O’Donnell, Douglas S. The Beginning and End of Wisdom: Preaching Christ from the First and Last Chapters of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway 240pp. $17.99.
Summary
The Beginning and End of Wisdom is the book written with the purpose of arousing interest in preaching Wisdom Literature as well as presentation of specific methodology. In the preface, O’Donnell introduces the motivation to focus on Wisdom Literature, and manifests the twofold aims to write this book: “to light a fire” to enjoy Wisdom Literature, and “how to build a fire” for preaching it (23). For the purpose, O’Donnell set up the seven chapters in this book: “sermons on the first and last portions of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job in the first six …show more content…
In his sermons, it is hard to find the analysis of words or grammars as well as historical or literary contexts. For example, when dealing with the “Fear of God,” he just says, “let me give you my definition” in Proverbs without research of literal meaning (37). The sermon of Job 1-11 does not the explanation in terms of geographical setting, “Uz,” or the literal meaning of “blameless” or “upright,” which is the word to describe Job in 1:3.
He sometimes showed the logical leap to justify the theological idea he set up. For example, he just deals with the three general theological principles to overcome the hardship like Job (99-102). At first, he argued that Job must have known the suffering become good because the reference of that “Job saw the suffering as abnormal or immoral” does not appear (100). However, Job’s silence does not prove that he anticipates the suffering should become a good result. To extract the theological concept from the fact not mentioned in the text is dangerous to fall into the error of subjective …show more content…
On the other hand, when using typology, he ignores the original intention of the text. For example, in the sixth sermon, he raised the theological question, “Why suffering?”, and answered it through overemphasizing the concept of “servanthood of Job” to connect with Christ. He disregarded the plot or setting of the narrative because his purpose of the sermon is limited to preaching Christ without original meaning of the text.
On the whole, O’Donnell provides the useful illustrations and methodologies of Christocentric Preaching in the Wisdom Literature. Each sermons and specific tips fulfills the written purposes in the preface effectively. Nevertheless, he seems to believe that primary purpose of a sermon is Preaching Christ rather than the exposition of what the text says. As a result, his excessive emphasis on connection to Christology cause the sermons to become thematic preaching rather than text-driven preaching.
Summary
The Beginning and End of Wisdom is the book written with the purpose of arousing interest in preaching Wisdom Literature as well as presentation of specific methodology. In the preface, O’Donnell introduces the motivation to focus on Wisdom Literature, and manifests the twofold aims to write this book: “to light a fire” to enjoy Wisdom Literature, and “how to build a fire” for preaching it (23). For the purpose, O’Donnell set up the seven chapters in this book: “sermons on the first and last portions of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job in the first six …show more content…
In his sermons, it is hard to find the analysis of words or grammars as well as historical or literary contexts. For example, when dealing with the “Fear of God,” he just says, “let me give you my definition” in Proverbs without research of literal meaning (37). The sermon of Job 1-11 does not the explanation in terms of geographical setting, “Uz,” or the literal meaning of “blameless” or “upright,” which is the word to describe Job in 1:3.
He sometimes showed the logical leap to justify the theological idea he set up. For example, he just deals with the three general theological principles to overcome the hardship like Job (99-102). At first, he argued that Job must have known the suffering become good because the reference of that “Job saw the suffering as abnormal or immoral” does not appear (100). However, Job’s silence does not prove that he anticipates the suffering should become a good result. To extract the theological concept from the fact not mentioned in the text is dangerous to fall into the error of subjective …show more content…
On the other hand, when using typology, he ignores the original intention of the text. For example, in the sixth sermon, he raised the theological question, “Why suffering?”, and answered it through overemphasizing the concept of “servanthood of Job” to connect with Christ. He disregarded the plot or setting of the narrative because his purpose of the sermon is limited to preaching Christ without original meaning of the text.
On the whole, O’Donnell provides the useful illustrations and methodologies of Christocentric Preaching in the Wisdom Literature. Each sermons and specific tips fulfills the written purposes in the preface effectively. Nevertheless, he seems to believe that primary purpose of a sermon is Preaching Christ rather than the exposition of what the text says. As a result, his excessive emphasis on connection to Christology cause the sermons to become thematic preaching rather than text-driven preaching.