Useful Books about Old Testament Theology for Evangelicals

  Achtemeier, Paul J. and Elizabeth. The Old Testament Roots of Our Faith. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1962. This is a loosely conservative study by authors who believed the gospel but did not see the creation account as history. It makes a number of useful points. It is written at a general or college level.

Baker, David L. Two Testaments, One Bible: A Study of the Theological Relationship between  the Old & New Testaments. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1976. This is a generally conservative study written at a college or masters level. It gives a long survey of different approaches that have been given to explain the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. While interesting and valuable, it is really a study of the academic debate instead of a study of the Bible itself.

Baltzer, Klaus. The Covenant Formulary in Old Testament, Jewish, and Early Christian Writings. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1971. This is a mainstream book but very important. It traces the use of the treaty motif in the Old Testament. It is written at a masters or doctoral level. For the pervasive importance of this theme in the Old Testament, see the discussions in Yahweh's Song.

Barrois, Georges A. The Face of Christ in the Old Testament. Crestwood, NJ: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974. This is a useful conservative study of the presence of New Testament theology behind the scenes in the Old Testament. It is written at a college or masters level.

Beckwith, Roger. The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1985. This is a conservative study that is written at a masters or doctoral level. It discusses in detail the debates about the nature of the Old Testament canon.

Beegle, Dewey M. Prophecy and Prediction. Ann Arbor, MI: Pryor Pettengill, 1978. This is a useful conservative summary of biblical prophecy. It is written at a general or college level.

Betton, Harold B. Yahweh's Holy Mountain. Booksurge Publishing, 2005. This is a printing of Betton's dissertation on the holy mountain theme. It is conservative, and it is written at a masters or doctoral level. It is a really useful survey of the holy mountain motif which is one of the more important religious ideas both in the Bible and in the ancient Near East.

Block, Daniel Isaac. The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology. Jackson, MS: Evangelical Theological Society, 1988. This is a conservative study written at a masters or doctoral level. It is part of the Evangelical Theological Society's monograph series. It traces the relationship between gods and their nations in the Bible and the ancient Near East.

Borland, James A. Christ in the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody, 1978. This is an outstanding conservative study of the Old Testament theophanies. It is written at a college or masters level.

Buksbazen, Victor. The Gospel in the Feasts of Israel. West Collingwood, NJ: The Friends of Israel, 1978. This is a small paperback that puts the Old Testament feasts in the context of New Testament theology. It is conservative, and it is written at a general or college level.

Childs, Brevard S. Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1985. Childs was not a conservative author, and he assumed the Documentary Hypothesis. He taught at Yale, and he was constantly attacked by other faculty at Yale for being too conservative. He argued that no matter how the Bible reached its current form, the right thing to study was the text as it actually reads today. He tried to understand the theology of the Old Testament in its current canonical shape, and his comments are often of value.

Clifford, Richard J. The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Old Testament. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972. Clifford is a mainstream author. However, this is a very important book that should be read. It is a revision of his dissertation at Harvard. So it is written at a masters and doctoral level. It traces the nature of the holy mountain motif which was common both in the Bible and in the ancient Near East.

Clifford, Richard J. ed. Wisdom Literature in Mesopotamia and Israel. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007. This is a brief collection of articles written by people of various theological perspectives. It is written at a college or masters level. The articles discuss the relationship between the Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern wisdom texts.  Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1988.

Dumbrell, William J. The Faith of Israel: A Theological Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. This book is aimed at a college level reader. The author is pretty conservative, and it is a useful survey of religious ideas in the Old Testament. It goes through the Bible book by book and comments on theological ideas in each book.

Eichrodt, Walther. Theology of the Old Testament. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961. This is a translation of an older German two volume set. Eichrodt was a mainstream liberal author. However, his work is still important for study at the masters or doctoral level. Unlike Wellhausen and his crowd, Eichrodt claimed that the idea of covenant was at the heart of Israel's faith even at its earliest levels. Eichrodt's study is a long analysis of the idea of covenant in the Old Testament, although he often does not really get it right. While his book was written before the beginning of the international treaty discussion, it can be useful. For the treaty discussion, see Yahweh's Song.

France, R. T. Jesus and the Old Testament: His Application of Old Testament Passages to Himself and His Mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1971. This is a conservative book, and it is written at a college or masters level.

Habershon, Ada R. Study of Types. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1957. This is a useful conservative study of Old Testament typology. It is written at a college level.

Hafemann, Scott J. The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001. This is a conservative study written at a general or college level. It looks at the most basic theological ideas in the Old Testament and uses them to teach the gospel.

Hals, Ronald M. Grace and Faith in the Old Testament. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1980. This is a generally conservative Lutheran study of God's grace in the Old Testament. It is written at a general or college level. It tries to treat the Old Testament by itself instead of reading New Testament theology back into it. It is a small paperback.

Hanson, Anthony Tyrrell. Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. London: SPCK, 1965. This is a generally cons ervative study written at a masters or doctoral level. It traces how different New Testament authors believed that Christ was taught in the Old Testament.

Heinisch, Paul. Theology of the Old Testament. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1950. This is a generally conservative study written at a college or masters level. It traces a wide variety of motifs related to Old Testament theology.

Himmelfarb, Martha. Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983. While this is not a conservative study, it contains a lot of useful material about underworld imagery in the Bible and the ancient Near East. It is written at a college or masters level.

Johnston, Philip S. Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002. This is a conservative study, and it is written at a masters or doctoral level. It is an attempt to understand Old Testament descriptions of the afterlife. It also places those motifs into the broader context of the ancient Near East.

