Blow My Mind
In addition to memorizing more Scripture, one of my post-seminary goals is to read more Biblical theology because I do not feel that I soaked in enough during my mind at Covenant. It's not that CTS didn't teach it, it's just that I focused my electives more on Church History than Biblical Theology.
So the first book I begin this summer is Ridderbos' The Coming of the Kingdom and I have to say that it is correcting much of my interpretive grid for understanding Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom. The reason for that is that I don't think many connect the Older Testament's Kingdom themes to the Newer Testament's proclamation that the Kingdom has come and is coming. Having the OT in mind really helps make better sense of the world of the NT and just "what" was happening when John the Baptizer was proclaiming that the Kingdom was at hand.
A few good points that I have gleaned so far from this book (I'm only at page 150 out of 520 pages and it's not easy reading): there is a tension between the Kingdom come and the Kingdom coming. There was something eschatological going on when John the Baptizer's ministry was eclipsed by Jesus'. Jesus' coming and his Kingdom proclamations are "bigger" than we lend our preaching and teaching to, and we are able to grasp it fully.
A couple of observations I do have to make. This is not an easy book to read. It's translated into English from (I am assuming) Dutch, so I find myself re-reading a lot of it because the English doesn't flow as well as I am accustomed to. Another thing not making this an easy read is that a reader would need to have a decent level of theological knowledge prior to reading it, or they will be lost, and additionally, knowledge of some of the people Ridderbos is interacting with (Bultmann, Dodd, Schweitzer, etc). It is also helpful, but not 100% necesarry to have a grasp of Greek because a lot of the Greek is not translated into English, though it doesn't use Greek characters, but english (tou theou for genetive case of god/theos), and some of the Hebrew is done the same way, but most of the German is translated into English.
I do think this book will transform the way I preach from the synoptics when the Kingdom is mentioned, or even when it is implicite in a text. I would also highly reccomend this book, even though I am only 1/5 of the way into it, and it's been in English print for over 40 years. It will blow your mind because of the detail and care that Ridderbos took. His use of Scripture showed his faithfulness to God's word and that he actually believed the words he read.
So the first book I begin this summer is Ridderbos' The Coming of the Kingdom and I have to say that it is correcting much of my interpretive grid for understanding Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom. The reason for that is that I don't think many connect the Older Testament's Kingdom themes to the Newer Testament's proclamation that the Kingdom has come and is coming. Having the OT in mind really helps make better sense of the world of the NT and just "what" was happening when John the Baptizer was proclaiming that the Kingdom was at hand.
A few good points that I have gleaned so far from this book (I'm only at page 150 out of 520 pages and it's not easy reading): there is a tension between the Kingdom come and the Kingdom coming. There was something eschatological going on when John the Baptizer's ministry was eclipsed by Jesus'. Jesus' coming and his Kingdom proclamations are "bigger" than we lend our preaching and teaching to, and we are able to grasp it fully.
A couple of observations I do have to make. This is not an easy book to read. It's translated into English from (I am assuming) Dutch, so I find myself re-reading a lot of it because the English doesn't flow as well as I am accustomed to. Another thing not making this an easy read is that a reader would need to have a decent level of theological knowledge prior to reading it, or they will be lost, and additionally, knowledge of some of the people Ridderbos is interacting with (Bultmann, Dodd, Schweitzer, etc). It is also helpful, but not 100% necesarry to have a grasp of Greek because a lot of the Greek is not translated into English, though it doesn't use Greek characters, but english (tou theou for genetive case of god/theos), and some of the Hebrew is done the same way, but most of the German is translated into English.
I do think this book will transform the way I preach from the synoptics when the Kingdom is mentioned, or even when it is implicite in a text. I would also highly reccomend this book, even though I am only 1/5 of the way into it, and it's been in English print for over 40 years. It will blow your mind because of the detail and care that Ridderbos took. His use of Scripture showed his faithfulness to God's word and that he actually believed the words he read.
posted by Bobby's blog at 9:46 AM
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