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John Goldingay

Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Theology, Faculty Member

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There are many more of my papers at johngoldingay.com
Phone: (+44) (0) 1865 244 090
Address: 4 Mill Stream House, Norfolk St, Oxford, OX1 1EB, UK

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Papers by John Goldingay

Is Christ in the Old Testament?

The First Testament is rich in its portrait of God in his grace and faithfulness and in its accou... more The First Testament is rich in its portrait of God in his grace and faithfulness and in its account of how he was at work in the world and in Israel. God indeed spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, on the way to embodying that same speaking in Jesus (Heb 1:1–2). But a
focus on reading Jesus back into the First Testament means we don’t get to hear what it has to say. We learn what we knew already (because we knew it from the New Testament) and we miss the First Testament’s own insight. We narrow down the Scriptures to our narrow interests. We
will be wiser to seek to put ourselves into the position of those ancestors.
There is a British organization called the Scripture Union, one of whose main aims is to encourage Bible reading. I once heard a preacher comment that if its badge were ever redesigned, it should become a pair of raised eyebrows. The First Testament especially has a vast
capacity to raise our eyebrows. Reading Christ into it short-circuits that effect. Reading it for what God was saying to the ancestors can mean we see more clearly how the God-breathed Scriptures speak to us.

Twelve Prophetic Emphases: The Twelve Shorter Prophets and Some Passages with Ethical Significance

Twelve Prophetic Virtues: Some Qualities Shown by Twelve Ethical Teachers in the Twelve Shorter Prophets

Israel in the Christian Bible

Israel is a prominent topic in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though it was not as prominen... more Israel is a prominent topic in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though it was not as prominent in Christian theological reflection until the aftermath of the Holocaust. As is the case with any theme in theology, insight on it benefits from considering it in the various historical and social contexts in which it has been expounded. But Israel is a historical reality in a distinctive sense. Within Israel’s story, as the scriptures tell it, Israel has been a wandering clan, a theocratic nation, an institutional state, a dispersed remnant, an imperial colony, and a religious community (Goldingay 1987). In subsequent millennia it has been a recognized religion, a persecuted minority, a martyred victim, and a secular state. Israel is a historical entity (more than one), but also a literary entity and a theological entity (Davies 2007). To complicate theological reflection, the question of Israel’s actual history, behind the story that the scriptures tell, is widely controverted. This article focuses on the implications of the story rather than taking positions on the history, though making use of insights that emerge from historical study.

Nothing new under the sun: the Five Scrolls read Houellebecq

The novels of Michel Houellebecq and the Five Scrolls in the Jewish Scriptures are mutually illum... more

Covenant Faith and Qohelet's Questions

A contribution to a symposium on Suffering and the Problem of Evil.

Reading Rahab: How criticism serves itself or eats itself

Studies of the Rahab story in Joshua illustrate how, as interpreters, we can read our interests a... more Studies of the Rahab story in Joshua illustrate how, as interpreters, we can read our interests and convictions into a text, allow it no room to protest that it did not have these interests or convictions, and give it no opportunity conversely to question the interests and convictions that we bring to it as interpreters. This raises the question whether we actually want to discover things from texts or whether we simply want to provide illustrations of and support for what we think already.

And I Acted for the Sake of My Name (Ezekiel 20): A Footnote

The translation "and I acted for the sake of my name" (not "but I acted for the sake of my name")... more

On Reading Genesis 49

The study focuses on the chapter as poetry and as rhetoric

Intertextuality in Daniel and Isaiah

is one of the scriptural books with which Daniel has significant links.1 In this paper I first pu... more is one of the scriptural books with which Daniel has significant links.1 In this paper I first put aspects of Isaiah 40-66 alongside the vision and story in Dan 2 and 3, and thus take up the form of intertextuality that juxtaposes texts that had no direct relationship. I then consider the testimony and visions that speak of the imperial power in Dan 4 and 8-11, and put them alongside Isa 8; 10; and 14. This study involves both juxtaposing texts that do not allude to each other and texts manifesting direction allusion. Thirdly, I focus on Dan 11:40-12:4, which takes up declarations of trust in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and illustrates one text's allusion to another in connection with human faithfulness and God's faithfulness. Study of influence and allusion in the Old Testament can be complicated by uncertainty about the origin of texts and thus about the direction of influence and allusion. This question arises with Dan 2-4, which is not far in date from parts of Isaiah, but it may be no coincidence that the question is not very troublesome because the comparison and juxtaposition does not depend on influence and allusion. The question does not arise with Dan 8-12 because it is some of the latest if not the actual latest material in the Old Testament; the direction of influence is from Isaiah to Daniel, and the direction of allusion is from Daniel to Isaiah.

