The Character of Christian Scripture

The Significance of a Two-Testament Bible

CHRISTOPHER R. SEITZ

BakerAcademic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

STUDIES in THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

Series Editors

Craig G. Bartholomew

Redeemer University College

Joel B. Green

Fuller Theological Seminary

Christopher R. Seitz

Wycliffe College, University of Toronto

Editorial Advisory Board

Gary Anderson

University of Notre Dame

Markus Bockmuehl

University of Oxford

Richard Hays

Duke University Divinity School

Christine Pohl

Asbury Theological Seminary

Eleonore Stump

Saint Louis University

Anthony Thiselton

University of Nottingham

University of Chester

Marianne Meye Thompson

Fuller Theological Seminary

Kevin Vanhoozer

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

John Webster

University of Aberdeen

Jim Kinney

Baker Academic

© 2011 by Christopher R. Seitz

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seitz, Christopher R.

The character of Christian Scripture: the significance of a two-Testament Bible / Christopher R. Seitz.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-8010-3948-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T.—Relation to the Old Testament. 2. Bible—Theology. I. Title.

BS2387.S38 2011

230′.041—dc23

2011025005

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For the students in the Scripture and Theology seminar

at the University of St. Andrews, 1998–2007

Contents

Series Preface

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: Starting Points

1. The Canonical Approach and Theological Interpretation

2. Biblical Theology and Identification with Christian Scripture: “We Are Not Prophets or Apostles”

3. An Illustration of the Challenge: The Letter to the Hebrews, Biblical Theology, and Identification

4. Theological Use of the Old Testament: Recent New Testament Scholarship and the Psalms as Christian Scripture

5. Old and New in Canonical Interpretation

6. “Be Ye Sure That the Lord He Is God”—Crisis in Interpretation and the Two-Testament Voice of Christian Scripture

7. The Rule of Faith, Hermeneutics, and the Character of Christian Scripture

Epilogue

Subject Index

Author ...

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About The Character of Christian Scripture: The Significance of a Two-Testament Bible

Christopher Seitz illuminates the two-testament character of Scripture and examines its significance for the contemporary church. He explicates the canonical interpretation project of Brevard Childs, interacts critically with current interest in the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament, and addresses an issue of perennial concern: how to hear both testaments as Christian witness. This volume will be useful for biblical studies scholars and grad students, and will be utilized by professors and students in biblical studies, theological interpretation of Scripture, and hermeneutics courses.

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