For Starters

[RH Home / Recommended Readings / For Starters]

Much biblical-theological teaching remains on the seminarian level. Getting acquainted with its "fundamentals" can be a daunting task. The recommended lists on the two-age.org site can seem quite a swim to new-comers to the biblical-theological way of reading; much of the books we recommend assume a prior knowledge of the basics of BT with which one may critically interact with works written from an other-than-evangelical perspective. We hope this page will be a service to those who are new to biblical theology and desire to get acquainted with its basic approaches to Scripture.

[Click next to the titles for information on how to obtain the material.]

Perhaps the easiest book to start with is Edmund Clowney's The Unfolding Mystery. It walks you through some of the major Old Testament stories and examines how they foreshadow and lead to the good news of Jesus Christ.

READINGS

The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament [Compare Prices]
by Edmund Clowney

Paperback (July 1991)
Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company
ISBN: 0875521746

Geerhardus Vos's collection of sermons from Old Princeton Theological Seminary is also a great introduction to biblical theological thinking. Vos emphasizes the function of Scripture and prophecy as the personal revelation of God Himself.

Grace and Glory [Compare Prices]
by Geerhardus Vos
Library Binding (October 1994)
Banner of Truth
ISBN: 0851516637

Sinclair Ferguson's book The Holy Spirit encapulates the already/not-yet eschatological/christological/covenantal character of redemption accomplished and applied. [chapter outlines available here.]

The Holy Spirit [Compare Prices]
by Sinclair B. Ferguson
Paperback (January 1997)
Inter Varsity Press
ISBN: 0890815368

LECTURES AND SERMONS

Perhaps the best way to learn biblical theology is to hear it preached or taught. We have some excellent lectures and sermons online from the 1999 Kerux Biblical Theology conference. I'd recommend starting with Scott Sanborn's lecture "Biblical Theology and the Reformed Tradition" which provides a brief history of pre-reformation and post-reformation interpretation and Vos's contribution to reformed theology.

Also, try ordering a couple of tape series by Rev. Charles G. Dennison (Matthew 2:13-23) or by Rev. Lee Irons ("The Unfolding Mystery").

HERMENEUTICS

For further study on the issue of hermeneutics, we recommend

PREACHING

For preachers who are interested in a good overview of biblical theology as it pertains to preaching, Graeme Goldsworthy's book Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture [Review] provides a decent introduction on biblical theology. He provides foundational answers to questions about biblical theology and then gives examples to demonstrate how to be sensitive to both the literary and redemptive historical contexts of any kind of text from the whole Bible.

Preaching the Whole Bible As Christian Scripture : [Compare Prices]
The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching
by Graeme Goldsworthy
Paperback - 287 pages (July 2000)
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.;
ISBN: 0802847307

For a more inductive approach to understanding Jesus from the Old Testament itself, I found the following book to be a helpful supplement to Goldsworthy's book:

Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament [Compare Prices]
by Christopher J.H. Wright
Paperback: 256 pages (March 1995)
Intervarsity Press;
ISBN: 0830816933

For preachers interested in learning how to construct a Biblical Theological sermon, see Jim Dennison's articles Building the Biblical Theological Sermon [PART I] [PART II] on Kerux.com.

And finally, subscribe to the Kerux: A Journal of Biblical-Theological Preaching. Or read their articles online.

[RH Home / Recommended Readings / For Starters]