Jesus Creed
We continue our series today on suggested readings for post seminary and pastors. Last week we did the New Testament, today we turn to the Old Testament.
By Jason Gile, who is a professor of Old Testament and Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs at Northern Seminary.
1. Although accessible to lay people, even seminary graduates will benefit from Christopher Wright’s How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth. His excellent descriptions of the purpose of Israel’s election, the meaning of the Torah, and Jesus as the climax of the OT story, along with his treatments of the prophetic and wisdom books, are worth the time even for those who already have familiarity with the Old Testament.
2. Michael Goheen’s A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story is the best introduction to the Bible as the story of God’s mission through God’s people. Goheen succinctly captures the key missional themes of scripture as they unfold in the grand narrative.
3. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Wright argues that the concept of God’s mission through Israel is the primary theological theme that undergirds the biblical story. Wright relates Jesus to Israel’s mission in a way that will cause you to see both testaments with fresh eyes.
4. Walter Brueggemann, Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes. This is an insightful theological summary and a useful reference for preaching and teaching.
5. Yairah Amit, Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible. Amit wonderfully describes the literary artistry with which biblical narrators shaped their stories and its significance for interpretation.
6. These three important books rightly challenge modern assumptions about authorship in the ancient world:
In Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, Karel van der Toorn argues that OT books were produced not generally by a single author, but by the collective activity of Israel’s professional scribes. In Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature, David Carr shows how orality and performance influenced the shaping of the Hebrew Bible. Those looking to understand the implications for a doctrine of scripture will want to engage John Walton and Brent Sandy’s The Lost World of Scripture.
Jason added a few more:
John Goldingay, Do We Need the New Testament?
Jon Levenson, The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (last year’s Jesus Creed Book of the Year)
Zondervan’s Counterpoint Series on Genesis: Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither? OR Four Views on the Historical Adam.
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