Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 86:344 (Oct 1929)
Article: The Conception And Latest History Of “Old Testament Theology”
Author: Eduard Koenig

BSac 86:344 (Oct 1929) p. 446

The Conception And Latest History Of “Old Testament Theology”

Eduard Koenig

A WHOLE complex of important problems enters into very recent discussions of “Old Testament Theology,” in which also Walther Eichrodt expresses his opinions.1 It is not a simple matter to keep these problems apart. However, the attempt is herewith made.

I. In the discussions referred to an ominous darkness hovers over the conception of this discipline. The term “Theology,” contained in the title, is not correctly interpreted. In the title it means “religion in general.” That presentation of the religio-ethical content of the Old Testament Scriptures which is the theology of the Old Testament “is naturally so called,” because the religio-ethical ideas of the Old Testament in their doctrine of God center in theology. Repeating for emphasis’ sake—”theology” in that sense means as much as “religion.” Vatke already pointed this out by entitling his book: “Die biblische Theologie, Band I: Die Religion des Alten Testaments” (1835). Likewise the meaning of the term “theology” in that title has already been interpreted in my book “Theologie des Alten Testaments” (1922, 3rd and 4th edition, 1923).

Since this book has been ignored in the more recent discussions2 I must repeat my view here.

Hence, it is a wrong tendency among moderns to derive “a dogmatic character of this discipline” from the term “theology.” In fact in recent discussions it appeared as though this discipline is “concerned with dogmas” because

BSac 86:344 (Oct 1929) p. 447

of its designation as “theology.” Many moderns define a “theolog” not as an investigator of the history of religion, but as a blind representative of dogmas. Eichrodt, too, speaks acquiescingly of “the just claim of those who demand a dogmatic discipline for a knowledge of the nature of the Old Testament religion” (page 89).

In defining the conception “Old Testament theology” (in paragraph 1 of my book), I have faithfully adhered to the view which Gabler some time ago (1787) laid for the conception of this discipline. As is well known, he wrote: “Est theologia biblica e genere historico, tradens, quid scriptores sacri de rebus divinis senserint” (etc. in Theologie des A. T., page 4).

I have tried to preserve the historical character of this discipline throughout the entire arrangement of my book. The first main division develops the “unique position, origin and main stages in the commu...