Goldsworthy on Exploring the Biblical Theology of Wisdom

The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is one of my favorite journals, in part because each quarterly issue is devoted to a theme, allowing a subject to be examined from multiple angles. You can see a number of samples online.



The most recent issue (Fall 2011) is on the book of Ecclesiastes. One of the articles is by Graeme Goldsworthy, entitled "Wisdom and Its Literature in Biblical-Theological Context."

Here is a brief outline of his methodology:

1. We start with Christ who gives us the theme to investigate.

2. We go back to the key OT places and trace the progression of this theme longitudinally from earliest time down to the NT.

This involves three stages:

i. biblical history;

ii. prophetic eschatology;

iii. NT fulfillment in Christ.

3. On the way through, we think laterally to related concepts that enrich our understanding of the main theme.

Dr. Goldsworthy illustrates this process with the following chart (posted with permission), worthy of close study:

You can read the whole article here.