Recovering the Unity of the Bible

In this new book Walt Kaiser makes the case for the unity of the Bible. The theological unity of the Bible celebrates the diversity of the Bible, but does so with the conviction that even though that unity can be tested historically, ethically, and otherwise, it has not detracted from the central case for the theological harmony that is found in the text. This has been the general conclusion of two millennia of Judo-Christian exegesis.???It has been the custom in many scholarly circles of Biblical scholarship in the last half century to revert to emphasizing once more the Bible's diversity and discontinuity, rather than seek for any possible strands of harmony and unity.? ?In fact, one tends to be more readily accepted in scholarly circles if the focus of one's research avoids the topics of unity in the Bible, or a search for a center that Scripture might possess.? ?Presumably the fear was that if one got started with the presupposition that the text might exhibit a harmony or unity, this would probably be motivated by a prior commitment to a Dogmatic or a Systematic Theology interest, which understands the Bible in a more harmonistic way, or one that had a single purposive mind behind it all.? ?In our day the case for the diversity within the Scriptures continues to be so pervasive that many biblical scholars would judge that any other goal for a Biblical Theology than an acknowledgment of its diversity would be out of keeping with the current lines of thinking for this discipline and it would therefore be unable to handle the wide spectrum of materials, genres and topics in the Bible. However, if this were to be the real state of affairs also for Biblical Theology, why call the discipline by a name that implies some unifying promise i.e., a Biblical Theology.? ?Why not call our textbooks in this area: Biblical Theologies of the Old or New Testaments?? ?But in that case, how can a discipline, which historically by name and definition searches for a pattern, plan, person, and meaning from the biblical record, settle for a purely descriptive classification of the facts and information from the texts?? ?And if the categories are coming from philosophy, or the topics are taken from the Systematic Theology outline, or some other external pattern of organization, would this not be an alien imposition over the texts that almost presupposes certain conclusions before we start?? ?The theological unity of the Bible celebrates the diversity of the Bible, but does so with the conviction that even though that unity can be tested historically, ethically, and otherwise, it has not detracted from the central case for the theological harmony that is found in the text.? ?This has been the general conclusion of two millennia of Judo-Christian exegesis.
-Publisher.

Publisher Description

Recovering the Unity of the Bible helps readers grasp the Bible's progressive witness on various theological concepts. Walter C. Kaiser challenges the common scholarly posture that sees mostly diversity throughout the biblical canon, pointing instead to the way several Biblical themes substantially support the case for unity, including: - Messianic Promises - The People of God - The Law of God - The Doctrine of Salvation - The Mission of the Old Testament Recovering the Unity of the Bible exhibits sound techniques for students, pastors, and Bible teachers who seek to make sense of the Bible's many and different texts.