Faith, Work, and Economics
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 59, No. 2 - Spring 2017
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
An Introduction to the Old Testament: Exploring Text, Approaches & Issues. By John Goldingay. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015. 394 pages. Hardcover, $45.00.
For almost two decades, John Goldingay has taught Old Testament at Fuller Seminary. He previously taught at St. John’s Theological College in Nottingham, England. His publications span four decades, and evangelical scholars have long recognized his expertise. This introduction aims to enable students to study the Old Testament on their own. Goldingay does not intend to teach, but offer guidance as to how one should read the Bible. He does this through introductions to various issues that never span more than two pages. This method gives enough information for readers to know how to approach questions in the text, as well as where to look for further information.
Readers will find many helpful topics addressed. Helpful items include book outlines, introductions to biblical genres, and a framework for understanding the grand narrative of the Bible. He addresses the major themes of the Old Testament with the purpose of showing how themes develop throughout the Bible to culminate in the coming of the Messiah. Goldingay also shows great concern for the spiritual life of his readers. He desires that they read the Bible devotionally as well as academically.
Despite these positive contributions, and his pastoral intent, the book will not find acceptance with many evangelicals. Goldingay compares the features of story and history, arguing that the Bible most resembles a popular movie, rather than a documentary film—more story than history as moderns understand it. Goldingay contends that much of the Old Testament is parabolic in nature. He suggests Jonah, Esther, and Ruth most resemble parables, and that the Old Testament includes “fictional stories” (29). Since none of the sections in his book exceeds two pages, he often does not offer adequate support for these positions. This may lead readers to assume that most evangelical scholars hold these views, when in fact they do not. On the Exodus, for instance, he refers to a range of perspectives, but only refers to one evangelical—James Hoffmeier. He then states that most of the world considers it “pure fiction,” but he thinks “it is based on some real events,” because it is “unlikely that God inspired pure fiction here” (90). Readers may assume that most evangelical scholars agree, which they do not. The historicity of the exodus has long been a point of contention between evangelicals and certain sectors of the broader academic world.
These critical interpretations of biblical narratives reveal deeper theological presuppositions. He states that “there are no grounds within Scripture or outside Scripture for saying that the whole of Scripture is factual,” and that biblical inerrancy is “not based on Scripture” (26). Southern Baptists affirm that Scripture is without “any mixture of error” (2000 BF&M, Article I).
Goldingday continues, “I trust the OT because I trust Jesus” (27). However, it seems that his views on the origins and nature of Scripture differ from Jesus’s own views. For instance, he states that “we can know that Moses didn’t write the Torah, [and] Isaiah didn’t write all of Isaiah and so on” (31). Contrary to this statement, Jesus attributes words from the so-called deutero-Isaiah as “what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah” (Matt 8:17, HCSB). Jesus also speaks of what Moses spoke and proceeds to quote Deuteronomy. Goldingay knows this, because he presents counterarguments to Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy (124). Apparently though, for Goldingay one can trust the Old Testament through Jesus and disagree with Jesus about the Old Testament. Despite these differences with most evangelicals, Goldingay deserves praise for his forthrightness. Too often, scholars have hidden behind ambiguous statements. Goldingay’s honesty makes the distinctions between his perspective and others clear.
The book’s format is unique. It is divided into five major sections—introductory matters, three sections that follow the Hebrew Old Testament sections of Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and a final section that considers the Old Testament as a whole. Each section contains a list of topics, followed by brief discussions of each topic. The discussions never surpass two pages in length. For topics that Goldingay does not address, the final page of each section gives a list of other topics that he has addressed on his website. The topic lists in each section exclude page numbers. It numbers the topic, but requires thumbing through topic headings to find the topical number. Since the book’s interior sections all exceed 80 pages and 40 topics, finding topics may not seem easy at first.
Although an expert in Old Testament studies, Goldingay’s presuppositions about the nature of the text differ from Southern Baptist convictions to such a degree that SBC seminaries and colleges could only use the textbook with critical interaction and supplemental readings. Southern Baptist pastors would find more value in other introductions, such as House and Mitchell’s Old Testament Survey (B&H Academic, 2007), or Grisanti, Rooker, and Merrill’s The Word and the World (B&H Academic, 2011).
