Old Testament Theology
By Paul House

            There are many ways to "do" Old Testament theology.  There are many choices from which to decide, such as what to include, what to exclude, how to arrange, on what to focus, on whom to focus, etc.  Paul House has chosen to approach his Old Testament theology by making the tough decisions on the questions above, stating those decisions openly, and allowing the reader to choose up front whether or not to pursue reading the book.  House sets out his approach in the preface by addressing for whom it is written [the college and seminary level student, but hopefully also the scholar and used to further discussion of Old Testament theology (7)], the extent of critical consideration [interacting with a wide array of theological views on issues of authorship, date, setting and theology to orientate the reader to the books (8)], and the realm of text to be considered [using a canonical approach to show cohesiveness between books of the Old Testament (8)].

Summary

            House goes about accomplishing his stated goal by devoting his first chapter to the study of the history of Old Testament theology.  He covers the important biblical theologians and historians who have contributed over the past centuries to bring Old Testament theology to the present situation in which it is.  House then begins his own work by outlining his methodology in detail, based on the approach addressed in the preface.  He bases his work mainly on the definition of the term "theology," stating that, "All analyses begin with God and flow to other vital subjects" (53).  Therefore, as will be discussed later, House's approach to a centering theme for his theology begins with God and flow from there to other subjects, such as redemption, election, etc.  He seeks to use clear, precise patterns of writing to allow for uncomplicated understanding so that the information is easily accessible for life and ministry (53).  The main way in which House arranges his theology in clear patterns is by following a canonical outline, beginning with Genesis and working through the Palestinian Jewish canon to Chronicles.  In doing so, He seeks to use a centering theme, as opposed to finding the centering theme, to better lend the book to easier use. 

            Beginning with Genesis, House assigns a heading to each chapter, which represents a book of the Old Testament.  He attempts to fairly portray the theology of the book in this heading, an example being Genesis, which centers, at least in some capacity, on creation, thus the heading, "The God Who Creates."  The headings of every book is then repeated, "The God Who...," lending much ease in proposing a centering theme, that of God.  Throughout the body of his theology where he deals with each Old Testament book, House attempts to base his theological assertions on the individual books, but does allow for much intermingling among the books, owing to his canonical approach.  Since the whole of the Old Testament is divinely inspired, as well as the New Testament, each can help inform a better understanding of the other, though the former has a larger sanction to do so over the later.  

            Finally, House summarizes the Old Testament as a whole at the end of the book.  He retraces the steps taken throughout the book to produce the theology, and then compares those steps to the proposed ones laid out at the beginning.  He then ventures into proposing future study for a Biblical Theology, incorporating his approach to Old Testament theology with New Testament theology, allowing the Old to inform the New and its understanding of itself (546).  House then supplies an appendix that deals with different Old Testament theological issues suggested since his chosen research stopping date of 1993.

Strengths

            The Old Testament theology that House has written does well accomplish the goals for which he set out for himself.  This book is a great tool for college and seminary students, having little understanding of the Old Testament and its theology, to orientate themselves to the field, and to gain a good working knowledge of the issues involved in Old Testament theology.  The book-by-book approach is very handy, and House usually even follows the text of chapters while covering a book to allow for easy examination by the student wanting to reference his work.  House also usually presents critical scholarship in a fair, well-understood manner, allowing the reader to be exposed to other's thoughts on certain matters and referencing them so that they may be accessed if needed.  His decision to deal with date, authorship, and setting issues is quite helpful for the one looking for a one stop reference work, allowing more interaction between history and theology to interact.  House most directly accomplishes his goals by sticking to a canonical approach to understanding the theology of the Old Testament.  Each chapter is replete with theological and textual references outside the considered book.  This again helps the reference reader to understand how the Old Testament canon fits together, allowing for further theological contemplation.

Weaknesses

            While the above stated issues are great strengths, there are clear weaknesses that are detrimental in House's approach to Old Testament theology.  First and foremost is his insistence in using the heading, "The God Who..." for every book in the Old Testament.  This complaint may seem overly vigilant, but it is based on an important interpretive issue.  House states in the explanation of his methodology that the Old Testament theologian should allow the text to determine theological outcome of the text.  By arguing this point, House states as his goal that one should "avoid forcing the text into a mold before the text is studied" (54).  It is also true, though, the text should not be "forced" into a mold after it is studied.  House does force the text by coercive means when he attempts to use the heading "The God Who..." to describe every book of scripture, as though the heading was the major theme of the whole of the book. 

This approach can work well in certain instances, such as with Deuteronomy and its heading, "The God Who Renews the Covenant."  This centering theme works well because the book of Deuteronomy is itself a covenant renewal, thus allowing a direct association with the heading.  For the most part, every part of Deuteronomy in some way relates to this heading.  But with regards to other book's headings, such as that of Genesis as "The God Who Creates," it is not good theology to denote every passage in Genesis by this theme.  In fact, there are many places where the theme could be, "The God Who Judges," or, "The God Who Chooses."  It would have been better for House to stick to his original statement that he sought to find a centering theme, but then expand that to realize there can be multiple centering themes to the Old Testament.  Though there is canonical unity over centuries of writing, it is a difficult task to trap every book into a tidy formula that will expose the theological meaning of the book.  There is nothing wrong with having multiple points at which the theology of a book can coincide, thus giving a more clear picture of the theology of the book.  An example of this type of thematic outline can be seen in Proverbs.  House pushes for a holistic understanding of Proverbs as "The God Who Reveals Wisdom."  It is recognized that there is little thematic unity in Proverbs, and trying to force the given paradigm onto it is futile.  Would it not be better to synthesize basic patterns of wisdom into cohesive units, and then apply them as a group of themes to the canonical whole, rather than producing a false understanding of the text?

Another weakness of House's approach to Old Testament theology is his insistence on using a canonical approach to comprehending theology based on the Palestinian Jewish/Christian canon.  He assumes, without any argument, that the first-century Palestinian Jew and Christian would use the TaNaK as their scripture, ignoring the vast use of the LXX in the quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament.  It is not his insistence on using this canon that is troubling; rather, it is his resolve to make theological deductions based on the canonical order he chooses.  This can be seen when he declares that the canonical order of Ruth provides important insight because it shows Ruth to be "a woman who embodies the description of the virtuous wife set forth in Proverbs 31" (455).  Yes, Ruth does embody those descriptions of a virtuous wife, but can that be assumed from the canonical order of the books?  It could just as well be assumed that if one follows the LXX canonical order, then Ruth can be seen a wind of change blowing after the distressing end of Judges, which leaves the reader with no hope for Israel, everyone doing what was right in their own eyes.  Ruth encapsulated the promise of hope, the antecedent to the future king.

Conclusion

Overall, House has presented a competent, well-written theology of the Old Testament, setting forth important issues and allowing the reader to gain a better understanding of the Old Testament.  There are evident problems with his use of a strict formula-centering theme, and also of his use of the Palestinian canon to inform theological misreadings at times.  Still, House's theology is a helpful work to reference for a quick overview of Old Testament theology, and is especially helpful for the reader who may not have much Old Testament background or understanding.

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