Old Testament Theology Hardback

Robin Routledge is a Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Mattersey Hall, He also teaches in Prague, Brussels, Bangor and Florida, following full time ministry in Rotherham. His PhD is from Sheffield.

This book is intended for students, teachers and religious leaders. It contains an overview of themes, with detailed notes and references in footnotes and claims to relate Exegesis with Theology.

It has to be said that this book is ‘heavy’ and reminds this reviewer of the weighty tomes that he read at Oxford, usually translated from German. It would have been more accessible if the notes could have been incorporated into the text (which at the .moment can be as short as two lines) and the references into an appendix. There are a small number of typing errors including a rather bad one which identifies the Kingdom of the North as the Ptolomies, and the Kingdom of the South as the Selucids, in the book of Daniel. Perhaps reflecting the author’s tradition, the Exegesis is conservative, and there is a tendency to date the Theology much earlier than most scholars. This leaves very little room for development even in the very earliest chapters of the Pentateuch, where JEDP only seem to differ marginally. An exception is Daniel.

The Old Testament is the Jewish Bible but it is also the origin of Christianity and is theologically significant for both religions. It reveals God’s purpose for the whole of Creation not just Israel. This universality makes the Old Testament authoritative for the Church, albeit on a different level of relevance from the New Testament. Either is incomplete without the other. Indeed, the Old Testament is applied by the early Christians to the life of the Church (Typology, Allegory, Prophecy and, in modern times, Historical criticism). What did the Text mean then and what does it mean now?

This is basically a sound if conservative book and is worth having on the senior student’s shelves but be prepared for some heavy going with its style.