Psalm 6: Plea, Protest, Anger, Discipline, Weariness, Deliverance

Torah and Ethics: First Testament Law and Its Implications

Austin Farrer: Anglican Theologian Preacher

Hosea 12-13: Recollection, Rhetoric, and Composition

Ezekiel 10:2-Sprinkle Not Scatter

This short note argues that the phrase ‫יר‬ ‫עִ‬ ‫ל-הָ‬ ‫עַ‬ ‫ֹק‬ ‫ר‬ ‫ּוזְ‬ in Ezek 10:2 denotes... more

The Torah and Atonement

Theories of the atonement have three backgrounds. The middle one is the New Testament's interpret... more

BIBLICAL JUSTICE IN EZRA-NEHEMIAH: THE FAITHFUL EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY

In printed Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah is two books, but one book in manuscripts of the Old Testament.1... more In printed Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah is two books, but one book in manuscripts of the Old Testament.1 Perhaps it was divided to make Nehemiah separate, because the beginning of Nehemiah resembles the beginning of a prophetic book. Further, most of Ezra 4-7 is in Aramaic, the international language, not Hebrew. Like bilingual people in the modern world, the original readers could evidently be expected to move between the two languages. The pages that follow will first outline Ezra-Nehemiah to provide a context for discussing the topic of justice in the two books and reflecting on its contemporary significance.

Closed Wombs and Failed Harvests

The first chapter of 1 Samuel relates how Yahweh closes a womb ‫;רחם(‬ 1 Sam 1:6). On a festive o... more The first chapter of 1 Samuel relates how Yahweh closes a womb ‫;רחם(‬ 1 Sam 1:6). On a festive occasion, in the context of the making and sharing of offerings, Hannah prays about her closed womb, Yahweh is mindful of her, she gets pregnant, and she has a son. A year or three later, again in the context of the making and sharing of offerings and thus presumably in that festive context, she gives thanks for the opening of her womb. "Yahweh gave me what I asked" ‫;שׁאלתי(‬ 1:27).1 In describing her son as the one "asked in connection with Yahweh" ‫ליהוה(‬ ‫,שאול‬ 1:28), she uses the passive participle of the verb ‫שאל‬ in a unique way that causes the word's form to correspond to the name of Saul. The gift of a child initiates the process whereby Saul will become king, when the people "ask" for a king (e.g., 8:10).2 Hannah goes on to praise Yahweh as the God who breaks the bows of the strong and gives strength to people who were falling, who makes people who were full have to hire themselves out for food and ensures that hungry people ‫)רעבים(‬ are no longer hungry, and who enables the infertile woman to give birth to seven children ‫)בנים(‬ whereas the mother of many is alone and vulnerable (2:4-5).

Violence, Justice, Advocacy, and Intercession in the Psalms

Violence, justice, advocacy, and intercession are interrelated topics in the Psalms, each of them... more Violence, justice, advocacy, and intercession are interrelated topics in the Psalms, each of them having some ambiguity attaching to it. This chapter seeks to clarify the ambiguity and the interrelationships and notes how psalms protest the violence that is done to justice, disavow taking up violence for the sake of justice, seek God's violence on behalf of justice, and affirm the responsibility of the king to take up that responsibility.

