Understanding Biblical Theology by Edward W Klink III & Darian R. Lockett

Author:Edward W Klink III & Darian R. Lockett [Klink III, Edward W. & Lockett, Darian R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Published: 2019-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Though Witherington does not use the terms story and narrative with the same kind of precision as Hays, we see a similar narrative move. Paul’s theology and ethics flow out of the “grand Story” that gives shape to his writings.

Registering a broader concern for a narrative theology of the OT, John Goldingay serves as a third example. Though Goldingay does not work so tightly within the hermeneutical distinction between story and narrative and whereas his analysis focuses primarily on the OT, his concern for the narrative connections running through the whole of Scripture place him in the BT3 segment of our spectrum. Goldingay notes the frequency of narrative texts in the OT, yet argues, “more important than the shaping of individual books or their order is the rhetorical form of the canon. It is indeed dominated by narrative.” He continues: “The canon’s being dominated by narrative signifies for Old Testament theology that Israel’s faith is a gospel, a story declaring good news about what God has done.”22

For Goldingay the good news of the OT, which points to Jesus Christ, is revealed through the overarching story of God’s relationship with Israel. “These narratives,” he notes, “are not just one collection of liberating stories and traditions, parallel to other such collections from other cultures. They tell us the good news about what God did for Israel in setting about to bless the world. And their narrative form is intrinsic to their theological statement.”23 Yet just here Goldingay demonstrates his nuanced view of narrative, for rather than narrative only supporting the theological message of the OT, it is at the same time historical. “An Old Testament narrative theology is dependent on the factuality of the events it refers to.” He continues:

The basic historicity of the Old Testament story is important to the validity of its theology. (I do not know how much historicity is enough, but I know God does, and has looked after the matter.) But it does not follow that the investigation of the Old Testament history is part of doing Old Testament theology. The subject matter for Old Testament theology is the canonical writings.24

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