GOLDINGAY, John (Edgar) 1942-

PERSONAL: Born June 20, 1942, in Birmingham, England; son of Edgar Charles and Ada Irene (Horton) Goldingay; married Ann Elizabeth Wilson, August 28, 1967; children: Steven, Mark. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Keble College, Oxford, B.A.; University of Nottingham, Ph.D.; Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth, D.D. Politics: Socialist. Religion: Episcopalian Hobbies and other interests: The Old Testament, blues, jazz, and rock music.

ADDRESSES: Home—111 South Orange Blvd., Apt. 108, Pasadena, CA 91105; fax: 626-584-5251. Office—Fuller Theological Seminary, 135 North Oakland Ave., Pasadena, CA 91182 E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Theologian, clergyman, educator, and writer. Ordained Church of England minister, 1966; Christ Church, Finchley, London, England, parish minister, 1966-69; St. John's College, Nottingham, England, lecturer, 1970-97, principal, 1988-97; Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament, 1997—. Associate minister at Christ Church, Chilwell, Nottingham, 1970-86, All Souls, Radford, Nottingham, 1986-97, and St. Barnabas, Pasadena, 2002—; Council of the Church's Ministry among the Jews, chair, 1991-96.

MEMBER: Society for Old Testament Study, Society of Biblical Literature.

WRITINGS:

Authority and Ministry (booklet; "Grove Books on Ministry and Worship" series), Grove Books (Bramcote, England), 1976.

How to Read the Bible, Oliphants (London, England), 1977.

Songs from a Strange Land ("The Bible Speaks Today" series), InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1978.

Approaches to Old Testament Interpretation ("Issues in Contemporary Theology" series), InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL), 1981, revised edition, 1990.

Theological Diversity and the Authority of the Old Testament (revision of 1983 dissertation), W. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1987.

Daniel ("Word Biblical Themes" series), Word Publishing (Dallas, TX), 1989.

(Editor and contributor) Signs, Wonders, and Healing, InterVarsity Press (Leicester, England), 1989.

Models for Scripture, W. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1994.

Models for Interpretation of Scripture, W. B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1995.

(Editor and contributor) Atonement Today, SPCK (London, England), 1995.

After Eating the Apricot, Paternoster (Carlisle, England), 1996.

To the Usual Suspects, Paternoster (Carlisle, England), 1998.

Men Behaving Badly, Paternoster (Carlisle, England), 2000.

Isaiah ("New International Biblical Commentary" series), Hendrickson Publishers (Peabody, MA), 2001.

Walk On: Life, Loss, Trust, and Other Realities, Baker Academic (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

God's Prophet, God's Servant: A Study in Jeremiah and Isaiah 40-55 (revised edition), Clements (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

Contributor to and reviewer for periodicals and religious journals, including Journal of Biblical Literature, Church Times, Journal of Semitic Studies, Journal of Theological Studies, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Missionary Studies Bulletin, Churchman, and Catholic Biblical Quarterly; work represented in books by others, including Reading the Hebrew Bible for a New Millennium, edited by W. Kim and others, Trinity (Harrisburg, PA), 2000; Covenant Theology, edited by M. J. Cartledge and D. Mills, Paternoster (Carlisle, England), 2001; and The New Dictionary of Pastoral Studies, edited by Wesley Carr and others, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research into Old Testament theology and the Psalms.

SIDELIGHTS: John Goldingay served as a clergyman and educator in his native England for three decades before taking the position of professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has written a number of books, including one of his first, a small volume titled How to Read the Bible, which he based on the Good News Bible. Goldingay places New Testament writings according to the categories of the Old Testament, feeling that the Old Testament describes the problem and how it had to be solved, and noting that the New Testament "saw the question to which Jesus was the answer." Times Educational Supplement contributor Ronald Lunt praised Goldingay's "bright and lively style."

Goldingay's more recent titles include Models for Scripture, in which he "presents a doctrine of Scripture by revisiting the traditional categories of tradition, inspiration, authority, canon, inerrancy, and revelation," noted Harry T. Fleddermann in Theological Studies. "These categories," continued Fleddermann, "often form battlegrounds that sharply divide conservative and liberal Christians, and widely differing view points surface in the present discussion. Rather than abandon the traditional categories, Goldingay seeks to heal them by bringing them under the framework of models."

The four models within which Goldingay demonstrates the functions of scripture in the Christian community are titled "Scripture as Witnessing Tradition," "Scripture as Authoritative Canon," "Scripture as Inspired Word," and "Scripture as Experienced Revelation." Fleddermann noted the strengths of the work, including the thirty-page bibliography, and pointed out that Goldingay "dialogues with a wide range of contemporary scholars" and "tries to stay close to the text of the Bible." Fleddermann continued, saying that "although his primary audience is the academic community, he also demonstrates a pastoral concern for how a doctrine of Scripture can influence the life of the churches."

Theology Today's A. K. M. Adam wrote that Goldingay's "aim is to show that the entrenched positions in the authority debate all diminish the richness and vitality of the Bible's relation to church and to lay an alternate, less polemically charged foundation for approaching issues of authority." Adam concluded by saying that Goldingay "has put together a sensible contribution to a vexatious dispute; whether as a model for supporters or a foil for antagonists, Goldingay's proposal enriches the discussion of biblical authority."

Jack Dean Kingsbury reviewed Models for Scripture in Interpretation, saying that Goldingay "has read massively in his field of expertise, and his book is a gold mine of both historical and theological information. It also reads well."

In Goldingay's companion book, Models for Interpretation of Scripture, he notes that God spoke to the spiritual leaders "in many and various ways" and added that the interpretation of the Bible "requires a variety of hermeneutical approaches, corresponding to the variety in types of texts." In reviewing the volume in Theology Today, Bernhard W. Anderson noted that Goldingay identifies four models, which Anderson noted are "(1) scriptural narrative (story or history); (2) norms for behavior (Torah, authoritative canon); (3) inspired word (prophecy); and (4) reflection on experienced revelation (for example, Psalms, Wisdom, Apocalypse). These four forms correspond broadly to 'four modes of utterance': law, prophecy, wisdom, and gospel."

Joel B. Green wrote in Journal of Biblical Literature that "Goldingay's discussion takes up the variety of methods current in the biblical studies marketplace. His presentation is not serialized, however, or piecemeal. Major critical approaches are thoughtfully discussed in light of their champions and detractors, and links to other approaches are repeatedly made."

In Walk On: Life, Loss, Trust, and Other Realities Goldingay considers the basics of leading a Christian life. Here he incorporates references to popular music and his own personal experiences, including his wife's battle with multiple sclerosis, with approaches to spiritual questions. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the volume a "theologically and biblically sound book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, April, 1990, Don C. Benjamin, review of Theological Diversity and the Authority of the Old Testament, p. 318; July, 1996, J. Terence Forestell, review of Models for Scripture, p. 547.

Interpretation, October, 1996, Jack Dean Kingsbury, review of Models for Scripture, p. 434.

Journal of Biblical Literature, winter, 1997, Joel B. Green, review of Models for Interpretation of Scripture, pp. 721-722.

Publishers Weekly, July 1, 2002, review of Walk On: Life, Loss, Trust, and Other Realities, p. 73.

Theological Studies, March, 1996, Harry T. Fleddermann, review of Models for Scripture, p. 141.

Theology Today, January, 1996, A. K. M. Adam, review of Models for Scripture, pp. 525-526, 528; January, 1997, Bernhard W. Anderson, review of Models for Interpretation of Scripture, pp. 544, 546.

Times Educational Supplement, March 24, 1978, Ronald Lunt, review of How to Read the Bible, p. 22.