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For some time this book has been threatening to find its way onto paper. The urging of friends, the needs of the college classroom, and my concern for the life of the Christian community, are all significant arguments as to why the task should have been completed long before now. Every chapter contains material that has proved to be a real blessing in my own Christian experience. In the end, the urge to share that experience provided the motivation that has finally brought the work to completion.

I write as a conservative Christian with a deep concern for the life of the conservative Christian community. My hope is that the book will appeal both to those who have been part of such a community all their lives, and to those who find themselves attracted for one reason or another to the kind of life and experience offered by a conservative approach to the Christian tradition.

On the basis of my own observations, I am convinced that within this approach to Christianity lies great potential for good or for evil. The strong religious convictions which are generally a part of conservative Christianity can lead to a beautiful and liberating experience, but gone awry, can result in bitterness, hostility or despair. Ultimately, whether our experience blossoms or withers depends on the kind of God we serve and the kind of God we find revealed through Scripture.

You may find it surprising that it was actually the Old Testament that brought my Christian experience to life. The Old Testament God generally has a rather poor reputation, even in Christian circles. But it was indeed my study of the Old Testament which has forced me to reexamine my understanding of God and has led me to a much clearer grasp of how he would have me live and what he would have me believe about him.

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Throughout the book you will recognize an active dialogue with the New Testament, with traditional Christian positions, with modern scholarship and with Christian experience. The book is not really designed to be “scholarly,” but it does attempt to show how modern scholarship can often shed fresh light on biblical interpretation. I have discovered that taking a fresh look at Scripture in the light of modern scholarship can lead to very worthwhile gains in the understanding of Scripture, and thus for Christian experience.

Conservatives have often been quite hostile to modern scholarship; part of the reason for that hostility no doubt stems from the rough treatment that their approach has sometimes received at the hands of biblical scholars. In any event, more heat than light has often been generated, and that has been most unfortunate. My own serious exposure to modern biblical scholarship came from the faculty of New College at the University of Edinburgh, under the direction of men who were extremely helpful even though they did not always share my convictions. They asked the questions that I needed to face, questions that conservatives have often avoided. The experience forced me to confront God and his word in a way that ultimately has led to this book.

Fundamental to the approach I have taken is the position that “All Scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim. 3:16). That means Old Testament as well as New. Furthermore, I am convinced that we should never let Christian tradition or even another passage of Scripture rob us of the opportunity of coming afresh to each passage of Scripture as God’s word to us. The Bible is normative, but we must not impose upon it a false unity which would have the practical effect of denying canonical status to certain parts of Scripture. Conservatives have often overlooked that canonical principle, if not in theory, at least in practice, for we have often assumed that the New Testament must always have the last word even in the interpretation of Old Testament passages. I develop this argument in the first chapter, probably the most crucial one in the book, though others may be more helpful in other ways.

The discovery that I want to share above all else is that the Scriptures of the Old Testament can remain alive and can lead us to a fresh appreciation of all that God has done for us. That really is what the gospel is all about.

Alden Thompson Walla Walla College College Place, WA 99324 1988