Mr. (Dr. Prof.) Brevard Child's "Old Testament in Canonical Context:" Outline & Bio

           Childs, Brevard. Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context.  Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989.  http://www.amazon.com/Old-Testament-Theology-Canonical-Context/dp/0800627725/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1383078431&sr=8-4&keywords=brevard+childs

255 pages. Standing question: did this man single-handedly undo and replace the Graf-Welhausen practitioners? More information is needed. Maybe we could get a "word of prophecy from an ACNA-Costal?" More seriously, the question is pending.

           Preface

         Abbreviations

1.      INTRODCUTION TO OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY 

(i)                The present task

(ii)              A survey of the history of the discipline

(iii)            Continuing problems

(iv)            A canonical approach to Old Testament theology

(v)              Canonical approach and the modern debate

(vi)            The importance of Old Testament theology 

2.      THE OLD TESTAMENT AS REVELATION 

(i)                The criticism of analytical philosophy

(ii)              The criticism of sociological analysis 

3.      HOW GOD IS KNOWN

(i)                Introduction

(ii)              God is known through revelation

(iii)            Revelation through wisdom

(iv)            Revelation through history

(v)              Revelation through the name

(vi)            Is the God of the Old Testament a male deity?

(vii)          Characteristic features of God’s Self-disclosure 

4.      GOD’S PURPOSE IN REVELATION 

(i)                The goal of Self-disclosure

(ii)              The obscuring of God’s will

(iii)            The eschatological restoration of His purpose 

5.      THE LAW OF GOD 

(i)                The knowledge and will of God

(ii)              The divine imperative

(iii)            God’s will and its realization

(iv)            The canonical shape of the Sinai witness

(v)              Theological implications of the Law 

6.      KNOWING AND DOING THE WILL OF GOD 

(i)                The dialectical poles

(ii)              Contextual illustrations

7.      THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DECALOGUE 

The Prologue

(i)                “You shall have no other gods before me”

(ii)              “You shall not make yourself an image”

(iii)             “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain”

(iv)            “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy”

(v)              “Honour your father and mother that your days may be long in the land”

(vi)            “You shall not kill”

(vii)          “You shall not commit adultery”

(viii)        “You shall not steal”/(x) “You shall not covet”

(ix)            “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”        

8.      THE ROLE OF RITUAL AND PURITY LAWS 

(i)              The scope of the subject

(ii)            Problems of method

(iii)          Towards a canonical interpretation 

9.      THE RECIPIENTS OF GOD’S REVELATION 

(i)                Israel as God’s chosen people

(ii)              The individual as the recipient

(a)  The individual as a representative of humanity

(b) The individual as representative of Israel

(iii)            The nation as recipients of God’s revelation 

10.  AGENTS OF GOD’S RULE: MOSES, JUDGES, KINGS 

(i)                The role of Moses

(ii)              Judges

(iii)            Kings

(a)  The rise of the kingdom

(b) Saul

(c)  David

(d) The messianic hope 

11.  THE OFFICE AND FUNCTION OF THE PROPHET 

(i)                Methodological issues

(ii)              The theological role of the prophets

(iii)            The prophetic promise 

12.  TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS 

(i)                The search for Biblical criteria

(ii)              The case of Jeremiah and Hanniah

(iii)            The effect of the canonical shaping

(iv)            1 Kings 13 

13.  THE THEOLOGICAL ROLE OF PRIESTHOOD 

(i)          The nature of the critical problem

(ii)        Towards a canonical construal of the priesthood

(iii)      Summary of the theology of priesthood 

14.  BENEFITS OF THE COVENANT: LEVITICUS 

(i)                Methodological issues

(ii)              The canonical shape of Leviticus

(iii)            The sacred dimension of reality

(a)  Sacred times: the festivals

(b) Sacred space: tabernacle and temple

(c)  Sacred objects

(d) Sacred personnel

(iv)            The cult as blessing

(v)              Sacrifice and atonement

(vi)            The Psalms and the cult

(vii)          The Prophets and the cult 

15.  STRUCTURES OF THE COMMON LIFE 

(i)                The modern debate

(ii)              A theological interpretation of Israel’s institutions

(a)  Civil institutions

(b) Class structure

(c)  Legal institutions

(d) Military institutions

(e)  Family institutions 

16.  MALE AND FEMALE AS A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM 

(i)                Male and Female in Genesis 1—3

(ii)              Male and Female in the Song of Songs 

17.  THE THEOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF BEING HUMAN 

(i)                Introduction

(ii)              Canonical indices within the tradition

(iii)            Theological reflections on Old Testament anthropology 

18.  THE SHAPE OF THE OBEDIENT LIFE   

(i)                A review of some theological approaches

(ii)              Canonical guidelines to Israel’s response

(a)  The Psalter

(b) Wisdom

(c)  Pentateuch

(iii)            Theological reflections in a canonical context

(a)  The Psalter

(b) The Prophets

(c)  The histories and the writings

(d) The patriarchal narratives 

19.  LIFE UNDER THREAT 

(i)                The primeval threat, Genesis 1—11

(ii)              Covenant and curse

(iii)            Prophets

(iv)            Daniel and apocalyptic

(v)              The Psalms, de profundis

(vi)            Wisdom

(vii)          The limits of the threat

(viii)        Summary 

20.  LIFE UNDER PROMISE 

(i)                The scope of the material

(ii)              Methodological issues

(iii)            Patterns of canonical shaping

(iv)            Forms of the promise

(a)  Judgment and salvation

(b) The messianic kingdom and its messiah

(c)  The land

(d) Eternal life

Index of Authors

Index of Biblical References

Wiki-bio:

Brevard Springs Childs (September 2, 1923 – June 23, 2007) was an American Old Testament scholar and Professor of Old Testament at Yale University from 1958 until 1999 (and Sterling Professor after 1992), who is considered one of the most influential biblical scholars of the 20th century.

Thought

Childs is particularly noted for pioneering canonical criticism, a way of interpreting the Bible that focuses on the text of the biblical canon itself as a finished product. In fact, Childs disliked the term, believing his work to represent an entirely new departure, replacing the entire historical-critical method.^[4] Childs set out his canonical approach in his Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970) and applied it in Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979). This latter book has been described as "one of the most discussed books of the 1980s".^[5]

Christopher Seitz argues that

Professor Childs single-handedly effected major and sustained changes in the conceptual framework of modern biblical studies through appeal to the canonical presentation of biblical books and the theological implications of attending to their final form.^[6]

Seitz has also noted that "there is a small cottage industry in evaluating the contribution of Brevard Childs."^[7]

Education

• B.A., M.A. University of Michigan
• B.D. - Princeton Theological Seminary (1950)
• Th.D. - University of Basel (1955)

Publications

• Myth and Reality in the Old Testament (1960)
• Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970)
• The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (1974)
• Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979)
• Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (1985)
• The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction (1985)
• Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible (1992)
• Isaiah: A Commentary (2001)
• The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture (2004)

References

1.      ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Daniel R. Driver, Biography of Childs

2.      ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Obituary at Yale University

3.      Jump up ^ Daniel R. Driver, Brevard Childs, Biblical Theologian: For the Church’s One Bible. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

4.      Jump up ^ Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (SCM, 1979), 82–83.

5.      Jump up ^ Tremper Longman, Old Testament Commentary Survey, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 19.

6.      Jump up ^ Obituary at Society of Biblical Literature

7.      Jump up ^ Christopher R. Seitz, "The Canonical Approach and Theological Interpretation" in Craig Bartholomew et al (eds.), Canon and Biblical Interpretation, p. 61.