Testimonia

Tell me what you would strike from the Old Testament and I’ll tell you what defect there is in your Christian knowledge.

—Wilhelm Vischer

Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to understand the hermeneutical problem of the Old Testament as the problem of Christian theology, and not just as one problem among others, seeing that all the other questions of theology are affected in one way or another by its resolution. . . . This question [of whether and why the Old Testament is part of the canon of Scripture and what its relevance is] affects the extent and also qualitatively the substance of what may be regarded as Christian. No more fundamental question can be posed in all theology; providing an answer for it defines the realm in which theology has to be done.

—A. H. J. Gunneweg

The passing of the debate over the higher criticism still leaves us with the real problem of the Old Testament: should it have any authority in the Christian Church and if so how is that authority to be defined? Once one has awakened to [the] commanding importance of this question one will be able to see that it runs through the whole of Christian history with a scarlet thread. Yea, more: one can see that much of the difference in theologies springs from the extent to which they build Old Testament ideas or impulses into the primitive Christian patterns. And the latter, one may discover, differ in themselves already because of the degree of Old Testament influence received. The Old Testament problem, therefore, is not just one of many. It is the master problem of theology. And even for those who regard the first half of the question, as formulated above, beyond debate, the second half still remains in force. All theology that operates in any way with [the] biblical heritage hangs in the air until it is settled.

—Emil G. Kraeling

The current fashion of thought has regarded the Old Testament as a monument of antiquity, interesting to the historian, the literary critic, and the archaeologist, but of little serious value for the life and thought of the modern Christian. Our approach to it has been by means of an overconfident “historicism,” wherein it is assumed that, once we are able to trace the accurate, detailed history of the linguistics and institutions of the Hebrew people in their proper life-situation, our task is finished. In reality, however, it has scarcely begun. Those of us who are Christian theists are still faced with the fundamental question: What is the relevance of the prophetic “Thus said the Lord” for our day? . . . One reason for such confusion . . . may be the lack of familiarity with a positive treatment of Old Testament theology. Not merely is this subject neglected in modern biblical teaching; it is almost entirely forgotten.

—G. Ernest Wright

“I shall go to my grave,” a friend of mine once wrote me, “feeling that Christian thought is a dead language—one that feeds many living ones to be sure, one that still sets these vibrating with echoes and undertones, but which I would no more use overtly than I would speak Latin.” I suppose he is right, more right than wrong anyway. If the language that clothes Christianity is not dead, it is at least, for many, dying; and what is really surprising, I suppose, is that it has lasted as long as it has.

—Frederick Buechner

The language of faith, the language of public responsibility in which as Christians we are bound to speak, will inevitably be the language of the Bible, the Hebrew and the Greek Bible and the translations of them, and the language of Christian tradition, the language in the forms of the thoughts, concepts and ideas, in which in the course of centuries the Christian Church has gained and upheld and declared its knowledge. There is a specifically Church language. That is in order. Let us call it by the familiar name by saying that there is a “language of Canaan.” And when the Christian confesses his faith, when we have to let the light that is kindled in us shine, no one can avoid speaking in this language. For this is how it is: if the things of Christian faith, if our trust in God and His Word is to be expressed precisely, so to speak in its essence—and time and again it is bitterly necessary for this to be done, so that things may be made clear—then it is inevitable that all undaunted the language of Canaan should sound forth. For certain lights and indications and heartening warnings can be uttered directly in this language alone. . . . One thing is certain, that where the Christian Church does not venture to confess in its own language, it usually does not confess at all. Then it becomes the fellowship of the quiet, whereby it is much to be hoped that it does not become a community of dumb dogs.

—Karl Barth

Gather everyone—men, women, children, and the immigrants who live in your cities—in order that they hear it, learn it, and revere the LORD your God, carefully doing all the words of this Instruction, and so that their children, who don’t yet know the Instruction, may hear it and learn to revere the LORD your God. . . . So in light of all that, you must write down this poem and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths so that the poem becomes a witness for me against them . . . this poem will witness against them, giving its testimony, because it won’t be lost from the mouths of their descendants.

—Deuteronomy 31:12–13a, 19, 21 CEB

You’ve taught me since my youth, God,

and I’m still proclaiming your wondrous deeds!

So, even in my old age with gray hair, don’t abandon me, God!

Not until I tell generations about your mighty arm,

tell all who are yet to come about your strength,

and about your ultimate righteousness, God,

because you’ve done awesome things!

Who can compare to you, God?

—Psalm 71:17–19 CEB

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things.

—1 Corinthians 13:11 CEB

God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others.

—Ephesians 4:13a–14 CEB

The days are surely coming, says the LORD God,

when I will send hunger and thirst on the land;

neither a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water,

but of hearing the LORD’s words.

They will wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they will roam all around,

seeking the LORD’s word,

but they won’t find it.

—Amos 8:11–12 CEB