Comparing the Works of Kaiser and Goldsworthy

¶ … Kaiser's Toward An Exegetical Theology And Goldsworthy's Preaching The Whole Bible As Christian Scripture

Both Walter Kaiser and Graeme Goldsworthy take very different approaches to the Bible in their respective works Toward an Exegetical Theology and Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture. The former examines Scripture using more of a syntactical-theological method, providing a framework for everything from contextual analysis to syntactical, verbal, theological, and homiletical analysis. Kaiser also covers the use of prophecy, narrative and poetry in expository preaching. His approach, in short, is more academic than that of Goldsworthy's, who comes at the subject of Scripture from the perspective of the evangelical preacher, and thus delivers a more practical approach. For this reason Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture consists of two basic parts: the first, which addresses essential questions regarding preaching and Scripture; and the second, which addresses practical issues related to applying biblical theology to preaching. These two approaches, while different and on two distinct levels of interaction with the reader, both help the reader to better understand and identify the ways in which the Bible acts as a tool to drive minds, hearts and wills towards the truth of the Word. This paper will compare and contrast the two approaches found in Kaiser's Toward an Exegetical Theology and Goldsworthy's Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture.

What makes Kaiser's work immediately stand out as the more scholarly/academic approach to the Bible is its adherence to a more sophisticated, precise and academic style of language. For instance, when Kaiser writes, "Preaching will not only reflect the results of exegesis, but it will also assess the validity of the content and focus of its proclamation in terms of the Biblical text it proposes to exegete,"[footnoteRef:1] it carries a completely different tone -- more formal -- than Goldsworthy, when he writes simply that "Evangelical preachers have an agenda. We want to proclaim Christ in the most effective way possible."[footnoteRef:2] This more down-to-earth approach of Goldsworthy is indicative of the work as a whole: it is mainly oriented towards developing a practical understanding of the material -- the how-to-use approach that an evangelical preacher could most benefit from. Indeed, Goldsworthy's book is designed as a tool for such preachers: it is they who are the obvious intended audience. [1: Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1981), 22.] [2: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 2000), 1.]

Kaiser's work, on the other hand, is geared more towards the thinker than the doer. Kaiser's work is more of a thoughtful, scholarly work -- a work born of the fruit of meditation and study rather than practical experience and insight. It takes more pleasure in pondering the state of exegesis than the state of preaching, which is where Goldsworthy shines more fully.

Kaiser begins his work by asserting that there is "a crisis in exegetical theology" -- and while Kaiser laments that the "gap" (a popular expression among academicians, whose studies typically address the problem or "gap" in relevant literature) is to be found between the material learned in seminary and the harsh realities of preaching, his approach to addressing this gap is that of the seminary professor -- a rigorous examination of the fundamental ways in which Scripture should be addressed, studied, and understood.[footnoteRef:3] Kaiser's method is, however, rooted in the desire to update or make more accessible the Word of God for modern men -- and given the at times inaccessible nature of both books of Scripture, his desire is understandable. At the same time, Kaiser understands that in order to appreciate the deep nuance of the Bible it is necessary to cultivate an intellectual discipline that allows one to trace the historical "maze" as he calls it of events through the myriad books.[footnoteRef:4] Reconciling this intellectualist approach with the need to be able to express and clarify the fundamental nature of the message to people of today is wherein the "dilemma" lies, according to Kaiser.[footnoteRef:5] In other words, Toward an Exegetical Theology is a work that is meant to bring the scholar of Scripture closer to the person on the street in order that they both might be fulfilled in their missions. [3: Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1981), 25.] [4: Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1981), 27.] [5: Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1981), 27]

This is, ultimately, the same goal as Goldsworthy, though his approach to the material is less academic and rigorous in nature. Goldsworthy writes as though for the man on the street, viewing his audience of preachers as average men of average intellect, with no more or less interest in scholarly or academic approaches than any other typical modern era individual. This concept of his audience is discernible in the language that he uses and in the uncluttered syntax. Indeed, his writing is direct and to the point -- simple in arrangement and easy to follow. Moreover, Goldsworthy laments that academic approaches have had a costly toll on biblical studies when he states that "the separation of biblical studies and biblical theology into the two specialized areas of Old Testament and New Testament, however necessary at the formal and academic level, has led to an extremely costly separation of the Testaments."[footnoteRef:6] Thus, Goldsworthy deplores the fact that scholars have to some extent compartmentalized the two arenas of theology and Scripture to the detriment of the preacher whose very mission is to show how the two arenas are actually united. [6: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 2000), xii.]

