Introduction
This article will discuss
the overarching understanding of Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.’s Old Testament[1] theology.
In doing so, it discusses the standpoint which made Kaiser propose an
alternative methodology different from his predecessors. It also investigates
the overview of Kaiser’s methodology for OT theology and briefly examines
Kaiser’s understanding of the “centre” in OT theology. Ultimately, it critiques
and evaluates Kaiser’s methodology of various scholars. In doing so, we start
by looking at who Kaiser is.
1. Biography
Walter Christian
Kaiser, Jr. is a prominent academic specializing in OT studies within the
American evangelical tradition. Kaiser was born on April 11, 1933, in Folcroft,
Pennsylvania. According to Kaiser’s assessment, his fascination with the OT was
initially ignited during a biology class in high school, wherein the Genesis
narrative was resolutely discredited. His scholarly pursuit of OT started at
Wheaton College, and he pursued postgraduate study in the field of the OT and
Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Mediterranean studies at Brandeis University. Kaiser
held esteemed positions as President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of OT
and Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, United States. On July 1,
2006, Kaiser concluded his tenure as the president of Gordon-Conwell.[2]
2. Walter Kaiser’s
Standpoint for an Alternative Methodology
According to
Kaiser, the problem against Biblical Theology crept up when two essays were
published during the 1960s, one by Langdon B. Gilkey on “Cosmology,
Ontology, and the Travail of Biblical Language”[3]
and the other by James Barr on “Revelation Through History in the Old Testament
and Modern Thought.”[4] Kaiser
claimed these essays “hit the heart of Biblical Theology Movement by exposing
its divided stance of modernity and Scripture.” As Gilkey puts it, “Its worldview
or cosmology is modern while its theological language is Biblical and Orthodox.”[5]
Moreover, Kaiser claimed that from 1933 up until the two essays were written,
Biblical theology was respected in theological studies.[6] B.
S. Childs’ noted a “cracking of the walls”[7] in
Biblical Theology, and Kaiser concluded that a new movement had begun.[8]
Furthermore,
Kaiser noticed theologians were starting to use the new concept of “theologies”
instead of “theology,” and “factual history” was separated from “interpreted
history.” According to Kaiser, these concepts led to a crisis in Biblical
Theology,[9] which
scholars like J. Christian Becker,[10] B.
S. Childs,[11]
and B. W. Anderson affirmed.[12] Moreover,
Kaiser says, “The object and focus of the discipline’s study was shifted from
history as an event and the Word as revelation to a history-of-religion
approach.”[13]
These occurrences made Kaiser to search for an alternative method that brings
out a theology from the OT that is not based on the history of religion
approach.
[1]
Henceforth OT.
[2]
“About Dr. Kaiser,” Walter C. Kaiser Jr., accessed 25 July 2023, http://www.walterckaiserjr.com/aboutkaiser.html
[3]
Langdon B. Gilkey, “Cosmology, Ontology, and the Travail of Biblical Language,”
Journal of Religion 41(1961): 194-205.
[4]
James Barr, “Revelation Through History in the Old Testament and Modern Thought,”
Interpretation 17(1963): 193-205.
[5]
Gilkey, “Cosmology, Ontology, and the Travail of Biblical Language,” 143.
[6]
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr, Toward an Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1978), 1.
[7]
Brevard Childs, Biblical Theology in Crisis (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1970), 61.
[8]
Kaiser, Jr, Toward an Old Testament Theology, 3.
[9]
Kaiser, Jr, Toward an Old Testament Theology, 3.
[10]
J. Christian Becker, “Biblical Theology in a Time of Confusion,” Theology
Today 25(1968): 185-94.
[11]
Childs, Biblical Theology in Crisis, 61.
[12]
B. W. Anderson, “Crisis in Biblical Theology,” Theology Today
28(1971):321-27.
[13]
Kaiser, Jr, Toward an Old Testament Theology, 5.
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