Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Having read the volume I have only one criticism: they should have titled it differently.
‘Reclaiming’ implies that something has been lost or abandoned and it certainly isn’t true
that persons preaching from the Old Testament have disappeared. That’s simply not the
case at all. Perhaps ‘Reinvigorating the Old Testament For Christian Preaching’ or
perhaps simply ‘The Old Testament for Christian Preaching’.
That qualm aside, this is a fantastic volume. Absolutely fantastic. Contributors include,
among others, David Firth, Gordon Wenham, HGM Williamson, and Grenville J.R. Kent.
And I mention Kent last because, as the Bible instructs us, the last shall be first. And
Kent’s essay definitely, for this reviewer, takes pride of place in this enormously useful
collection as the best. [And I don’t say that to imply that the others are less valuable- I
just found Kent’s the most engaging].
Readers of the collection are treated to explanations of how to preach from narrative
texts, the Law, lament, praise poetry, wisdom, the Song of Solomon (to which we will
return momentarily), Isaiah, Ezekiel, Apocalyptic, the Minor Prophets, and from ‘difficult’
texts (to which we will also momentarily return). The volume concludes with Moberly’s
‘Preaching Christ from the Old Testament’.
Kent’s essay, ‘Preaching the Song of Solomon’ (pp. 122ff) should serve as a model for
theologians interested in integrating wit and practical advice in biblical interpretation.
He begins with an illustration from a film by Rowan Atkinson and then launches into a
series of helpful bits of advice for preachers of the text. First, he suggests ways ‘not’ to
read the Song. Don’t allegorize it and don’t overdramatize it. How then should it be
read? Read it as wisdom, he suggests, and find God’s subtle presence in it.
He next suggests that the text be read as part of the story of redemption, as metaphor,
and most especially, as part of its original culture.
Finally he offers some very practical advice on preaching the Song. Preachers must be
age-appropriate. They must also be positive. They must deal with guilt, dialogue with
the culture, welcome questions, and offer a broad ‘theology of sex’. Nonetheless, their
language must be tasteful- as the Song itself is- and take gradual steps.
The essay ends with a suggested sermon outline for Song 4:12-5:1 which Kent titles ‘I Dig
Your Garden’.
I want to mention one other essay because I found it most intriguing: Gordon Wenham’s
‘Preaching From Difficult Texts’ (pp. 215ff).
He introduces his topic by urging Pastors to be sensitive to their congregations and not
try to offer more than they can absorb. He then moves to his central concern- that the
difficulties found in the Old Testament so far as preaching texts are concerned are
‘misunderstandings of OT customs, and clashes between the biblical outlook and the
modern world’ (p. 217).
The quality of Kent’s and Wenham’s essays are unquestionable. Moberly’s is a bit weaker
but still quite engaging. Williamson’s is fantastic but space (and time) preclude full
discussion of it.
For Pastors interested in making better use and fuller use of their Old Testament, this
volume is highly recommended. Most highly. But students of the Old Testament who
have no particular interest in preaching will also benefit greatly from it for in it,
methodology is illuminated by actual practice.