Talking Scripture and Tending a Garden

Although, I doubt I’ll ever have to seriously face this question: how does one end a massive three-volume 2700 page Old Testament Theology? Most theologies I’ve read don’t really end well, they just end. That’s why Fuller professor John Goldingay takes the cake. For Goldingay, the Old (or First) Testament isn’t a dusty prolegomena rendered irrelevant by the New (or Second) Testament. It isn’t a historical relic to be dissected by history of religions schools. It’s a witness to the revelation of God and has words or instructions for living not just then but now. Here’s how he ends the book.

In the twenty-first century, what might be the structure of a life shaped by the First Testament? Here is a Decalogue. You can choose which you obey. But do some of them.

• Praise God at dusk and at dawn.
• Relax and sleep for the time in between.
• Grow things to eat.
• Tithe what you grow.
• Keep out of department stores and shopping malls (beware the Internet too).
• On Thursdays, pray laments for people who are suffering.
• On Fridays, think about the fact that you are going to die.
• On Saturdays, have a day’s rest (you can tend your garden if it’s not your regular work).
• On Sundays, talk with your friends or family about Scripture.
• Three times a year, hold a week-long holiday with your friends or family, and celebrate what God has done for us in nature and in delivering us.

Those are just regular, rule-of-life kinds of things. This volume is full of other things to do when occasion demands or invites. (Old Testament Theology, Volume 3: Israel's Life)


Brilliant.