Joshua Goes to Kathmandu

As I have taught online courses at the Asia Graduate School of Theology in Kathmandu and have bee... more As I have taught online courses at the Asia Graduate School of Theology in Kathmandu and have been writing a commentary on Joshua, I have wondered what happens when we put Joshua and Nepal together? The Uniqueness of Israel The Book of Joshua begins with Joshua succeeding Moses as Israel's leader, and it ends with his death and with a few notes about the years that followed. So the title "Joshua" fits its content: it is about the period during which Joshua was Israel's leader, the key period during which the Israelites arrived in Canaan and distributed the land to the clans. The book doesn't indicate who wrote it, though it gives one or two pointers towards the time when it was written. It was after the Danites migrated from the Tel Aviv area to the Lebanese border (Joshua 19:40-48), on which Judges 18 tells us more. And the book sometimes notes that things it describes are there "until this day": for instance, the Jebusites are living with the Judahites in Jerusalem (Joshua 15:63). So Joshua is a story told for generations who live later than Joshua's own day, who need to know about how their ancestors came to be in the land of Canaan (cf. Joshua 4:20-24). How did some of us Judahites come to live in the beautiful oasis at Ein Gedi? How did Caleb the Jephunnite come to be so important in Hebron? How did we Josephites come to construct all the fruit-tree terraces on our land? And how did the Danites come to be in the far north? By answering questions such as these, the book of Joshua preserves and articulates Israel's memory of who it is. God brought the Israelites into the land, and God gave them the instructions about distributing it.

Is Christ in the Old Testament?

The First Testament is rich in its portrait of God in his grace and faithfulness and in its accou... more The First Testament is rich in its portrait of God in his grace and faithfulness and in its account of how he was at work in the world and in Israel. God indeed spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, on the way to embodying that same speaking in Jesus (Heb 1:1–2). But a
focus on reading Jesus back into the First Testament means we don’t get to hear what it has to say. We learn what we knew already (because we knew it from the New Testament) and we miss the First Testament’s own insight. We narrow down the Scriptures to our narrow interests. We
will be wiser to seek to put ourselves into the position of those ancestors.
There is a British organization called the Scripture Union, one of whose main aims is to encourage Bible reading. I once heard a preacher comment that if its badge were ever redesigned, it should become a pair of raised eyebrows. The First Testament especially has a vast
capacity to raise our eyebrows. Reading Christ into it short-circuits that effect. Reading it for what God was saying to the ancestors can mean we see more clearly how the God-breathed Scriptures speak to us.

Twelve Prophetic Emphases: The Twelve Shorter Prophets and Some Passages with Ethical Significance

Twelve Prophetic Virtues: Some Qualities Shown by Twelve Ethical Teachers in the Twelve Shorter Prophets

Israel in the Christian Bible

Israel is a prominent topic in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though it was not as prominen... more Israel is a prominent topic in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, though it was not as prominent in Christian theological reflection until the aftermath of the Holocaust. As is the case with any theme in theology, insight on it benefits from considering it in the various historical and social contexts in which it has been expounded. But Israel is a historical reality in a distinctive sense. Within Israel’s story, as the scriptures tell it, Israel has been a wandering clan, a theocratic nation, an institutional state, a dispersed remnant, an imperial colony, and a religious community (Goldingay 1987). In subsequent millennia it has been a recognized religion, a persecuted minority, a martyred victim, and a secular state. Israel is a historical entity (more than one), but also a literary entity and a theological entity (Davies 2007). To complicate theological reflection, the question of Israel’s actual history, behind the story that the scriptures tell, is widely controverted. This article focuses on the implications of the story rather than taking positions on the history, though making use of insights that emerge from historical study.

Nothing new under the sun: the Five Scrolls read Houellebecq

The novels of Michel Houellebecq and the Five Scrolls in the Jewish Scriptures are mutually illum... more

Covenant Faith and Qohelet's Questions

A contribution to a symposium on Suffering and the Problem of Evil.

Reading Rahab: How criticism serves itself or eats itself

Studies of the Rahab story in Joshua illustrate how, as interpreters, we can read our interests a... more Studies of the Rahab story in Joshua illustrate how, as interpreters, we can read our interests and convictions into a text, allow it no room to protest that it did not have these interests or convictions, and give it no opportunity conversely to question the interests and convictions that we bring to it as interpreters. This raises the question whether we actually want to discover things from texts or whether we simply want to provide illustrations of and support for what we think already.

