In any given year, I teach about five sections of hermeneutics at the College where I am a professor. Beginning this semester, I modified my hermeneutics course so as to include a module on biblical theology. At the suggestion of my good friend Brian Vickers, I am requiring my students to read Graeme Goldsworthy’s introduction to biblical theology, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible.
I have been a student of biblical theology for many years now, but I had never read Goldsworthy’s primer on the topic until just this semester as I was preparing lectures. Having read the book, I can now say that I think it is one of the clearest expositions of the topic that I have ever read. The book is non-technical and would be very serviceable to students who are being introduced to the subject for the first time. I don’t know of any other book written at the introductory level that lays out the discipline and the substance of biblical theology as capably as this one.
This post is not so much a full review of the book as it is a recommendation. If you want help in keeping your footing over the whole terrain of Scripture, then you should read this book. Its method is thoroughly Christocentric with an emphasis on the themes of promise and fulfillment.
At the end of the day, I agree with Goldsworthy: “Biblical theology is essential for hermeneutics” (p. 24).
2 Comments
D. Taylor Benton
Denny,
I was given this book by Dr. Moore my first year at Boyce and it really opened my eyes to a bible that honestly I couldn’t recognize from what I learned in my younger years. His book Preaching the Whole of Christian Scripture is a MUST for anyone who wants to gain a christ centered historical redemptive grasp on the scriptures. I think Goldsworthy can sometimes take historical redemption a bit too far in some texts but on a whole it is a sure must have for anyone’s library.
celucien joseph
Denny,
I read this book for a course on New Testament Theology with Dr. Seifrid at Southern seminary. The book is clear, straight-forward and very good. I enjoyed the read.