According to Plan: The Bible at its most basic

Review of According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible by Graeme Goldsworthy

Graeme Goldsworthy is perhaps best known for his Trilogy (Gospel and Kingdom, Gospel and Wisdom, and Gospel and Revelation), in which he provides a thorough treatment of biblical theology. For those who lack the time to dig into this 500+ page tome: shame on you. It is excellent. But for those who really lack the time, Goldsworthy has written a condensed introductory volume that offers an overview of the discipline and a quick summary of its application. According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bibleis a short, well-written survey of the tools and method of biblical theology.

Goldsworthy breaks his book into four parts, each of which poses a basic question about biblical theology: Why? How? What? Where? In the first part, Goldsworthy explains just why biblical theology as a discipline is useful in a modern context. In the second, he teaches us how to do biblical theology by providing rough outlines and explanations of the basic tools necessary. The third section is the longest, providing a short-form version of his longer works. Here Goldsworthy gives a quick overview of the substance of biblical theology, especially emphasizing the topics of creation and the land. Finally, in section four Goldsworthy identifies two areas where the application of biblical theology is appropriate: namely, in finding God’s will and in the doctrine of the resurrection.

Overall, this is an excellent volume that serves as a clear introduction to a difficult subject. Goldsworthy is a skilled writer who clearly knows this discipline forward and backward. If there is a criticism here, it’s that there is so much information presented so many ways—the busyness of the book can get a bit overwhelming. In addition to the main text of the book, each subject is explained using charts, notes, and summaries to help the reader get the basics. Taken all together, this ends up feeling more cluttered than may have really been necessary. (I’ll confess that at times I was tempted to interpret the book as Goldsworthy’s frustrated attempt to dumb his work down enough that it can be spoon-fed in small words to us modern Evangelicals, but I suspect that is not actually the case.) On the other hand, biblical theology is a dense topic, so it may be that these tools are all necessary. In any case, the clutter does not detract from the overall value of the book as a good introduction to biblical theology.

Highly Recommended.

The book was provided for free by the publisher—I was not required to write a positive review.

Dr. Coyle Neal is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. Instead of spoon-feeding, he tends to use a shovel.