He Loves Forever

By Thomas Olbricht

Book Overview

The central focus of the Old Testament is God's love. Written in an easy-to-read and well-documented style, Dr. Thomas Olbricht has provided us with an inspiring look at the steadfast, unmeasurable... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0899008623
• ISBN13: 9780899008622
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: College Pr Pub Co
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 0.4" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent overview of OT theology

Dr. Olbricht is a highly qualified scholar who writes with all the care required of academia, but at a level to be read by all. He has taught Old Testament theology and New Testament theology (among many other classes) at both Abilene Christian University and Pepperdine University for decades. This volume is the result of his work in Old Testament theology. The companion volume, His Love Compels, is the equivalent for New Testament theology. As told in his autobiography (Hearing God's Voice: My Life With Scripture in the Churches of Christ), Olbricht's interest in biblical theology grew from a dissatisfaction with the questions that are usually presented to Scripture. Systematic theologians typically ask questions about epistemology, faith, sin, salvation, etc. Churches of Christ - Olbricht's heritage of faith - typically ask question about church and salvation. Olbricht thinks all these topics are important, but insists that Christians should go to Scripture seeking what IT says is centrally important, rather than bringing our own ideas of what topics are important. In regard to the Old Testament, he sought to discover the theological "center" by examining a wide variety of Old Testament credos. He found that they typically focus on a series of God's mighty loving acts on behalf of His people. By comparing those lists of God's actions, Olbricht came up with a catalog of 9 actions that, as he puts it, provide the theological center of the Old Testament. These 9 actions form the basic chapter outline for this book. Several aspects of Olbricht's work are commendable. 1) As explained above, it focuses on what the OT presents as central, rather than whatever topics Olbricht is interested in. Therefore, it does not focus on traditional topics of special concern to the Churches of Christ. 2) It takes the Old Testament as (part of) the authoritative Word of God. Therefore, he draws important lessons from it for the people of God today. 3) He understands the Bible as having a narrative backbone that provides theological continuity, from Genesis to Revelation. Within this continuity, however, he feels free to recognize the diversity of theological presentation of the biblical authors. The unity he sees is not a straightjacket, forcing all of Scripture into a predetermined mold. In short, I found Olbricht's work to be one of the best accessible OT theologies I have seen. He stays faithful to the biblical text, even when the going gets rough, and he presents it in such a way that the implications for believers today is readily apparent. If there is a downside to it, it may be that the reader will finish hungry for more, since a 185-page volume can only go so deep! I highly recommend this volume and, for that matter, everything else I have read by Olbricht.