According to the Scriptures: The Origins of the Gospel and of the Church's Old Testament

By Paul Matthews Van Buren

Book Overview

America
"While insisting that the Old Testament is irreplaceable in Christian faith, van Buren] also shows how Jews and Christians today may read the same biblical texts in different ways and still respect each other's readings. Van Buren's 'testament' should be of great interest for biblical scholars, systematic theologians and all those concerned with Christian-Jewish dialogue."

Religious Studies Review
"The book gives a subtle and persuasive description of the relation between the OT and the NT, both in their origins and in contemporary life, showing that their interplay is dynamic and ongoing. This is a thoughtful, humble book, especially in its honesty about Christian anti-Semitism. It should be a real contribution to Christians' faith and to Jewish-Christian relations."

The Bible Today
"Reflecting a growing trend in Christian theology, van Buren stresses the intimate relationship of Jesus and early Christianity to Judaism. . . Van Buren's grappling with this issue and his rich examples make this very rewarding reading."

Currents in Theology & Mission
"An insightful study of the role of the Old Testament in the rise of Christianity. . . Clearly written in limpid prose, this book is a useful springboard for a discussion of the role of the Old Testament in today's church."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802845355
• ISBN13: 9780802845351
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A fresh perspective on the "Old Testament"

In defending the use of the name "Old Testament" for the Scriptures Christians inherited from Jews (by way of the Septuagint), van Buren makes an elegant argument for a dual reading of those works that both Jews and Christians hold sacred. "What we can and must object to, however, was the growing conviction of the church that those scriptures were originally, and so exclusively, addressed to them. In its place we have argued for a dual reading of those texts, a reading that reflects God's preservation of both the Jewish people and the Christian church as bearers of Israel's story into the future" (p. 131).He builds his argument on Jewish and Christian understandings of the aqedah, the Binding of Isaac, and concludes his volume with fresh readings of the stories of Sarah's appeal to Abraham to expel Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 21); Esau's discovery that he has been robbed of his blessing (Genesis 27); and the New Testament story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15).Nowhere does van Buren argue for political correctness. In fact, as he presented his reasons for mutually respectful Jewish and Christian readings of the same texts I kept wondering why Christians hadn't taken this position earlier (and I mean centuries earlier). I suspect some Christians will be less convinced. But as for me, my reading of the Old Testament has changed forever.