Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
Greetings,
Personal Note: I have been away from the PB for a month or more due to business matters including a potential lawsuit. But I think everything will work out. I never got anxious through it all. God is so good to me.
The book I am reading, by James M. Hamilton Jr., says YES! The title is, God's Salvation Through Judgment—A Biblical Theology. I will send a PDF of the title page, contents, and first chapter. (pardon my highlighting) I had to cut out about 15 pages due to the PB file size limit.
Everything he said so far rings true to what I have believed for some time. What was new to me is that so many scholars do not agree with his thesis.
Here's what the author claims is the Center of both testaments: (he repeats it over and over–maybe to a fault) This story of salvation history is a story of "God’s glory in salvation through judgment."
Below is a paragraph or two of many different views of the Bible's Center. This is what was new to me. I would appreciate your thoughts.
3. Mere Anarchy Is Loosed upon the World: The Plethora of Proposed Centers
Scholars have proposed an almost bewildering array of themes each of which contends for the claim to centrality in Old Testament theology, New Testament theology, and biblical theology. These include: God’s self-revelation, God as the Lord, the holiness of God, God’s steadfast love, the sovereignty of God, God’s name, God’s rule, God’s kingdom, God’s presence, God’s design, God’s election of Israel, the organizing principle of the covenant, promise-fulfillment, the new creation, God himself, and Jesus.74 The criticisms of these proposals come down to the objection that they are either too broad or too narrow.75 D. A. Carson, for instance, objecting to the proposal that Jesus is the center of New Testament Theology, writes, “Although at one level that is saying everything at another level it is saying almost nothing.”76 Too general. On the other end, Hasel writes, “Any center of the NT (or the Bible) is not broad, deep, and wide enough to do justice to the whole canonical NT.”77 Too narrow. The validity of these criticisms is attested to by the multiplication of proposals. Unsatisfied scholars continue to search for an adequate center. Joining them, I contend that there is a theme that has not been seriously considered, a theme broad enough to encompass all the data while also being focused enough to help readers of the Bible organize what they find in all the texts they read.
Some conclude that the very fact that so many “centers” have been proposed proves that there is no center. Carson writes: “The pursuit of the center is chimerical. NT theology is so interwoven that one can move from any one topic to any other topic. We will make better progress by pursuing clusters of broadly common themes, which may not be common to all NT books.”78 Andreas Köstenberger concurs: “The quest for a single center of NT theology is misguided and should be replaced with an approach that recognizes several themes as an integrated whole.… The search for a single center of the NT should be abandoned. It seems more promising to search for a plurality of integrative motifs.”79 Elmer Martens writes similarly of Old Testament Theology: “One must speak, therefore, of a unity forged via interlocking traditions; the language … of trajectories and boundaries rather than ‘center.’ By the end of the twentieth century, a consensus of sorts emerged questioning the viability of a center.”80 And Charles Scobie writes regarding biblical theology: “It is difficult to understand the obsession with finding one single theme or ‘center’ for OT or NT theology, and more so for an entire BT. It is widely held today that the quest for a single center has failed.… It is the multithematic approach that holds most promise.”81
In spite of the judgment of these respected scholars, it must be observed that their statements do not seem to have taken into account one theme that has only recently been put forward as the center of biblical theology: the glory of God.82[1]
75 So also Eugene H. Merrill, Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006), 20, 27. Merrill’s own proposed center is something of a short exposition of Gen. 1:26–28: the sovereign God glorifying himself through man, the agent through whom God will fulfill his purposes (ibid., 27, 647).
76 D. A. Carson, “New Testament Theology,” DLNTD, 810.
77 Hasel, New Testament Theology, 164.
78 Carson, “New Testament Theology,” 810.
79 Köstenberger, “Diversity and Unity in the New Testament,” 154.
80 Martens, Old Testament Theology, 57.
81 Scobie, The Ways of Our God, 87.
82 Virtually everything that John Piper has written argues for the centrality of the glory of God, and Thomas R. Schreiner presents the glory of God in Christ as the center of Paul’s theology in Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001), 15–35. Bruce Waltke agrees: “The ultimate theological truth that unifies the whole of Scripture is the irruption of the merciful King’s rule to his glory” (An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007], 61, cf. also 144). As this study was in preparation, Schreiner’s New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008) appeared, also arguing for the centrality of the glory of God in Christ. Systematic theologians have long recognized the centrality of the glory of God, but in summaries of the discussion of the center of Old Testament, New Testament, Pauline, or biblical theology, the proposal does not appear. See, e.g., H. G. Reventlow, “Theology (Biblical), History of,” ABD, 6:483–505; Werner E. Lemke, “Theology (OT),” in ABD, 6:449–73; Robert Morgan, “Theology (NT),” in ABD, 6:473–83; R. P. Martin, “Center of Paul’s Theology,” in DPL, 92–95; Joseph Plevnik, “The Center of Pauline Theology,” CBQ 51 (1989): 461–78.
[1] Hamilton, J. M., Jr. (2010). God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (pp. 51–52). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Personal Note: I have been away from the PB for a month or more due to business matters including a potential lawsuit. But I think everything will work out. I never got anxious through it all. God is so good to me.
