This book just came out:

Andrew David Naselli. From Typology to Doxology: Paul’s Use of Isaiah and Job in Romans 11:34–35. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012. 201 pp.

It’s available in print (unlike the last one) and will soon be for Kindle.

From the Back Cover

At the end of Romans 11, Paul quotes both Isaiah and Job. As with other New Testament uses of Old Testament texts, this raises several questions. What is the context of these Old Testament passages? How are they used in other Jewish literature? What is Paul’s hermeneutical warrant for using them in Romans 11? What theological use does Paul make of them? How, if at all, does their use in Romans 11 contribute to the broader discussion on the use of the Old Testament in the New? In addressing these questions, this book reveals a remarkable typological connection that climaxes in the doxology of Romans 11:33–36, exalting God’s incomprehensibility, wisdom, mercy, grace, patience, independence, and sovereignty.

(Endorsements from Don Carson, Tom Schreiner, and Bob Yarbrough are listed here.)

Contents

Note: Job 41:3 is the Hebrew reference. It’s Job 41:11 in English translations.

Foreword

Jim Hamilton posted his generous foreword here.

Preface

This book began as a paper prepared for D. A. Carson’s PhD seminar “The Old Testament in the New” in fall 2006 at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Carson required each student to write a paper on the use of the OT in a specific NT passage, and I chose Rom 11:34–35 primarily because it is attached to my favorite verse in the Bible: Rom 11:36. I slightly revised the paper and presented it at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on November 19, 2008. The study was so rewarding that I expanded it into a dissertation, which I have revised as this book.

I am grateful for Carson’s wise guidance along the way. It’s hard to imagine a better mentor for a doctoral program. He routinely assured me that a PhD program that doesn’t make you sweat and feel like a twit at times isn’t worth the expense. By this measure I got far more than I paid for. And serving as his research assistant since 2006 has been worth more than the PhD. His gifts and productivity are astonishing, and it’s been an honor to leverage his work a bit by helping with copyediting and other projects. One of the first large projects he gave me was to proof Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), and that introduced me in a fairly comprehensive way to the complex and variegated ways the NT uses the OT.

I’m grateful also for my dissertation’s other two readers: Bob Yarbrough and Willem VanGemeren. Yarbrough is a model NT scholar and churchman. God has gifted this lumberjack with sharp wit, analytical skills, and theological acumen. VanGemeren’s warm demeanor made the PhD program at TEDS more bearable. He has rightly pinpointed me as a left-brain guy, so he has at least alerted me that the right brain exists and that this has a bearing on my theological method. I should offer a disclaimer that anything I say about Isaiah (or the whole OT for that matter) is not his fault. He’s a Jedi Master when it comes to reading the Hebrew OT, and he makes linguistic, literary, and theological connections with nuance far beyond my ability.

I’m grateful to family and friends who supported me in many ways, but one deserves special thanks with reference to this book: my Dad, Charles Naselli. He proofs almost everything I write for publication, and he eagerly and skillfully provided valuable feedback at every stage of this project.

My godly wife, Jenni, endured two PhDs in our first seven years together (one year of dating and engagement followed by six years of marriage). That’s two rounds of coursework, two rounds of comprehensive exams, and two dissertations (and now two children, too). [Update: And now three!] She should get a degree for that. Now regarding this book’s dedication [“To Jenni, who fulfills me”], I should qualify (since that’s what PhDs are supposed to do to everything) that referring to Jenni as the one “who fulfills me” is not an allusion to πληρόω as if the hermeneutical warrant for this book is Jenni’s typological connection to me. Nor does it mean merely that she satisfies me. It means that she makes me complete by supplying what is lacking. And there’s a lot lacking. She unselfishly and patiently encourages, supports, and loves me. She is a delight to love and lead, and I could not have made it this far without her.

My view of God has deepened as a result of studying Rom 11:33–36 (see especially ch. 8). God has enlarged my view of how great and glorious he is and how small and unimpressive we are.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)

Andy Naselli
Moore, South Carolina
September 2011

Updates:

1. This 31-page sample PDF includes the chapter on Job.
2. Interview by Matthew Claridge at the Credo Blog
3. Review by Christopher W. Morgan in Themelios 37:3 (2012): 518–19.
4. Review by Matthew D. Jensen in Bulletin for Biblical Research 23:2 (2013): 283–84.