The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
Biblical Theology: A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach
Andreas J. Köstenberger and Gregory Goswell
Crossway (2023). 981 pp.
Three major scholarly critiques pose challenges for biblical theology as a discipline. The first is the question of whether one can even do “canonical” biblical theology when the historical record demonstrates that, to a certain extent, canonical lists varied in order and content. The second is the recognition that we cannot do biblical theology without presuppositions, which interrogates whether biblical theology can be inductive-thematic without prior creedal commitments guiding the biblical-theological process. The third is the impasse in the debate about a “center” in the theology of the OT or NT.
Andreas J. Köstenberger and Gregory Goswell’s Biblical Theology: a Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach is a landmark volume that advances the discipline of biblical theology by addressing these three critiques. The authors together form an eminently qualified duo for a theology of the biblical canon. Biblical Theology is organized into two parts, bracketed by an introductory chapter (1) and a conclusion (13). Part 1 begins with an orientation to the OT framework (ch. 2), followed by successive chapters that cover the corpora of the OT in a book-by-book, inductive fashion—the Law (ch. 3), Prophets (ch. 4), and Writings (ch. 5). Similarly, part 2 begins with an orientation to the order of the books of the NT canon (ch. 6), a chapter on the relationship between the OT and NT (ch. 7), and successive chapters on the Gospels (ch. 8), Acts (ch. 9), the Letters of Paul (ch. 10), the General Epistles (ch. 11), and the Apocalypse (ch. 12).
Chapters 1–2 and 6–7, as prolegomena to the OT and NT, showcase the hermeneutical commitments of the authors. In Chapter 1, the authors begin by defining biblical theology as “the theology of the biblical writers themselves” as opposed to “our own theology, or that of our church or denomination” (p. 2). With this definition, the authors differentiate biblical theology from systematic theology, arguing that the former is a relay-runner whose lap must precede that of the latter (pp. 8–9). Thus, it is not surprising that in pp. 15–18, the authors take an appreciative yet critical stance towards the recent movement known as the Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS), which argues that creedal commitments must be the starting point rather than purely the destination of exegesis. On the other hand, the authors acknowledge that they have learned from the efforts of TIS and they begin their project with the prior theological commitment to Scripture as the canonically-structured, inspired word of God given to the church (pp. 17–18).
The authors subsequently define their method as historical, inductive, and descriptive (pp. 24–27). This method furnishes their overall approach to biblical theology, which is threefold: canonical, thematic, and ethical. Each of these facets is immensely fruitful, but the first is arguably the most significant contribution of Biblical Theology. Throughout the volume, the authors pay close attention to, and find meaning in, the structuring of the canon and the ordering of the biblical books. For example, in manuscripts and canon lists (in Christian and Jewish traditions), the Torah consistently stands as the gateway of the OT, signaling its formative role in the storyline of Scripture (pp. 69–70). The same can be said of the four-fold Gospel as the foundational entryway to the NT (pp. 347–53). Similar insights abound regarding intra-canonical interactions within the tripartite OT (pp. 67–80), and the NT structure of Gospel, Acts, the Pauline Corpus, the General Epistles, and Revelation (pp. 347–66). Variations in these orders yield diverse yet complementary interpretations of Scripture’s cohesive narrative. For example, the authors explore the significance in the differing canonical endings of the OT—Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel, Malachi, or Esther (pp. 90–104). The fact that ancient readers (Jewish and Christian) placed one of these five books at the end of the OT signals a consistent hermeneutic within the OT itself: it ends with “an eschatological goal in view . . . namely, the hope of the coming of God’s kingdom” (p. 104). With this canonical approach, the authors have responded to the criticism that biblical theology is artificial in relation to the history of canon formation (the first critique mentioned above). Likewise, the authors’ reception of a theologically structured biblical canon as a starting point appreciates (even if implicitly) that a prior theological commitment to Scripture’s integrity is a prerequisite to inductive biblical theology (answering the second critique listed above).
The authors’ thematic approach avoids the pitfalls of finding the allusive “center” to biblical theology. Rather than shoehorning diverse biblical themes into one central theme, Köstenberger and Goswell let the biblical authors’ own voices bring to prominence the major themes running through the pages of Scripture (see summaries on pp. 149–52, 264–69, 336–38, 478–86, 498–505, 606–11, 671–72, 676–81, 693–729). At the end of each book-by-book analysis, Köstenberger and Goswell consistently locate the major themes within the overarching storyline of Scripture—creation, fall, redemption, consummation (see the regular appeal to this storyline on pp. 155–57, 273–75, 341–44, 490–93, 513–17, 615–17, 685–86, 752–59). This addresses the third critique mentioned above.
Another noteworthy contribution in the present volume is the inclusion of ethics as a major facet of biblical theology. This feature of Biblical Theology is particularly relevant to Pastor Theologians and their congregations, especially as the authors demonstrate how to draw out ethical imperatives from God’s interaction with his people in the storyline of Scripture (cf. pp. 730–52) rather than mere shallow moralizing.
The present reviewer has only three minor quibbles. First, the authors do not address a necessary implication of their respect for historic canonical orderings, namely, whether the Septuagint, with its additional books and alternate versions, should have any bearing on the Christian practice of biblical theology (cf. pp. 80–93, 103). Second, the authors appeal perhaps too heavily to their inductive method without sufficiently acknowledging that it only works because of a prior act of faith-allegiance to a received canon of Scripture (they nearly do so on pp. 47–58). Third, the authors’ thematic approach strongly resembles the robust figural exegesis of the patristic tradition, but the authors appear to resist the idea that their reading is guided by church tradition (p. 2). Indeed, Köstenberger and Goswell, in completing this monumental volume, have not simply marked up their Bibles with notes (cf. pp. 32–33), they have faithfully read Scripture in the great company of the saints who preceded them.
Jacob Rodriguez (DPhil, University of Oxford) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. He is a member of the St. Hildegard Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
