John Goldingay. The Theology of Jeremiah: The Book, the Man, the Message

Abstract

The Theology of Jeremiah brings refreshing clarity to a biblical book many Christians find confusing, contradictory, or overwhelming. In this new book, Goldingay compiles the conclusions from his recent NICOT commentary in an accessible, straightforward, and succinct account of Jeremiah’s history, message, theology, and life.Do not let its length fool you: this book clearly demonstrates Goldingay’s meticulous study of Jeremiah’s scroll (using Goldingay’s designation) and its historical context. Although Goldingay does not interact with secondary literature in this book, a discerning reader cannot deny his familiarity with the scholarly debates within Jeremiah studies. This book will undoubtedly shine in introductory undergraduate courses that exposit Jeremiah and in Bible studies as an introduction to Jeremiah, although supplemental interaction with specific texts would need to be developed by the instructor. Goldingay’s beliefs about the Jeremiah scroll shape the way that he presents his material. First, Goldingay approaches Jeremiah with the belief that the scroll was purposefully arranged to communicate specific theological truths exemplified by the prophet Jeremiah and his message. Second, Goldingay prioritizes Jeremiah’s original context and message in his interpretation. Third, Goldingay believes that the First Testament (to borrow his vocabulary), including the Jeremiah scroll, is informative to Christian practice, ethics, and theology today. Therefore, Goldingay’s The Theology of Jeremiah presents the Jeremiah scroll as a coherent theological unit and details its historical, religious, and cultural circumstances in order to help readers understand the importance of Jeremiah’s message for Christian living and belief.Goldingay divides his chapters into two sections with different focuses. The first four chapters discuss the Jeremiah scroll’s structure, themes, stories, and message. Here, Goldingay asserts that Jeremiah and Baruch are responsible for the bulk of the material but that the prophet’s disciples assembled and arranged his work in a theologically coherent manner soon after the destruction of Jerusalem. Because of this, he believes the scroll voices the exiled communities’ enduring confession that they were indeed unfaithful to God but that they also believed in God’s promises revealed to Jeremiah. Goldingay spends two of these four chapters fleshing out a detailed outline of the Jeremiah scroll. Overall, the structure Goldingay offers his readers strikes the perfect balance of being uncomplicated, yet detailed-oriented. As he works through his outline, Goldingay draws out the prominent themes of each section and discusses ways these themes reappear throughout the scroll. This section of the book uses Goldingay’s specialization in intertextuality to illuminate some of Jeremiah’s influences or allusions and draw out a historic perspective of who Judeans understood God to be and how God related to his people in the past. Additionally, this section also discusses the important historical events that inform God’s word for the people of Judah. Goldingay’s outline is primarily thematic, so some of the scroll’s climactic events or well-known designations for blocks of material may not appear here. However, patient readers will find that Goldingay discusses many of these in the second part of his book.Goldingay’s second section highlights the theological currents that run throughout the Jeremiah scroll, synthesizes them, and brings them into conversation with modern systematic categories. These chapters discuss who God is, how God interacts with his people, what sin is, the purpose and mission of a prophet, as well as humanities’ and God’s relationship with the future. In each of these chapters, Goldingay allows Jeremiah’s testimony preserved in the scroll to present its own account. He then explores how Jeremiah’s theology should inform categories from Christian systematic theology at the end of each chapter. Goldingay’s theological observations prove to be quite informative and help readers more deeply develop some of the images the scroll provides for thinking about God’s people (i.e., as a household or a domain) and sin (i.e., as corruption or shame). Although it is entirely clear that Goldingay draws extensively from the scroll throughout this section, his theological treatment of the text fluctuates in its citation consistency, occasionally leaving the reader to hunt down passages on their own.There is much to be praised about this book; it is no small feat to study the Jeremiah scroll and develop such a comprehensive and detailed, yet concise, outline and theological overview. Dr. Goldingay has dealt carefully with its testimony and reflected deeply on its theology. If I were to suggest one change, I would ask that he include a few excurses to tackle difficult theological themes directly. His audience would greatly value his input on topics such as the nature of repentance for human perpetrators of violence or injustice like Jehoiakim or Zedekiah, God naming himself as Judah’s enemy (Jer 21:5), and God’s prohibition of Jeremiah’s intercessory prayers for Judah.