And I Acted for the Sake of My Name (Ezekiel 20): A Footnote

The translation "and I acted for the sake of my name" (not "but I acted for the sake of my name")... more

On Reading Genesis 49

The study focuses on the chapter as poetry and as rhetoric

Intertextuality in Daniel and Isaiah

is one of the scriptural books with which Daniel has significant links.1 In this paper I first pu... more is one of the scriptural books with which Daniel has significant links.1 In this paper I first put aspects of Isaiah 40-66 alongside the vision and story in Dan 2 and 3, and thus take up the form of intertextuality that juxtaposes texts that had no direct relationship. I then consider the testimony and visions that speak of the imperial power in Dan 4 and 8-11, and put them alongside Isa 8; 10; and 14. This study involves both juxtaposing texts that do not allude to each other and texts manifesting direction allusion. Thirdly, I focus on Dan 11:40-12:4, which takes up declarations of trust in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and illustrates one text's allusion to another in connection with human faithfulness and God's faithfulness. Study of influence and allusion in the Old Testament can be complicated by uncertainty about the origin of texts and thus about the direction of influence and allusion. This question arises with Dan 2-4, which is not far in date from parts of Isaiah, but it may be no coincidence that the question is not very troublesome because the comparison and juxtaposition does not depend on influence and allusion. The question does not arise with Dan 8-12 because it is some of the latest if not the actual latest material in the Old Testament; the direction of influence is from Isaiah to Daniel, and the direction of allusion is from Daniel to Isaiah.

Psalm 6: Plea, Protest, Anger, Discipline, Weariness, Deliverance

Torah and Ethics: First Testament Law and Its Implications

Austin Farrer: Anglican Theologian Preacher

Hosea 12-13: Recollection, Rhetoric, and Composition

Ezekiel 10:2-Sprinkle Not Scatter

This short note argues that the phrase ‫יר‬ ‫עִ‬ ‫ל-הָ‬ ‫עַ‬ ‫ֹק‬ ‫ר‬ ‫ּוזְ‬ in Ezek 10:2 denotes... more

The Torah and Atonement

Theories of the atonement have three backgrounds. The middle one is the New Testament's interpret... more

BIBLICAL JUSTICE IN EZRA-NEHEMIAH: THE FAITHFUL EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY

In printed Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah is two books, but one book in manuscripts of the Old Testament.1... more In printed Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah is two books, but one book in manuscripts of the Old Testament.1 Perhaps it was divided to make Nehemiah separate, because the beginning of Nehemiah resembles the beginning of a prophetic book. Further, most of Ezra 4-7 is in Aramaic, the international language, not Hebrew. Like bilingual people in the modern world, the original readers could evidently be expected to move between the two languages. The pages that follow will first outline Ezra-Nehemiah to provide a context for discussing the topic of justice in the two books and reflecting on its contemporary significance.

Closed Wombs and Failed Harvests

The first chapter of 1 Samuel relates how Yahweh closes a womb ‫;רחם(‬ 1 Sam 1:6). On a festive o... more The first chapter of 1 Samuel relates how Yahweh closes a womb ‫;רחם(‬ 1 Sam 1:6). On a festive occasion, in the context of the making and sharing of offerings, Hannah prays about her closed womb, Yahweh is mindful of her, she gets pregnant, and she has a son. A year or three later, again in the context of the making and sharing of offerings and thus presumably in that festive context, she gives thanks for the opening of her womb. "Yahweh gave me what I asked" ‫;שׁאלתי(‬ 1:27).1 In describing her son as the one "asked in connection with Yahweh" ‫ליהוה(‬ ‫,שאול‬ 1:28), she uses the passive participle of the verb ‫שאל‬ in a unique way that causes the word's form to correspond to the name of Saul. The gift of a child initiates the process whereby Saul will become king, when the people "ask" for a king (e.g., 8:10).2 Hannah goes on to praise Yahweh as the God who breaks the bows of the strong and gives strength to people who were falling, who makes people who were full have to hire themselves out for food and ensures that hungry people ‫)רעבים(‬ are no longer hungry, and who enables the infertile woman to give birth to seven children ‫)בנים(‬ whereas the mother of many is alone and vulnerable (2:4-5).

