Contours of Old Testament Theology

3. Old Testament Theology in the Twentieth Century

3. O L D TESTAMENT THEOLOGY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Before venturing into a treatment of biblical theology of the Old Testament, let us pause to consider what has been going on in this field, especially in the twenti­ eth century. For centuries there was no separate discipline of biblical theology,- rather, the issues of biblical theology were dealt with in the context of church dogmatics or the system of Christian doctrine. A modern example of this would be Karl Barth's multivolume Kircblkhe Dogmatik (Church Dogmatics), which, when dealing with the various rubrics of doctrine (e.g., the doctrine of creation), gives extended treat­ ment to the biblical witness on the subject.' Some biblical theologians insist that the only way to do biblical theology is to organize the discussion according to the rubrics of doctrinal theology, which are broadly: God, humanity, salvation, eschatology. This approach has been stoutly defended by Robert Dentan, among others, in his Preface to Old Testament Theology? In the discussion of methodology—how to go about doing biblical theol­ ogy—a fundamental question is the meaning of the preposition "of" in "theology of the Old Testament." Is there a theology of (subjective genitive) the Old Testament, one that is intrinsic to the Old Testament itself? Or is there a theology related to, or in accord with, the Bible that is the product of theological reflection from a Christian standpoint? Brevard Childs's magnum opus, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (1992), is compatible with a dogmatic approach, as evident from some of the chapter titles in the final section entitled "Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible." These chapters include 'The Identity of God," "God the Creator," "Covenant, Election, People of God," and "Reconciliation with God." The Rise oj Biblical Theology The rise of biblical theology as a discipline separate from dogmatic theology is usually traced back to the inaugural lecture in 1787 of Johann Phillip Gabler at the University of Altdorf, Germany, "A Discourse on the Proper Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology and the Correct Delimitation of Their Boundaries."3 In this lecture Gabler declared that the two disciplines differ because 1. Karl Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik, 5 vols, in 14 (Zurich: Evangelische Verlag, 1932-1970); Church Dogmatics, 5 vols, in 14, trans. G. W. Bromiley, et al. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1936-1977). 2. Robert C. Dentan, A Preface to Old Testament Theology (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1950); this approach is elaborated in idem, The Knowledge of God in Ancient Israel (New York: Seabury, 1968). 3. The English translation from the Latin is by J. Sandys-Wunsch and L. Eldridge, "J. P. Gabler and the Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology," SJT 33 (1980) 133-58. See Rolf P. Knierim, "On Gabler," in The Task of Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 495-556. 16 Old Testament Theology in the Twentieth Century 17 each uses a different method: the biblical theologian uses a historical approach, while the systematic theologian has a didactic interest, to give teaching (doctrine) to the church. The first step for the biblical theologian, according to Gabler, is to consider the historical context (period, authorship, social circumstance); the next step is to compare the various historical texts to see where they agree or disagree,- the final step is to sift out what is historically incidental from what is timelessly true. It is this "pure biblical theology," freed from what is temporary and passing, that the dogmatic theologian uses in setting forth teaching for the church. Thus biblical theology stands over against dogmatic theology, the one being basically historical and the other doctrinal. Gabler raised a new question, but he was unable to give a constructive answer that stood the test of discussion. In his search for ideas that are timelessly and uni­ versally valid, he was too much under the influence of the rationalism of the Enlightenment. In retrospect it is evident that his groundbreaking essay only opened up the question of what biblical theology is and the method appropriate to the discipline.4 History of Salvation A creative attempt to take seriously the historical character of Scripture was made by Johann Christian Hoffmann (1810-1877). He espoused the view that the Bible presents a "history of salvation" {Heilsgeschkbte), that is, an unfolding drama of God's saving purpose, manifested in crucial events. Hoffman was influenced by the "federal" or "covenant" theology of John Koch, or Cocceius (d. 1669), one of the early Protestant theologians. In his Summa...