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Both Sparks and I have entered into the discussion in the comments. (My comments begin at #36.) Hint: In order to see the entire comment thread, you have to click the “Comments” link under the post.

The Review of Biblical Literature has posted a review by Stephen Moyise of Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. This Zondervan volume was edited by Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde, and featured Walter Kaiser, Darrell Bock, and me, each defending a different position on the often curious way that New Testament writers used Old Testament passages, ways that seem to have little to do with their (apparent) original meaning or context.

Much of Moyise’s review is focused on Kaiser, namely Moyise’s judgment that Kaiser is intent to impose doctrinally driven explanations onto phenomena that are not amenable to such explanations. For example, referring to Matthew’s use of Hosea 11:1, Moyise says, “In one sense, the debate is about hermeneutics, but one wonders if, more fundamentally, it is about one’s view of God. Kaiser’s God would not inspire Hosea to speak about the exodus and then inspire Matthew to find new meaning in the same words. Enns thinks this is precisely what the God who became incarnate in Jesus would do.”

Download the complete review here.

I have a longer history with this book than most others, except for the author himself. I was asked by Baker to review the book in pre-publication form in January 2007, and I did so with great interest. After its publication in 2008, I was able to read the book again, and all of this culminated in an extremely well attended session at this past year’s meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston in November 2008.

In two posts, I would like to (1) outline briefly what I think are the central tenets of the book, and (2) recreate, as it were, something of the SBL session. On the second point, I will outline my own comments as well as make available, with their gracious permission, the written comments of Stephen Chapman (Duke Divinity School) and Bill Arnold (Asbury Theological Seminary).

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