Toward an Old Testament Theology

Recognizing the major crisis in biblical theology, namely the inability of the discipline to restate and reapply the authority of the Bible, Walter Kaiser here offers a solution to the unresolved issues of definition and methodology in Old Testament theology. A proper understanding of biblical theology, explains the author, 'shows us an inner center of plan to which each biblical writer consciously and deliberately contributed; however, this inner biblical unity, which biblical theologians traditionally have been loathe to adopt for fear of gratuitously imposing a grid of their own devising over the text, is a center that is inductively supplied and confirmed by the text of Scripture itself. That center is the promise of God.'

In Part I of his book, Dr. Kaiser discusses the inherent difficulty in determining the true nature, method, scope, and motivation for Old Testament theology. In Part II, he applies his solutions clearly and methodically by chronologically discussing the Old Testament eras from the Prepatriarchical (Prolegomena to the Promise) to that of the Postexillic (Triumph of the Promise). A special section examines the connections between Old and New Testament theology.

'This textbook is different,' says Dr. Kaiser, 'in that it takes the Bible's own system of organization as the solution to the very issues that have perplexed us the most, while also strictly observing the historical sequence of divine revelation.' Toward an Old Testament Theology includes an annotated bibliography and topical, Scripture, and name indexes.