Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

G. K. Beale

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

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This 964-page (and 900,000-word) book has been in the works for six years:

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin L. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli, eds. Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. [Available from Logos, Amazon, and Westminster Bookstore.]

For a list of all the articles and contributors along with some sample essays, check out the 99-page PDF sample at Westminster Bookstore (click “Read Sample” under the book cover).

The book supplements Beale and Carson’s Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament.

The book includes …

  • 35 surveys of the use of the OT in the OT (e.g., the use of the OT in Jeremiah)
  • 19 surveys of the use of the OT in the NT (e.g. the use of the OT in Matthew)
  • 53 biblical-theological essays (e.g., covenant, image of God)
  • 22 essays related to inner-biblical exegesis (e.g., typology, letter couriers)
  • 7 essays on Jewish exegesis (e.g., the use of the OT in the Pseudepigrapha)
  • 5 theology essays (e.g., theological interpretation)

In addition to serving as one of the editors, I contributed two essays:

  • “History of Interpretation: 1800 to Present” (pp. 319–27)
  • “Serpent and Antichrist” (pp. 775–79)

Students can use this resource to learn the field. Pastors can use it for sermon prep. And scholars can use it for its bibliographies and breadth of topics.

Update on 11/7/2023: In this 50-minute podcast episode, Matt Harmon interviews Ben Gladd: “Introducing the Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament.”

Update on 11/15/2023: Ben Gladd and me at our book display at ETS:

12 Primary Ways the New Testament Uses the Old Testament

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bealeThe below list comes from an excellent new handbook:

G. K. Beale. Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012. xviii + 173 pp.

A 39-page PDF that includes the table of contents is available here.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy this book is to read. I’ve read a lot of Greg Beale’s work (books, articles, reviews), and this book is by far his most readable work I’ve read. His other works tend not to follow the maxim, “Omit needless words,” and his syntax and word choices often seem like they’ve been translated from German into English by a Frenchman (hyperbole alert).

(I just lost my credibility with my fully Reformed friends because they regularly plow through the writings of Puritans and old Presbyterians and don’t understand how I could possibly find Beale difficult to read.)

Chapter 4 lists 12 primary ways the NT uses the OT (pp. 55–93): [Read more…] about 12 Primary Ways the New Testament Uses the Old Testament

Omit Needless Words

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I agree with Jim.

James M. Hamilton Jr., “Appreciation, Agreement, and a Few Minor Quibbles: A Response to G. K. Beale,” Midwestern Journal of Theology 10, no. 1 (2011): 67:

I want to register a stylistic complaint. Beale is prolix. It’s as though he is exclaiming, “Why should I say in three words what I can expand to ten?!” In the “Introduction” to “the little book,” E. B. White epitomizes Professor Strunk: “‘Omit needless words!’ cries the author on page 23, and into that imperative Will Strunk really put his heart and soul.” Imagine the pleasure Strunk would take eliminating words from Beale’s oeuvre. To take one example, consider the title of his second lecture, “The Inaugurated End-Time Tribulation and Its Bearing on the Church Office of Elder and on Christian Living in General.” Edwardsian in its fullness, but would not “Elders and the End-Times” have been sufficient? I love the ideas that Beale communicates, but I wonder whether he hopes to be paid on the Dickensian wage (critics of Charles Dickens complain that his books are so long because he was paid a penny a word).

Beale and Carson’s Commentary on the NT’s Use of the OT

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This uniquely useful volume was published in November 2007:

CNTUOT

Beale, G. K. and D. A. Carson, eds. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

  1. Last year I spent two or three hundred hours proofing it, so I am fairly familiar with it. It is not always scintillating reading, but it is a thoughtful, first-class reference that I will continue to consult often (especially since I am planning to write my dissertation on the use of the OT in a NT passage). I anticipate that many theological journals will publish reviews of this book that will unanimously praise it as uniquely useful. Many reviews may point out minor areas of disagreement, but this is inevitable given the eclectic theological perspectives of the contributors. (E.g., I. Howard Marshall’s Arminian perspective comes through more than once in his comments on Acts.)
  2. The first paragraph of the preface explains some of this project’s background:
    • “When the two editors of this volume began the project almost a decade ago, neither of us anticipated that it would take this long to bring it to completion. Unrealistic expectations, illness among the contributors and their families, and shifting and competing obligations all conspired to delay the project. We are profoundly grateful for the patience of the contributors who managed to submit their work in a timely manner, some of whom updated their work later, and of Baker Academic, whose editorial staff encouraged and even cajoled editors and contributors alike, but never nagged” (p. vii).
  3. The PDF excerpt here includes the table of contents and introduction.
  4. Craig Blomberg weighed in on a blog post that questioned the volume’s value.
  5. Today Collin Hansen’s bi-weekly “Theology in the News” column at Christianity Today is entitled “Two Testaments, One Story: Top evangelical scholars team up for landmark commentary on New Testament use of Old Testament.” Hansen interview interacts with both Greg Beale and Don Carson.