Yesterday, Today and Forever : The Continuing Relevance of the Old Testament

by Larry R. Helyer

This book presents a fresh approach to the study of the Old Testament that is sure to engage your students. Designed for college-level courses such as Old Testament Survey or Biblical Literature, this book is intended to be used in conjunction with one of the excellent study Bibles now available, particularly the NIV Study Bible. With each chapter of Yesterday, Today and Forever, Helyer prescribes significant scripture readings. Throughout the book he provides a detailed look at the broad themes that run through the Old Testament and are still relevant today.

Genres: Theology

459 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Chase Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Larry Helyer writes about the major themes and their continuing relevance in the Old Testament. Dealing with topics such as the Fall and the Flood, the Kingdom if God, Eschatology, and promises to the patriarchies. Highly recommend this book, Helyer deals with these topics in an interesting way that does not bog the reader down or cause one to become disinterested. 5 stars!

[Carson Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has a crazy amount of technical knowledge but is clueless when it comes to politics, culture, or applying his concepts to our lives. He also doesn't handle eschatology very fairly in my opinion. Otherwise, I did learn quite a bit, and to be fair, I kinda like Helyer's style. Probably would have never kept going though if I wasn't required to for one of my TMU classes.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my class for Old Testament survey I & II for my undergraduate studies, but it lacked depth and some sections merely prooftexted the author's theological views without discussing the hermeneutical presuppositions which failed to defend the author's theological interpretation of the Old testament i.e. his chapter on eschatology lacking any interaction with scholars of opposing views, just stringing texts together based on his presuppositions regarding eschatology. E.J. Young's introduction to the Old Testament does a better job at giving an overview of the Old testament while simultaneously responding to liberal attacks on the Old Testament such as JEDP theory.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just did not like this book. The topic was interesting but having to read this for class, I could only bring myself to skim and/or speed read it.
The topic wasn't executed topic well; it was overall very boring.

[Jeremy Pynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This a great resource to get a brief understanding of the OT. However, it is an extremely academic read and very slow. I would suggest this book if you are willing to slow down and take your time to learn more about the OT.