"Covenant" (Daniel I. Block)

TITLE: Covenant: The Framework of God's Grand Plan of Redemption
AUTHOR: Daniel I. Block
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2021, (656 Pages).
 

How do we understand the Bible from Genesis to Revelation? Is there a common theme throughout the two testaments? How do we understand God's will in the Bible for mankind? How do we read the Old Testament in a New Testament era? Answer: We understand God's revelation via a series of covenants. In fact, there is great value in understanding biblical theology that is grounded in the Old Testament (or in the author's view, First Testament). Unlike typical conventions by many biblical scholars, Canadian/American theologian and Professor Daniel Block adopts several unique terms in this expression of covenant theology:

• Consistent use of YHWH as the personal name of God;
• Using First Testament instead of the conventional term Old Testament;
• Using his own translations instead of relying on the readily available published ones;
• Avoiding the use of conditional/unconditional covenants in favour of the missional-communal and administrative covenants.
• Understanding the historical and literary background of how the biblical authors developed this covenance.

With firm conviction that the Bible ought to be understood as one big story, of God's continual revelation instead of two separate and unrelated testaments, he frames for us the whole Bible in four acts:

• Act 1 (Cosmic & Adamic Covenants): Background to the drama of redemption (Gen. 1-2)
• Act 2 (Israelite Covenant): The cosmic need for redemption (Gen. 3:1–11:26)
• Act 3 (Davidic Covenant): The story of the chosen agents of redemption (Gen. 11:27–Mal. 4:6)
• Act 4 (New Testament Covenant): The appearance and mission of the Redeemer (Matthew–Revelation)

With this framework, Block shows readers the whole big story of the Bible using the lens of covenance. Each chapter follows a similar pattern: Introduction, Background, Style, Contextual Information, and a Theological description of the biblical texts. Block maintains that all of God's covenants are irrevocable, which implies that there is no such thing as a conditional-unconditional dichotomy among the covenants. The Adamic, Davidic, and Levitical covenants are "administrative covenants." The Cosmic and New Testament covenants are "communal-missional." Broadly speaking, the administrative covenants tend to focus on Israel while the rest on Israel and beyond.

My Thoughts

First, this is a book on covenant theology or theology with "covenance" as the heart of biblical revelation.  Based on the author's five decades marinating in Scripture, he believes that understanding biblical revelation is best done through the concept of covenants. This is in contrast to the other popular view called "dispensationalism" which sees biblical revelation in terms of seven dispensations or administrations. Here, Block reduces revelation into four Acts. Instead of splitting the covenants into conditional and unconditional, he prefers the "administrative" and "communal-missional" labels. I understand where he is coming from. The covenants are not so easily divided into these humanly designated categories. He is also correct to say that God's covenants are all irrevocable. Yet, I wonder if there is a way to make it more palatable for the rest of us. His new labels are not as intuitive as the conventional names of conditional/unconditional. I agree that while the categorizations might be less theologically accurate, we need to consider how best to communicate difficult concepts to a larger audience. I feel that Block's categorization would need frequent re-reading in order to comprehend the concepts. After all, what Block took decades to marinate might take some of us even longer to assimilate. Having said that, I think Block's contribution merits consideration because it sharpens our conventional understanding of covenant theology. 

Second, Block is bold in attempting to challenge conventional terms. For instance, I find the use of "First Testament" instead of the "Old Testament" acceptable. However, by retaining the use of "New Testament" instead of "Second Testament," readers might detect a sense of inconsistency. Better to change all the notations because they happen to exist in pairs. Sometimes I feel that Block is stymied by the vocabulary itself, mixing terms to create a hybrid model that might confuse rather than clarify. For instance, adopting multiple stages in Act 4 of all the covenants could prove to be a brilliant synthesis of the covenance on the one hand, but confusing on the other. Sometimes I feel that the way to understand Block's model is to first understand what conventional covenant theology is about. 

Finally, the strength of this book is the author's overwhelming conviction that biblical theology must be grounded in the Old Testament. The primary way is to understand the covenants as laid out from Genesis to Revelation. This is the key to unlock all of Scripture. This is also the most important reason to purchase this book. In our modern world, more people are comfortable with the New Testament instead of the First Testament. Part of the reason is because of the unfamiliar contexts and ancient timelines. Block has given us a tool to cut through all the fear of unfamiliarity to let the Bible be revealed via God's revelation to us.

Daniel I. Block (DPhil, Liverpool) is Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois. He contributes regularly to scholarly conventions and journals and he lectures frequently internationally. Among his numerous publications are major commentaries on Ezekiel and Judges and Ruth; the monograph, The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology, and "All Creatures Great and Small: Recovering a Deuteronomic Theology of Animals," in Essays on the Old Testament and Issues in the Life of God's People; Festschrift for Elmer Martens.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

---

This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.