servant".

Isaiah 49 is the forty-ninth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This chapter includes the second of the songs of the "Suffering Servant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua 24</span> Book of Joshua chapter

Joshua 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records Joshua's final address to the people of Israel, that ends with a renewal of the covenant with YHWH, and the appendices of the book, a part of a section comprising Joshua 22:1–24:33 about the Israelites preparing for life in the land of Canaan.

References

↑ Brueggemann, Walter (1997). Theology of the Old Testament : testimony, dispute, advocacy ([Nachdr.]. ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800630874.
↑ Tull, Patricia K. (1999). "Chapter 8: Rhetorical Criticism and Intertextuality". In Haynes, Stephen R.; McKenzie, Steven L. (eds.). To each its own meaning : an introduction to biblical criticisms and their applications (Rev. and expanded. ed.). Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664257842.
↑ "Finding Aid for Phyllis Trible Papers, 1954-2015" (PDF). Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship The Burke Library Columbia University Libraries Union Theological Seminary, New York. 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
↑ Vater, Ann M. (1980). "Review of God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality". Journal of Biblical Literature. 99 (1): 131–133. doi:10.2307/3265712. JSTOR 3265712.
↑ Barr, James (2009). The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Fortress Press. pp. 29ff. ISBN 9781451410259.
↑ Levenson, Jon (1987). "Why Jews Are Not Interested in Biblical Theology". In Neusner, Jacob; Levine, Baruch A.; Frerichs, Ernest S.; McCracken-Flesher, Caroline (eds.). Judaic perspectives on ancient Israel. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. pp. 281–307. ISBN 978-0800608323.
↑ Sweeney, Marvin A. (1997). "Why Jews Are Interested in Biblical Theology: A Retrospective on the Work of Jon D. Levenson". Jewish Book Annual. 55–56: 134–168.

Bibliography

Atkinson, David J., David H. Field, Arthur F. Holmes, and Oliver O'Donovan. New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1995.
Birch, Bruce; Brueggemann, Walter; Fretheim, Terence, and Petersen, David. A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd ed. Abingdon Press, 2005. ISBN 9780-6870-66766.
Dray, Peter "Isaiah 52:13-53: Isaiah on the Suffering Servant," Evangel, (2008).
Duffield, G. P., & Van Cleave, N. M., Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Los Angeles: L.I.F.E. Bible College, 1983.
Durousseau, Clifford. "Yah: A Name of God," Jewish Bible Quarterly, (2014).
Eichrodt, Walther. Theology of the Old Testament, vols. 1 and 2, The Old Testament Library series. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961.
Ellis, Robert. "The Remarkable Suffering Servant of Isaiah 40-55," Southwestern Journal of Theology (1991).
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2013.
Hasel, Gerhard F., Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, IVth Ed., 1991.
Maller, Allen S. "Isaiah's Suffering Servant: A New View," Jewish Bible Quarterly, 37 no 4 (Oct - Dec 2009).
Mocan, Beneamin. "Goldingay’s Evangelical Approach To The Old Testament: A Description and Critical Assessment of his Methodology." Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theology, Vol. 7, Issue 2, (2013).
Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Biblical Interpretation. Baker, 1970.
Routledge, Robin. Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach. IVP Academic, 2008. ISBN 9780-8308-39926
Schreiber, Mordecai. "The Real Suffering Servant: Decoding A Controversial Passage In the Bible," Jewish Bible Quarterly, 37 no 1 (Jan - Mar 2009).
Trible, Phyllis (1973). "Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 41 (1): 30–48. JSTOR 1461386.
Trible, Phyllis (1978). God and the rhetoric of sexuality (1st ed.). Philadelphia: Fortress Press. ISBN 0800604644.
von Rad, Gerhard. Old Testament Theology, vols. 1 and 2. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1962.
Waters, Larry J. "The Gospel according to Isaiah 53: Encountering The Suffering Servant in Jewish and Christian Theology," ATLA, (2012).

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[1] Brueggemann, Walter (1997). Theology of the Old Testament : testimony, dispute, advocacy ([Nachdr.]. ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0800630874.

[2] Tull, Patricia K. (1999). "Chapter 8: Rhetorical Criticism and Intertextuality". In Haynes, Stephen R.; McKenzie, Steven L. (eds.). To each its own meaning : an introduction to biblical criticisms and their applications (Rev. and expanded. ed.). Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0664257842.

[UTSaid-3] "Finding Aid for Phyllis Trible Papers, 1954-2015" (PDF). Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship The Burke Library Columbia University Libraries Union Theological Seminary, New York. 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

[4] Vater, Ann M. (1980). "Review of God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality". Journal of Biblical Literature. 99 (1): 131–133. doi:10.2307/3265712. JSTOR 3265712.

[5] Barr, James (2009). The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Fortress Press. pp. 29ff. ISBN 9781451410259.

[6] Levenson, Jon (1987). "Why Jews Are Not Interested in Biblical Theology". In Neusner, Jacob; Levine, Baruch A.; Frerichs, Ernest S.; McCracken-Flesher, Caroline (eds.). Judaic perspectives on ancient Israel. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. pp. 281–307. ISBN 978-0800608323.

[7] Sweeney, Marvin A. (1997). "Why Jews Are Interested in Biblical Theology: A Retrospective on the Work of Jon D. Levenson". Jewish Book Annual. 55–56: 134–168.

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