Most importantly Goldsworthy adopts an approach in which he makes Christ the focus of his efforts: Christ is the center of the Bible (both Testaments) and Christ is the center of Christian theology. From his perspective there should be no such division and any approach to the Bible should include this aspect of understanding.[footnoteRef:7] Thus it is Goldsworthy's contention that "everyone" should be an interpreter of Scripture and that everyone "should be a biblical theologian" as well.[footnoteRef:8] Establishing how the Person of Christ is the center of both is his main impetus for writing his work. [7: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 2000), xiii.] [8: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company), xv.]

In this manner, the two authors approach a similar problem -- making the Word of God more accessible -- from two different perspectives. Kaiser takes the academic route, focusing on academic fundamentals, such as context, syntax, history, etc., and attempting to show that this knowledge need not deaden the life of Scripture to those who possess it. Goldsworthy takes the simpler route by appealing to the Everyman, whose finer sensibilities are not measured in terms of scholarly erudition but rather who sees the truth on a simple level, loves it in the same manner, and seeks only to communicate it and express it so that message gets through to the hearer.

By putting the Person of Christ at the front and center of his work, however, Goldsworthy's approach is also more human, even as it focuses obviously on the divine -- for Christ was both human and divine. The basis of evangelism, as Goldsworthy views it, is evident in the message of the Bible and in the theology that grows out of its examination. The simplicity of the Bible's message is really the root of evangelism, according to Goldsworthy, for it reminds the believer to set aside fear, want, worry, need, and all concern for the daily provisions of life -- and to instead set about embarking on that journey towards Him, the Creator and Giver of all life. This message is located in numerous places throughout the New Testament. Most notably perhaps is the injunction found in Matthew 6:26: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" If one truly had faith, he would not concern himself with the how to "provide" for himself, for he would trust in the goodness of God that all he needed would be supplied.

A second verse also illustrates this point and fits in with what Goldsworthy spells out in the first part of his book: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mat 6:33). With this simplicity at the heart of the Christian message, the evangelist can set out without worry, and can embark on a course of total saturation -- because, as God tells us in the Bible, that is what it means to seek first the kingdom of God. What Goldsworthy answers in his chapter entitled "Can I Preach a Christian Sermon without Mentioning Jesus?" is that Christ is the core of Christian teaching -- His Person, example, words and deeds (especially His sacrifice on the cross): this is the message and the path towards the kingdom of God that the preacher must preach. There is no need for all the fancy, intellectual words that academicians love so much: they merely turn away the average man on the street who thinks simply. Christ understood that and He communicated with them in simple ways as well. That is the point that Goldsworthy makes: the evangelical preacher only needs to know Our Lord Jesus Christ -- and then preaching will be easy, because this knowledge is the essence of the bible and of Christian theology.[footnoteRef:9] [9: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company), 116.]

Kaiser's book, on the other hand, views closing the gap between study and practice as an intellectual exercise. Yet, even though this is the case, his assessment of the bible and of Christian theology is on par with Goldsworthy as they both essentially arrive at the same conclusion: the Christian message is one that speaks to all people of all times and that can be properly illuminated by referring to the Scriptures. For example, Kaiser uses the point of prophecy in preaching to show that a deeper understanding of ourselves in relation to God can be achieved. Prophecy, likewise, is linked to narrative, which is linked to the historical arc that stretches from the Old Testament to the New. Thus, Kaiser is able to connect the very earliest books of the Bible to the very last book of Scripture in which our own times appear to be described.

