Rating: If you are looking for something

Level: Short at just over 200 pages; medium to difficult, knowledge of literature helpful, written somewhat academically.

Summary

Typology might be an uncommon word for most people, but you may have heard that there are ‘types and shadows’ in the Old Testament that point to or are about Christ. In fact, that is the first part of the sub-title: How the Old Testament Points to Christ, (which the book does, but the ‘His Church, and the Consummation’ less so). This is the act of looking all people or events in the Old Testament, and seeing if they relate to Christ or his work. 

The book is broken into seven part, with multiple chapters in each: Introducing the Challenge of the Old Testament – Understanding the Old Testament, Interpreting Noah’s Flood, The Bronze Serpent; A Framework for Typological Interpretation – Basic Theology for Typology, The Shape of Our Response to the Bible; Introducing the Practice of Typological Interpretation – Introducing Clowney’s Triangle, The Tabernacle and Its Furniture, Clowney’s Triangle for the Episodes in Genesis, Underlying Principles for Clowney’s Triangle; Deeping Our Understanding of Typological Meaning – Symbolism and Theophany, The Nature of Meaning, Three Complementary Perspectives on Meaning, The Theme of Mediation, Comparing Types with Other Relations Between Meanings, Analogies, Symbols, Types, and Prophecies as Perspectives, Allegorization; Enrichment of Clowney’s Triangle – Enhancements to Clowney’s Triangle, Multifaceted Meaning, Boundaries for Typological Interpretation, Maxims for Typological Interpretation; The Practice of Typological Interpretation; Types in Mosaic Administration, Types in Redemptive Plots, Types in Creation, Types in the Earthly Life of Jesus; Interpretation of Analogies – Analogies as Similar to Types, Using the Triangle for Analogy, Analogies for the Attributes of God, Analogies for the Trinity, The Extent of Analogies. 

This also an intro and conclusion chapter, as well as five very helpful appendices (about 50 pages worth). 

My Thoughts

I struggled with this book. I was excited to get it, because the treatment of certain portions of the Old Testament is one of the more complicated issues we face during Bible Study. However, I’m not sure this book is a big help. While it is jammed with a lot of information, it is often disjointed at times. For instances, the first part of the book rolls through a few Old Testament events (such as the flood) and then discusses five ways to interpret or use these readings (or not use, as Poythress points out some churches just avoid the OT altogether). These are helpful, and critique some of the most common ways people (incorrectly) view the Old Testament – by moralizing the ‘stories’ or searching for ‘secret’ interpretations. 

So that first part is going well, discussing wrong interpretations, wrong views, how to develop holistic views, and what people have done in history. Then the part ends, and the second part briefly overview the theological impact of typology, and then part three (on interpretation) moves completely away from these (and the book never returns) and goes into Clowney’s Triangle. Edmond Clowney was a pastor and theologian, and past president of Westminster Seminary (where Poythress teachers). His triangle is an interpretation method that looks at original meaning, then moves how it points to Christ, and finalizes an application. I have never heard of this before, and honestly it might be the best treatment of application for a preacher you can find. I don’t know if Clowney himself ever wrote a book on this method, but someone else should. 

The book then jumps to technical aspects of language, back to the triangle, then to ‘practice’ (somewhat relating back to the first part of the book), then ends with analogies. Each part was interesting, and could be helpful, but it also felt like each part could be it’s own book. Certainly parts one and three could be much further developed. At times, it seemed like the author (or editor) wasn’t sure whether this was a narrative overview of interpretation or if this book should have been a heavy textbook that could be four times as long. Maybe that would make it a reference book? One you pull off the shelf when you need help with a sermon, but not one to read through? Honestly, it was hard to tell. 

In defense of the book, it might have meant to be a intro/survey of the issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if find out Poythress had the intention of using this as the intro book for a class on Biblical Typology, while explaining more in lectures and assigning supplementary reading. However for the average reader, this isn’t the best. Or even a community group leader/teacher for Bible study, this could be used as a reference on types, especially the first part (or the last, on analogies). I do think the chapter on the triangle is extremely helpful and would be valuable for any preacher or more formal Bible teacher (as in, someone who teaches dozens or larger groups, not small Bible study groups that are more discussion based). If that is you, then this book is for you, if you are looking for something. 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.