Walter Kaiser's Toward an Exegetical Theology

Walter Kaiser came to Lancaster Bible College's Graduate School back in the Summer of 2002 to teach an intensive grad course in Old Testament Preaching. Having heard him occasionally and read him often, I could not pass up the opportunity. It might have been the best academic course I ever took. The material from his lectures went on to be published as Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament. During that course, we read Toward and Exegetical Theology. When I think of how I have been shaped in preaching, few things or people have impacted me as much as this book and this man. It revolutionized my study habits (though I still fall WAY short). The recent review of this book by Nathan Williams on Pulpit Magazine will show you why this book remains a must-read for any Bible preacher or teacher.

Nathan Williams concludes his review with several poignant quotes from the book.

“Should the ministry of the pulpit fail, one might
just as well conclude that all the supporting ministries of Christian
education, counseling, community involvement, yes, even missionary and
society outreach, will likewise soon dwindle, of not collapse.” (p. 8 )

“A gap of crisis proportions exists between the steps
generally outlined in most seminary or Biblical training classes in
exegesis and the hard realities most pastors face every week as they
prepare their sermons.” (p. 18)

“Those sermons whose alleged strength is that they
speak to contemporary issues, needs, and aspirations often exhibit the
weakness of a subjective approach.” (p. 19)

“The Scripture cannot be understood theologically, until it is understood grammatically.” (p. 27)

“For large segments of the Christian Church is is a
truism to say that biblical exposition has become a lost art in
contemporary preaching.” (p. 37)

“The sole object of the expositor is to explain as
clearly as possible what the writer meant when he wrote the text under
examination.” (p. 45)

“Accordingly, hermeneutics may be regarded as the
theory that guides exegesis; exegesis may be understood in this work to
be the practice of and the set of procedures for discovering the
author’s intended meaning.” (p. 47)

“To begin with, let it be stated as a sort of first
principle that preparation for preaching is always a movement which
must begin with the text of Scripture and have as its goal the
proclamation of that Word in such a way that it can be heard with all
its poignancy and relevancy to the modern situation without dismissing
one iota of its original normativeness.” (p. 48)

“But we contend that the original languages serve
best when we become aware of the syntax and grammar involved in
phrases, clauses, and sentences. The bonding material between these
otherwise isolated words or groups of words is what all the sweat and
tears are about in language study.” (p. 49)

“The aim of the grammatico-historical method is to
determine the sense required by the laws of grammar and the facts of
history.” (p. 87)

“In other words, moderns have shifted their interest
in the hermeneutical quest to the other end of the interpretive
spectrum. They are more interested in ‘what the text,’ as they say,
‘means to me-what I can get out of it.’”(p. 89)

“The difficulty this time is not in understanding
what is said, but in bridging the gap from the ‘then’ to the ‘now’ of
contemporary audiences.’” (p. 92)

“Words, then, are the basic blocks for building meaning. We repeat, they must not be torn from their contexts.” (p. 129)

“Exegesis is never an end in itself. Its purposes are
never fully realized until it begins to take into account the problems
of transferring what has been learned from the text over to the waiting
Church.” (p. 149)

“When truth is not internalized within the hearers,
but is left as just so many notions floating around outside their
experience, the exegete is in effect a mere dilettante-a trifler in the
art of interpretation.” (p. 151)

“The whole objective of what we are here calling
‘textual expository preaching’ is to let the Scriptures have the major,
if not the only, role in determining the shape, logic, and development
of our message.” (p. 160)

“Good preaching has a twofold job: it must teach the
content of truth as set forth in each passage and it must also suggest
a reproducible method of Bible study.” (p. 205)

“To find God’s meanings and emphases, we must
discover what the author’s were-first in the book as a whole and then
in the particular section and passage we wish to use for our messages.”
(p. 210)

“From the beginning of the sermon to its end, the
all-engrossing force of the text and the God who speaks through that
text must dominate our whole being. With the burning power of that
truth on our heart and lips, every thought, emotion, and act of the
will must be so captured by that truth that is springs forth with
excitement, joy, sincerity, and reality as an evident token that God’s
Spirit is in that word.” (p. 239)

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