Juel, Donald. Messianic Exegesis: Christological Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress, 1988. This is a mainstream study that may not be conservative at all points. However, it is a valuable piece of research. It explores how the early church interpreted the Old Testament as a revelation of Christ. It is written at a masters level.

Jukes, Andrew. Types in Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1976. This is a conservative study written at a college level. It traces passages in the Old Testament that were symbols of Christ.

Kirk, Kenneth E. The Vision of God. Cambridge: James Clarke, 1977 reprint of 1931 study. While not necessarily a conservative study, this is a valuable book. It explores a lot of data related to the question of seeing God. Theophanies (or appearances of God) were very important elements in Old Testament theology, and those appearances were often used in a theological context in the New Testament.

Kline, Meredith G. Images of the Spirit. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980. This is a conservative study  that is written on a masters or doctoral level. While it is a little hard to understand at first, it is a very important study. It traces the significance of the Old Testament theophanies. It may be one of the more important books on OT Theology written in the last 50 years.

Kline, Meredith G. Kingdom Prologue. Meredith G Kline, 1993. This is a conservative study written at a masters level. While this is a hard study to find, it is a very valuable study of Genesis 1-11.

Levenson, Jon D. Sinai & Zion: an Entry into the Jewish Bible. Minneapolis, MN: Winston, 1985. Levenson is a mainstream liberal scholar who writes from a Jewish perspective. However, this is a very important book. It should be read by anyone working at a masters or doctoral level. It traces holy mountain imagery especially as it impacts biblical descriptions of Sinai and Zion.

Longman, Tremper III. Making Sense of the Old Testament: Three Crucial Questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998. This is a conservative study written at a general or college level. It traces the keys to understanding the Old Testament, the relationship between the Old and New Testament depictions of God, and the ways to apply to Old Testament to contemporary life.

Maas, A. J. Christ in Type and Prophecy. New York: Benziger, 1896. This is an old study but still useful. It is conservative, and it is written at a college level. It traces Old Testament passages that pointed forward to Christ.

McComiskey, Thomas Edward. The Covenants of Promise: A Theology of the Old Testament Covenants. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1985. This is a conservative study written at a college or masters level. It traces the idea of covenant in the Old and New Testaments.

Mendenhall, George E. The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. Mendenhall is  a mainstream liberal author. He presents an explanation for Israel's origin that is not very consistent with the Biblical text. It is written at a masters level In pages 67-68 of his book, he included an excurses on a miracle at Zaz that is fascinating.

Millard, Alan R. "For His Is Good." Tyndale Bulletin 17 (1966): 115-117. This is a conservative study that interacts with treaty usage. For the importance of this motif, see the discussion in Yahweh's Song.

Niehaus, Jeffrey J. God at Sinai: Covenant & Theophany in the Bible and Ancient Near East. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995. This is a conservative study written at a masters level. It is an outstanding study of the holy mountain motif, and it is a must read in the field.

Payne, J. Barton. The Theology of the Older Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962. This is an outstanding conservative summary of Old Testament theology. It is written at a masters level.

Perdue, Leo G. Reconstructing Old Testament Theology after the Collapse of History. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2005. This is not a conservative study. However, it is a useful summary of the ways that Old Testament theology has been done in recent years within the mainstream liberal community. It is written at a masters or doctoral level.

Poythress, Vern S. The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 1991. Poythress is a conservative Reformed author. His book is written at a college or masters level. It explores how New Testament theology was taught behind the scenes in the Old Testament.

Robertson, O. Palmer. The Christ of the Covenants. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980. Robertson is a conservative Reformed author. This book is written at a college or masters level. It traces the successive covenants recorded in the biblical text.

Sauer, Erich. The Dawn of World Redemption: A Survey of the History of Salvation in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1951. This is a useful study of the idea of salvation in the Old Testament. It is conservative, and it is written at a college or masters level.

Silver, Abba Hillel. A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel from the First through the Seventeenth Centuries. New York: Macmillan, 1927. Silver was a Jewish author. He discussed all of the people in the Jewish world who claimed to be the messiah at one time or another. He discussed six of these figures in the first century, and three of these were mentioned in the New Testament as well. This book was written at a college level. It is a very interesting and helpful study.

Stadelmann, Luis L. The Hebrew Conception of the World. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1970. This is not a particularly conservative book, but it is worth reading. It talks about the cosmology of the Old Testament. Cosmology in this context is how the earth was shaped. It argued that the Hebrews held to the ancient Near Eastern view that there were inhabited regions in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth. It is quite helpful to understand the imagery that God often used in Scripture to describe the world. For the significance of it, see Yahweh's Song.

Von Rad, Gerhard. Holy War in Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1958. Von Rad was an important mainstream liberal author. He assumes the Documentary Hypothesis. However, this book is an interesting study of the holy war motif in the Bible, and it makes a number of interesting points. It is written at a masters level.

Vischer, Wilhelm. The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ. London: Lutterworth, 1949. This is an older, conservative study aimed at a general or college level audience. It runs through the biblical text and places events in the broader context of the Bible as a whole. It is a useful survey of the text.

Wood, Leion J.  The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976. This is an outstanding conservative study of the role that the Holy Spirit played in the Old Testament. It is written at a college or masters level.

Wright, Christopher J. H. Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1992. This is a conservative study, and it is written at a college or masters level. Wright traces how Jesus life and ministry grew out of the Old Testament and was a fulfillment of it.

Youngblood, Ronald. The Heart of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1971. This small paperback is a conservative study written at a general level. It traces the most important theological ideas in the Old Testament.

Copyright © 2009 Dr. Rodger Dalman
Last modified: 08/11/09