The Persistence of God’s Endangered Promises
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Overview
Using a thorough, integrated biblical theology to make sense of the ‘master story’ of Scripture, Allan J. McNicol explores the nature and importance of the Bible’s abiding narrative of the persistence of God’s promises to his people, and their hope of final triumph. Special attention is given to the often contentious claim that these early followers of Jesus presumed that they stood in full continuity with Israel, the historic people of God, and were claiming that many of God’s promises were coming to fulfilment among them. McNicol presents a closer analysis of the texts as he shows how the theme of the people of God fits into the wider literary productions of these major New Testament writers.
Key Features
- Presents a thoughtful and compelling proposal for Christian biblical theology
- Integrates Old and New Testament perspectives
- Brings together a coherent narrative of the theological flow of scripture
Contents
- Section I
- Does the Bible Render a Unified Story?
- The Rise and Fall of the Grand Narrative
- The Bible as a Coherent narrative
- Section II
- The Emergence and Preservation of God's Endangered Promises to His Marginalized People
- Section III
- Jesus and the Restoration of the People of God
- Matthew: The Transformation of the People of God
- At the Last Moment: A Welcome to the Gentiles from an Unlikely Source
- Luke-Acts: In Defense of the Restoration of Israel
- The Markan Mystery of the Gospel
- Exiles and Aliens in the World: Key Non-Pauline letters
- Ecclesiology and the Johannine Legacy
- Section IV
- Conclusion: The Master Story of Scripture
Praise for the Print Edition
Allan McNicol dares the unthinkable. In the maelstrom of postmodern ambivalence about truth and its attendant multicultural naïveté, McNicol asserts that The Book, the Jewish and Christian Bible, unfolds a unified “realistic” narrative of the one God's calling, sustaining, and consummating a special “people of God” through God's irrevocable “promises”. McNicol constructs his meta-narrative through the dynamic of the unimpeachable “character” of God, that has too often not been assigned its decisive role as the central plot motivator that coalesces, coordinates, and finally crafts the unity of the Bible precisely through its great diversity of traditions and cultural influences. A must read for any who desire to make the Judaeo-Christian claims of the Bible a vital contender for a hearing amidst the cacophony of “truth-claims” in today's “public square”.
—David P. Moessner, Texas Christian University
Allan McNicol's provocative monograph endeavors to identify and locate a cohesiveness in both Old and New Testaments. This readable book concerns the history of divine faithfulness shown to a marginalized people, and it strives to convince Christians that the whole Bible is unified and consistent in this overall theological teaching. Readers interested in themes such as sin, repentance or judgment will find much in this evangelical study to get their teeth into, and to debate.
—J.K. Elliott, University of Leeds
This exercise in biblical theology treats the Bible as a realistic narrative, with the two testaments composing a unified story of an enduring relationship between God and God's people. Central to McNicol's overarching argument is the constancy of God's promises to the people of Israel, despite the biblical narrative climaxing in the missions of Jesus the Nazorean and his witnesses. His case for the Bible as a unified story merits careful consideration.
—David Neville, Charles Sturt University
Product Details
- Title: The Persistence of God's Endangered Promises: The Bible's Unified Story
- Author: Allan J. McNicol
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2017
- Pages: 248
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Biblical Theology
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
1 rating
Dr. Yancy Warren Smith, PhD
4/14/2022
This book is the best short Biblical theology that responsibly and sensitively attempts to locate the theology of the Bible in an overarching narrative. McNicol sees the Bible as a narrative that repeats an advancing paradigm of God's promises given to a marginalized people, endangerment of the promises through sin and disaster and the renewal of those promises as hope for the future. This massive motif unifies the entire Bible in all its diversity, both Old and New Testaments. There is a lot that the reader will find joy, hopeful, surprising and interesting. This book is written in clear, concise and easy to understand prose. Both scholars and lay people will find much to appreciate, I believe that Bible class teachers and preachers will derive the greatest benefit from this exciting work.
