The blog's been fairly quiet lately, I know. But that means I've been busy with other things, not excluding research.

I've progressed a little further in my reading of Childs, for one thing. I recently finished his Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (London: SCM Press, 1979), as well as the two journals completely dedicated to reviewing it (one JSOT, the other HBT, both in 1980), and have moved into the mid-1980s.

There's obviously quite a lot to be said about such a mammoth volume, so I won't even try to sum up now. However, there's one great line I want to quote. In response to the accusation that his use of the term "canon" is "imprecise, unanalytical, and encompasses a variety of different phenomena"—an accusation made as early as 1980—Childs gives this reply:

"I feel that the complexity of the process being described within the O.T. has been underestimated, and that one is asking for an algebraic solution to a problem requiring calculus."

Well put!

Now if you're working thorough some of Childs yourself, I should warn you that IOTS may not be as hard as calculus, but it assumes a pretty sizable background knowledge of critical discourse on the OT. OTTCC (Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context, SCM, 1985) might be an easier place to start.

But I wouldn't want to turn you away from IOTS either. He adumbrates a remarkable reconstrual of the results of critical research, one that is still only seldom appreciated. And in view of the full scope of his career, the degree to which he achieves his goal (stated clearly in the first pages of the 1980 HBT response to reviewers) of doing enough footwork to earn the right to do full-on biblical theology, both OT and NT, is simply astounding. He's established himself as a giant who can only be compared with the likes of a Gunkel or a von Rad.

And if you've read past all that, I'll announce now that an introduction has been made on my behalf and I'll be traveling to Cambridge to interview the octogenarian in the first week of April. I'm jittery with excitement, and maybe too much coffee.

Tags: Childs, Canon, PhD