PONDERING THE SPADE

In 2019 I published Pondering the Spade (Wipf and Stock) as a way to process a number of things that I had encountered during my formal graduate and post-graduate education. I focused on important convergences between the Old Testament and archaeology because I was convinced that my theological tradition historically has missed the boat. If I am completely honest, writing that book was cathartic in many ways. 

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 Yet I have come to realize something else as I have pondered, and continue to ponder, the spade. The language and history of the Old Testament have been entrenched alongside understanding the culture of ancient Israel as the three most important considerations to understanding the message and intention of the text. Thus, a foundational triumvirate exists, consisting of language, history, and culture, to determining the message of the Old (and New) Testament. Or, to put it in overtly theological terms, if we take seriously the notion that God used Israel to reveal himself and his plans to the world, then it must follow that we understand the language, the history, and culture of the Old and New Testaments.