G. K. Beale - 'New Testament User of the Old' books.

Matt Leonard

Hey,

I'm trying to work out if any of these books overlap, or is a condensed version of another.

A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New
Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation
Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Are they all different?

And what order are they work buying in?

Many thanks

Matt

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ReformedDoc

I have been curious myself, so I tried ChatGPT.

These books share a common theme of exploring the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible, but they serve different purposes and provide distinct perspectives. Let me break down each one for you:

"A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New"
- This book likely focuses on tracing the theological connections and developments from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It explores how the themes, ideas, and promises in the Old Testament find fulfillment or new meaning in the context of the New Testament.
"Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament"
- As the title suggests, this book is more of a commentary that specifically examines how the New Testament authors use or refer to the Old Testament. It provides insights into how biblical writers quoted, alluded to, or interpreted Old Testament passages when composing the New Testament.
"Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation"
- This handbook likely offers guidance on the exegesis (interpretation) of Old Testament passages within the context of the New Testament. It may provide methods for studying and understanding how the Old Testament is employed in the New Testament.
"Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament"
- This resource is likely more of a reference work, providing definitions, explanations, and insights into specific instances of New Testament usage of Old Testament passages. It could serve as a comprehensive guide for looking up specific references or concepts.

While there may be some overlap in content, these books appear to have different emphases and purposes. If you're looking for a comprehensive understanding of how the New Testament engages with the Old Testament, using these resources in conjunction with each other might be beneficial, as they likely offer complementary perspectives and depth of coverage.

Rosie Perera

I have been curious myself, so I tried ChatGPT.

Ha. "likely" "likely" "likely" "could" "may be" "appear" "might be" "likely" [:D]

Sounds like ChatGPT hasn't read any of these, nor reviews of them, and is just guessing based on predictive text.

MJ. Smith

Beale, G. K. A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. This one I have scarcely used as eschatology is not a major interest. I have other go to books for the economy of salvation overviews.

Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos, 2007. This is the volume I consider to be foundational. It provides the references for use that get picked up elsewhere in Logos. It also supplies well-founded commentary that make interesting reading either on an entry-by-entry level or as a read-straight-through book. This is the must have volume.

Beale, G. K. Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012. Because I love separating things into categories to see why commentators reached their conclusions, I absolutely love this book. If provides serious guidance on how to not carry the Old Testament use by the New Testament too far and is very insightful on the how & why of the reference in the commentary above. This is the second volume to add.

Beale, G. K., D. A. Carson, Benjamin L. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli, eds. Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2023. This is a limited content dictionary useful for understanding how terms are viewed in the books above. How useful depends upon your background - the broader your background and the more flexible your brain, the less you need this. Useful to have but not essential.

Rosie Perera

A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Had to be cheeky (as others have already answered, MJ probably most usefully):

You forgot:

The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts?: Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New

If you can't get enough of "use of the OT in the NT" collect the whole set! [:P]

Oh, and there's also the more limited:

John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation

Mal Walker

There are a few aren't there? [:P]

To answer your question Matt, yes, they are all different works despite the similar names and authorship. They are all also very good, and serve different functions.

As MJ has said, the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament is excellent, well worth having and what I would get first. It does exactly as the title says, its a commentary that works through the New Testament, showing how the NT is picking up on themes/ideas/direct quotations etc from the OT.

The Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament is a smaller book, not a commentary, which works through and shows how one should responsibly handle/interpret/exegete a new testament passage which itself is using the old testament. Also excellent.

Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament is a recent work. It's a dictionary, so different from the others in that it displays its content in that manner, and is meant to supplement the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. You can view an excerpt of it on the WTS website.

Lastly, A New Testament Biblical Theology is also excellent, I've used it a bunch for my studies in college. I'm going to disagree with MJ here though and say it's focus is not eschatology, but biblical theology. Their is of course overlap, but really just trying to show how the NT fits into and continues the story first started by the OT. Recommended if you're doing anything related to biblical theology!

MJ. Smith

Lastly, A New Testament Biblical Theology is also excellent, I've used it a bunch for my studies in college. I'm going to disagree with MJ here though and say it's focus is not eschatology, but biblical theology. Their is of course overlap, but really just trying to show how the NT fits into and continues the story first started by the OT. Recommended if you're doing anything related to biblical theology!

Ah, Mal, you just reinforced my lack of enthusiasm as I generally dislike works that consider biblical theology to be separate from systematic theology. I find the concept of non-Biblical theology a bit offensive. However, Matt, don't take my response to the book to be a negative review ... I'm only saying that from a so-conservative-as-to-be-positively-Medieval, leaning heavily to the East, liturgical-theology-loving Catholic perspective, it isn't for me.

Mal Walker

so-conservative-as-to-be-positively-Medieval, leaning heavily to the East, liturgical-theology-loving Catholic perspective

That's an incredible description, I love it 😂

Rosie Perera

I generally dislike works that consider biblical theology to be separate from systematic theology. I find the concept of non-Biblical theology a bit offensive.

They're both biblical. Nobody says systematic theology from the Protestant perspective that has a "biblical theology" too isn't biblical. J.I. Packer taught systematic theology for years at Regent College, where there were also biblical theology classes.

It's just that there's a different emphasis on how the topics are organized. Systematic theology is organized into major sections -- all of which are thoroughly biblical -- typically having to do with how God reveals himself, the nature of Christ, the nature of Humanity, the Church, Last Things. All of the theology books we read back up everything they say with biblical source texts.

But the discipline called "biblical theology" (maybe that's a stupid name for it, because it's a system as well, and both are biblical; but it is distinct from what is called "systematic theology") is organized around smaller units/topics, and traces them through their beginnings the first time they are introduced in the biblical canon (as we have received it) through their progressive development in later Scriptures.

John

I have a related question for those who have used these resources ...

Logos has a New Testament Use of the Old Testament dataset.

How do these resources interact with the dataset? If you have them all, would you still need/use the dataset?

Graham Criddle

How do these resources interact with the dataset?

They don't particularly - the dataset is based on Old Testament Quolations and Allusions in the New Testament (which, as far as I can see, is no longer available on the Logos website)

If you have them all, would you still need/use the dataset?

The dataset enables searching of the text, or browsing in the New Testament Use of the Old Testament Interactive which is not possible just from owning these books. So they provide different features and - may possibly - suggest different linkages

Benjamin Gladd

The Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old, though a sister volume to the Commentary, was written from the ground up. A few of the essays overlap with a some resources (the Handbook), but 98% of the project is new.