The book I am reading, by James M. Hamilton Jr., says YES! The title is, God's Salvation Through Judgment—A Biblical Theology. I will send a PDF of the title page, contents, and first chapter. (pardon my highlighting) I had to cut out about 15 pages due to the PB file size limit.
Everything he said so far rings true to what I have believed for some time. What was new to me is that so many scholars do not agree with his thesis.
Here's what the author claims is the Center of both testaments: (he repeats it over and over–maybe to a fault) This story of salvation history is a story of "God’s glory in salvation through judgment."
Below is a paragraph or two of many different views of the Bible's Center. This is what was new to me. I would appreciate your thoughts.
3. Mere Anarchy Is Loosed upon the World: The Plethora of Proposed Centers
Scholars have proposed an almost bewildering array of themes each of which contends for the claim to centrality in Old Testament theology, New Testament theology, and biblical theology. These include: God’s self-revelation, God as the Lord, the holiness of God, God’s steadfast love, the sovereignty of God, God’s name, God’s rule, God’s kingdom, God’s presence, God’s design, God’s election of Israel, the organizing principle of the covenant, promise-fulfillment, the new creation, God himself, and Jesus.74 The criticisms of these proposals come down to the objection that they are either too broad or too narrow.75 D. A. Carson, for instance, objecting to the proposal that Jesus is the center of New Testament Theology, writes, “Although at one level that is saying everything at another level it is saying almost nothing.”76 Too general. On the other end, Hasel writes, “Any center of the NT (or the Bible) is not broad, deep, and wide enough to do justice to the whole canonical NT.”77 Too narrow. The validity of these criticisms is attested to by the multiplication of proposals. Unsatisfied scholars continue to search for an adequate center. Joining them, I contend that there is a theme that has not been seriously considered, a theme broad enough to encompass all the data while also being focused enough to help readers of the Bible organize what they find in all the texts they read.
Some conclude that the very fact that so many “centers” have been proposed proves that there is no center. Carson writes: “The pursuit of the center is chimerical. NT theology is so interwoven that one can move from any one topic to any other topic. We will make better progress by pursuing clusters of broadly common themes, which may not be common to all NT books.”78 Andreas Köstenberger concurs: “The quest for a single center of NT theology is misguided and should be replaced with an approach that recognizes several themes as an integrated whole.… The search for a single center of the NT should be abandoned. It seems more promising to search for a plurality of integrative motifs.”79 Elmer Martens writes similarly of Old Testament Theology: “One must speak, therefore, of a unity forged via interlocking traditions; the language … of trajectories and boundaries rather than ‘center.’ By the end of the twentieth century, a consensus of sorts emerged questioning the viability of a center.”80 And Charles Scobie writes regarding biblical theology: “It is difficult to understand the obsession with finding one single theme or ‘center’ for OT or NT theology, and more so for an entire BT. It is widely held today that the quest for a single center has failed.… It is the multithematic approach that holds most promise.”81
In spite of the judgment of these respected scholars, it must be observed that their statements do not seem to have taken into account one theme that has only recently been put forward as the center of biblical theology: the glory of God.82[1]
74 For documentation of who proposed these centers and where, see Hamilton, “The Glory of God in Salvation through Judgment,” 65–70.75 So also Eugene H. Merrill, Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2006), 20, 27. Merrill’s own proposed center is something of a short exposition of Gen. 1:26–28: the sovereign God glorifying himself through man, the agent through whom God will fulfill his purposes (ibid., 27, 647).
76 D. A. Carson, “New Testament Theology,” DLNTD, 810.
77 Hasel, New Testament Theology, 164.
78 Carson, “New Testament Theology,” 810.
79 Köstenberger, “Diversity and Unity in the New Testament,” 154.
80 Martens, Old Testament Theology, 57.
81 Scobie, The Ways of Our God, 87.
82 Virtually everything that John Piper has written argues for the centrality of the glory of God, and Thomas R. Schreiner presents the glory of God in Christ as the center of Paul’s theology in Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001), 15–35. Bruce Waltke agrees: “The ultimate theological truth that unifies the whole of Scripture is the irruption of the merciful King’s rule to his glory” (An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007], 61, cf. also 144). As this study was in preparation, Schreiner’s New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008) appeared, also arguing for the centrality of the glory of God in Christ. Systematic theologians have long recognized the centrality of the glory of God, but in summaries of the discussion of the center of Old Testament, New Testament, Pauline, or biblical theology, the proposal does not appear. See, e.g., H. G. Reventlow, “Theology (Biblical), History of,” ABD, 6:483–505; Werner E. Lemke, “Theology (OT),” in ABD, 6:449–73; Robert Morgan, “Theology (NT),” in ABD, 6:473–83; R. P. Martin, “Center of Paul’s Theology,” in DPL, 92–95; Joseph Plevnik, “The Center of Pauline Theology,” CBQ 51 (1989): 461–78.
[1] Hamilton, J. M., Jr. (2010). God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (pp. 51–52). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.