Old Testament Theology for Christians: From Ancient Context to Enduring Belief

Biblical theology brings out the theological perspectives or concerns of biblical writers or the theological milieu of a given biblical corpus. This both widens a modern interpreter's perspective and avoids imposing one's own categories upon the biblical text. Walton (Old Testament, Wheaton Coll.; The Lost World of Adam and Eve) attempts to find a theological perspective for writings that were composed over a time span of some 1,500 years, at least two major religious reforms, and four cultural contexts. This analysis contains six persistent themes: how Israel viewed YHWH and the other gods, our place in the cosmos, the function of the covenant, the relation between the Torah and the temple, evil and suffering, and salvation. Walton evaluates these concerns against both ancient Near-Eastern and Egyptian culture as well as perspectives that developed in the first century CE.