Biblical Theology and Geerhardus Vos

Sydney Evangelicalism is known for its Biblical Theology. Biblical Theology means more than just theology that is based on the Bible - any Christian theology should do that. It means a detailed, sophisticated approach to reading the whole Bible as a single, connected narrative, which climaxes in Christ. Biblical Theology is based on three premises:

1. the whole Bible, old and new testaments, is one connected story...

2. ... which climaxes in Christ: the old testament looks forward to him, the new testament looks back to him...

3. ... and especially Christ's death and resurrection.

Through the work of Graeme Goldsworthy, generations of ministers - both "professional" and laity - have been trained to think of the Bible in terms of God's people, in God's place, under God's rule.

Goldsworthy's approach to Biblical Theology, indeed the whole project of a Calvinist-Reformed integrated understanding of the Bible's overarching narrative, owes a lot to one man: Geerhardus Vos. He was a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary in the late 19th - early 20th century, as its first professor of Biblical Theology. His inaugural address, The Idea of Biblical Theology as a Science and as a Theological Discipline, is still considered a classic defenition of the nature and scope of Biblical Theology.

Biblicaltheology.org is now making Vos' work available to the public for free. A great resource for learning. Enjoy!