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Two Testaments, One Bible

Author:	David L Baker
Published By:	Apollos (Nottingham)
Pages:	376
Price:	£16.99
ISBN:	978 1 84474 400 8

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

For several years I have taught a seven week “Introduction to the Old Testament” for those wanting to start some serious exploration of the Bible. I usually discover pretty quickly that, for many, the Old Testament is new territory (apart from some Psalms and half-remembered stories); it is rarely, it seems, read in church and even less used as the basis for preaching. Understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments for the Christian and for the life of the church is both neglected and pressing.

This is the third edition of this valuable resource, updated to embrace scholarship and thinking in the last twenty years. The book explores the place of the Old Testament in Christian Scripture, and the relationship between Old and New, in two ways. The first, main part of the book looks at four major approaches: ‘The New Testament as the Essential Bible’; ‘The Two Testaments as Equally Valid’; ‘The Old Testament as the Essential Bible’; ‘The Two Testaments as One Salvation History’. Each approach is examined through a careful study of one major proponent of the position followed by a detailed critique and then a briefer survey of other authors who also take this view. I’m not convinced (in passing) that Goldingay and Brueggemann would be happy to find themselves in the ‘Old Testament as Essential Bible’ approach. Both clearly assert its value and importance, but never at the expense of the New.

The second, substantial part of the book is the study of four key themes by which to understand the place of the Old Testament in Christian life and thought and the relationship between Old and New - typology; promise and fulfilment; continuity and discontinuity; covenant. There are valuable (necessarily) brief surveys of the work of different biblical scholars and interpreters in each of these areas. Baker’s personal conclusion is that “The two Testaments form one Bible, and to understand either one of the Testaments properly it is necessary to do so in relation to the other. They are so closely linked that separation is impossible without damage to both” (p.271).

This is a useful resource for the minister and student looking for a comprehensive survey of thinking and practice about how Old and New Testaments relate and interact. The implications of that for the individual and the church are sketched out in the final chapter, but the reader will have to work out their own application of this for preaching and teaching.  It is a book to refer to rather than read and the extremely helpful contents pages will make this an easy task. There are also seventy pages of bibliography which are, to say the least, comprehensive, but I suspect that many busy ministers would have welcomed some guidance and help navigating the list.