Preaching the Old Testament

In this third

and concluding volume

of their lectionary commentary

collection (Preaching the Gospels

without Blaming the Jews and

Preaching the Letters without

Dismissing the Law), Ronald Allen

and Clark Williamson encourage the

church and its preachers to rediscover

the Old Testament as a vibrant

wellspring of Christian faith and life.

Preachers often neglect the Old

Testament, misrepresent it, or regard

its theological content as superseded

by

Jesus and the New Testament, Allen

and

Williamson claim. The authors help

preachers avoid these traps by

explaining how a text was understood

before the Common Era without any

reference to Jesus or Christian

doctrine, mentioning representative

New

Testament passages or themes that

are

informed by the older material, and

commenting briefly on the relationship

between the lections in those cases

when

readings from the Old Testament are

paired with readings from the New

Testament.