Making Sense of the Old Testament: Three Crucial Questions

by Tremper Longman III

The 3 Crucial Questions series of books are the published form of the 3 Crucial Questions Seminars. This series is based on two obersvations “First, there are crucial questions related to the Christian faith for which imperfect Christians seem to have no final answers. ...Second, each Christian generation partly affirms its solidarity with the Christian past by reaffirming ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints’ (Jude 3 KJV).” Essentially, this series seeks those difficult aspects of Biblical interpretation and tries to provide answers by scholars “in down-to-earth language that both laity and experts can appreciate” (9–10).

In this particular volume, Longman addresses the following three questions: What are the Keys to Understanding the Old Testament? Is the God of the Old Testament also the God of the New Testament? How is the Christian to Apply the Old Testament to Life?

While this volume provides a nice exposition of each of these issues in easy-to-understand language, it seemed to lack some of the depth that Longman usually brings (even in his popular-level writing). I am by no means an “expert” in the field of Biblical studies, but this book rarely provided insights that I had not already found in other reading or coursework along the way.

So, without delving into any of what Longman said, I’ll simply say that his answers to these questions were relatively standard. And so, my recommendation of this book: if you’ve studied any or all of these areas already, you can probably pass on this one. But if these questions are new to you—or you’ve asked them before without finding any answers—you might want to go ahead and grab it. At the very least, it will get you started in the right direction toward finding some of the answers you’re looking for.