Violence, Justice, Advocacy, and Intercession in the Psalms

Violence, justice, advocacy, and intercession are interrelated topics in the Psalms, each of them... more Violence, justice, advocacy, and intercession are interrelated topics in the Psalms, each of them having some ambiguity attaching to it. This chapter seeks to clarify the ambiguity and the interrelationships and notes how psalms protest the violence that is done to justice, disavow taking up violence for the sake of justice, seek God's violence on behalf of justice, and affirm the responsibility of the king to take up that responsibility.

Joshua Goes to Kathmandu

As I have taught online courses at the Asia Graduate School of Theology in Kathmandu and have bee... more As I have taught online courses at the Asia Graduate School of Theology in Kathmandu and have been writing a commentary on Joshua, I have wondered what happens when we put Joshua and Nepal together? The Uniqueness of Israel The Book of Joshua begins with Joshua succeeding Moses as Israel's leader, and it ends with his death and with a few notes about the years that followed. So the title "Joshua" fits its content: it is about the period during which Joshua was Israel's leader, the key period during which the Israelites arrived in Canaan and distributed the land to the clans. The book doesn't indicate who wrote it, though it gives one or two pointers towards the time when it was written. It was after the Danites migrated from the Tel Aviv area to the Lebanese border (Joshua 19:40-48), on which Judges 18 tells us more. And the book sometimes notes that things it describes are there "until this day": for instance, the Jebusites are living with the Judahites in Jerusalem (Joshua 15:63). So Joshua is a story told for generations who live later than Joshua's own day, who need to know about how their ancestors came to be in the land of Canaan (cf. Joshua 4:20-24). How did some of us Judahites come to live in the beautiful oasis at Ein Gedi? How did Caleb the Jephunnite come to be so important in Hebron? How did we Josephites come to construct all the fruit-tree terraces on our land? And how did the Danites come to be in the far north? By answering questions such as these, the book of Joshua preserves and articulates Israel's memory of who it is. God brought the Israelites into the land, and God gave them the instructions about distributing it.

Qohelet: Implied Author and Implied Readers

Vocation in the Scriptures

Models for Prayer in Psalms and Lamentations

Daniel and Jeremiah Compare Notes

Coverdale's God

Psalms + Holy Spirit

Canonical Readings of Isaiah

The paper first reviews the background of renewed interest in the Isaiah scroll in the form in wh... more The paper first reviews the background of renewed interest in the Isaiah scroll in the form in which it appears in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. Second, it considers canonical readings within the Isaiah Scroll itself, which involve later parts of the scroll taking up earlier prophecies that appear within the scroll such as Isa 6, and also prophecies from elsewhere such as Hos 1-2. Third, it reflects on the canonical reading of the scroll, the view that the scroll itself has a canonical form, and sets alongside that view the understanding that the scroll is purposefully organized but that a canonical reading of it takes up this form rather than underlying it. Fourth, it considers canonical readings of and from the scroll, notably, within the New Testament, and the implications of the idea that the scroll became a canonical text.

Twelve Books, One Theology?

Through a process of redaction and/or some other process, the Twelve came to have a mutually over... more Through a process of redaction and/or some other process, the Twelve came to have a mutually overlapping theology that also shared common ground with the other three prophetic scrolls. In their understanding of Yahweh this overlapping theology is symbolized by the recurrence of motifs from Exodus 34:6 – 7, though the prophets who do not incorporate an allusion to that text do have a similar understanding of Yahweh as gracious but not too easy-going. The overlap is also symbolized by the distinctive recurrence of allusion to Yahweh’s Day with its reference to a final ultimate event that would turn out to be embodied in the meantime partially but not finally in a particular historical event; again, the prophets who do not use the expression Yahweh’s Day imply a similar theology. Without sharing another comparable form of words, the Twelve as a group suggest that Yahweh was involved with Israel in a distinctive way but was also involved with all the nations, and they look forward to the arrival of a new David through whom Yahweh’s purpose will be fulfilled. And out of the Twelve it is possible to articulate a spirituality of sacredness that involves being in awe of Yahweh, being mindful of Yahweh, questioning Yahweh, acknowledging Yahweh, turning to Yahweh, pursuing Yahweh, celebrating, chanting and shouting, being circumspect yet courageous in doing what Yahweh says and promises to support, and living in brotherhood, in pity, and in an exercise of authority that manifests commitment.