joshg2fl's Full Review: New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the...
I saw someone interviewed once, and they said to skip film school and watch DVD commentaries. It sounds like decent advise. The advice came back to me as I worked my way through the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. For those folks so inclined to try out a Bible college…or, perhaps a seminary…my advice is to skip year one, take about 6 months off work, (get some good mentorship) and read good books. The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology should be an essential piece of the first stages of your theological training.
The book is split into three parts:
1. Introductory articles
2. Descriptions of the books of the Bible
3. Lengthy definitions of key Biblical themes.
You will note that this is a dictionary of “Biblical Theology”. This is different from what people usually know as systematic theology. Systematic theology tends to take a concept such as sin and “systematically” search the Bible to see what is said on the subject. Biblical theology takes a theme (such as sin, but also…creation, light, priests, etc.) and follow that theme as it is revealed through the chronological story line of the Bible. Think of studying through narrative instead of using a list of facts.
1. Introductory Articles
This 866 page volume would be worth its price if it only included the opening articles…it’s sort of like the All Star game of the evangelical world. Brian Rosner opens things up with a description of Biblical Theology (BT). Charles Scobie follows with a history of BT. Kevin Vanhoozer wastes not one word as he writes on exegesis and hermeneutics…this article is precise and one of the best in the book. …Blomberg, Graeme Goldsworthy, Carson, and more all contribute to what is said in the first 100 or so pages of this volume.
It’s a wide variety of topics all related to components of Biblical Theology. Each article offers essential reading to the person being introduced to this genre of theology. Additionally, each article flows nicely into the next, each one seeming to build off the previous one. As I read, I wondered how the editors coordinated the writing of these articles. To accomplish a task like this, it would seem that each author would be writing individually at the same time, and yet, each author seemed to have read the other articles before they wrote. Many of the authors have written previously on their topics, so perhaps this related to how things were orchestrated.
2. Book Descriptions
A key element to Biblical Theology is being able to keep the whole in mind as you read individual parts. This is what makes BT so difficult on the scholarly level, scholarship has become so specific that people focus on individual books of the Bible. There are few scholars who attempt to bridge both Testaments.
Therefore, it is very useful to be able to have a source that gives you brief overviews of different books of the Bible by scholarly men who have written commentaries on the books. So, for example, you have a discussion of Kings by Iain Provan, Isaiah by John Oswalt, Luke…Darrell Bock, Romans…Douglas Moo, the list goes on and on. It’s an amazing thing to have this sort of an abbreviated resource available in one spot.
Because this is a book on Biblical Theology, most of the authors in this section relate each book to what’s going on in the Bible as a whole. They mention how different themes progress in their books. For example, Oswalt brings out themes of judgement and hope, trust, creation, and salvation as he covers Isaiah. Duguid has a section in his discussion of Ezekiel that speaks to ‘Themes from Ezekial in the New Testament’. Moo brings up many themes while discussion Romans: salvation history, the law, Israel, and more. All of these authors tie their books in with the overall unity of the Bible.
3. Definitions
It is a Dictionary after all…and the editors have saved a good 500 pages for definitions. While it would be hard to complain about this section of the book, this is the only section that I’ve noticed being a little choppy. Many authors are represented in this section as many themes need to be discussed, and some authors do a better job than others in discussing their topic.
For example, only two pages are given to the topic of “peace”. While Stanley Porter fits a lot into this description, three paragraphs for Old Testament peace and six for New Testament peace with merely brief references to Genesis and Revelation seems to be a little skimpy. However, other themes are drawn out quite nicely. The hits are much more frequent than the misses in this section of the book.
This book can be used as a great reference tool. Perhaps, you are teaching on a passage that relates to a certain theme of the Bible. This resource would be perfect to give you a broad scope of the book you are studying as well as a concise summary of how that theme is carried out throughout the Bible.
This book is more than just a dictionary resource, though. The opening articles really present a huge amount of introductory information on what Biblical Theology is and where it has come from. The editors really were kind to put this into one volume instead of splitting it into two and charging us twice for it.
It’s a resource that I recommend to any pastor, Sunday school teacher, or anyone interested in understanding the large scope of the Bible in a deeper fashion. Additionally, to anyone interested in skipping out on the first year of Bible college…it will be useful to you as well. Feel free to send me half of the 10,000 bucks you save as a thank you.
The best single-volume reference work on biblical theology available. Editors T. Desmond Alexander, Brian S. Rosner, D.A. Carson, and Graeme Goldswort...More at Christianbook.com
This dictionary is an essential building block of every library of biblical references. Building on its two companion volumes, the New Dictionary of B...More at Buy.com
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