Indeed, Kaiser shows that Christ Himself gives a prophecy that when times of persecution come, "many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other" (Matt 24:10). While, in the narrative context, this prophecy is directly linked to His own time, specifically His arrest; in the prophecy context, it also applies to our own modern time, in which Christendom has fallen to modernism, and the faithful have been supplanted by the faithless.[footnoteRef:10] Many factions of Christianity exist today, which for centuries have fought with one another, and Christians continue to despise one another, fulfilling this sad prophecy of Our Lord -- for in their hatred for one another they turn away from the faith. They act like the Pharisees and become modern Pharisees, judging one another but having no sense of "justice, mercy and faithfulness" (Matt 23:23). Such "Christians" turn others away from the faith by representing it so poorly. Outwardly, they profess to be believers and strict observers of the "faith" -- like the Pharisees -- but inwardly they are vipers (Matt 23:33), as Christ Himself calls them in His attempts to wake them up out of themselves and get them to see themselves for what they -- that they might realize that they too are in need of cleansing and of salvation. In this manner, Kaiser uses contextualization in order to connect disparate ideas that can then be found distributed throughout Scripture and contained within the kernels of truth that make up Christian theology. It is a totalistic approach that is scholarly on one level yet just as equally simple as Goldsworthy's approach -- because, after all, the truth is always simple and never really that complex. [10: Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1981), 189.]

Simplicity in truth and in the Christian message is, of course, Goldsworthy's aim as well, and one which he achieves at meeting again and again -- especially in his attention to the practical applications in the second part of his book. He separates his chapters, here, according to subject: there is a section devoted to the historical, narrative texts of the Old Testament, and a section devoted to law in the Old Testament, and a section devoted to the prophets. One chapter is devoted to the book of Wisdom, another to the Psalms, another to the Apocalyptic texts and another to the Gospels. The second to last chapter deals with Acts and the Epistles, both of which go together and strike at the heart of Goldsworthy's mission, which is to give the evangelical preacher a practical sense of the mission of the missionary. By starting off with complexity (history and law) and then moving to wisdom (the prophets and the Psalms) and then to the beauty of the Gospel narratives of the life of Christ, Goldsworthy steadily draws the reader into a firm embrace that suggests just how powerful the Word of God becomes when it is taken off the shelf of scholarly discourse and put in pedestrian terms (as Goldsworthy does with great care and attention in his sections on history, law, etc.).

In his final section of the book, Goldsworthy focuses solely on preaching biblical theology and what this means. As with the rest of the book, he stresses that one should not seek to divide the Old and the New Testaments, for they go together like covers to a book, each illuminating the other. All the trouble begins, he asserts, when the preacher attempts to disengage the one from the other. For Goldsworthy, if Christ is the Word made Flesh, as the New Testament states, then He is present throughout the whole Bible and should be seen everywhere within it (in both Old and New Testament) because He is the heart and soul, center and object of Revelation. Every covenant points to Him and every prophet too. Goldsworthy also raises the various problems that students of biblical theology face, which relate to translations, languages, theories, approaches, criticisms, etc. His answer to these issues is to embrace them within the context of the overall strategy of God, Who does not desire to confuse but actually imbues Himself throughout all and is reflected even in the smallest details if one knows how to look. Thus, Goldsworthy asserts that the language of man can easily reflect the divine language of love by communicating in simple terms without condescension or arrogance or an air of "special" knowledge that only the most intellectual can ever hope to attain. Goldsworthy views the message of Christ as being for all men -- especially those who are of simple understanding.[footnoteRef:11] However, as Goldsworthy notes, serious care and attention should be given to the original texts since these were the languages that the Holy Spirit saw fit to use when communicating to man; thus, it stands to reason that the grammatical nuances and syntax used therein should be preserved as best as possible when studying the linguistic aspects of biblical theology. [11: Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company), 247.]

And this assessment aligns with the assessment of Kaiser, who by starting on the level of the academic actually descends to a simpler understanding, just as Goldsworthy, who starts from the simple man perspective ascends to the level of the academic. In this way, the two authors, starting from polar opposites, meet in the middle and end up sitting in the place the other started. The comparison of the two works thus brings about the perfect expression of an "x" or cross -- and an apt symbol can be found in the paradoxical cross of Christ, to which the God-Man was literally nailed. This should serve as a reminder for the reader that starting at one point of the problem does not mean that he should stay there. Movement is necessary, as both authors suggest. If one starts low, he must move high -- and if one starts high, he must move low. The point is to be comprehensive and to encounter the full scope of the mission which is Christ's gift to the evangelical preacher.