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Thus, after an introduction meant to quickly familiarize the reader with the overarching
themes of this Old Testament Theology and the issues postmodernity brings to a
theologian (13–50), part 1 of this volume (“Living with God,” 51–322) treats vertical
aspects of how Israel ought to live before God. This should be, chiefly, a life defined by
“submission and celebration,” punctuated by obedience, reverence, trust, servitude,
giving, as well as sojourning with and the praising of God (53–190). Equally, it also
should be a life of “prayer and thanksgiving” in which communication, protest, and plea
mix with confidence, intercession, penitence, and thanksgiving (191–322).
Part 2 (“Living with One Another,” 323–582) engages horizontal relations of a social and
political nature. Goldingay begins with the nucleus of all social life, “family and
community,” in which he considers important topics of marriage, family, community
(understood as a series of broader human relations beyond immediate kin and
household), and servanthood (350–476). He then moves on to wider human
organizations, such as “city and nation” (477), where the focus is on the village, city,
nation, and kingdom (477–582). Before tackling potentially sensitive topics of the
postmodern life, such as debates about what constitutes marriage or how gender roles
should be envisioned by a modern family, Goldingay is careful to write down the
principles that guide him when discerning “what the First Testament has to say to the life
of the third millennium world” (326–50). This is the closest Goldingay gets to laying
down “ethical” principles in this volume (which some reviewers wrongly claim to
comprise Goldingay’s “ethics”; he actually dislikes the rigidity the term implies).
Part 3 (“Living with Oneself,” 583–831), the largest of the book’s parts, narrows in on the
self—not as an isolated entity but as one person living among and for others and before
God. In the first section of part 3 Goldingay nuances how various texts speak about
“spirituality and character” in virtues such as godliness, holiness, and purity, as well as in
cultivating a healthy relationship with life and death and with time and material
possessions. In addition, he examines how one acquires wisdom or insight, how one is to
use the mouth (words) when speaking, and how one is to suffer “well” (i.e., cope with,
and retain most benefits from, suffering, 585–707), so that God’s people exhibit what God
“looks for” (699–707). The final section in part 3 concerns “leaders and servants.” This
gives Goldingay an opportune occasion for a discussion of governing and government
with its inherent institutions in the First Testament, but with a critical eye to its
limitations and propensity for abusing power (708–831).
After filling up over 800 pages, Goldingay offers a rather short conclusion meant to
briefly recapture the vision tying all three volumes together (832–39). Further, it invites
the reader to practice, not just retain in the mind, the principles that God intended for
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