Skip to main content

Don Collett

Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Biblical Studies, Faculty Member

Followers

134

Following

38

Public Views

Some years ago I became an Old Testament teacher for the remission of my sins.

less

Randall C Bailey

Faulkner University

Travis B. Williams

Tusculum University

Brandon University

Southern Baptist Theological seminary

St Mellitus College

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Wilfrid Laurier University

St Mellitus College

Daniel Saunders

Darren M. Slade

InterestsView All (14)

Uploads

Papers by Don Collett

God's Incomparable Love in Hosea 11:7-9

Lutheran Forum, 2021

This essay canvasses a representative range of options on the theological implications of Hosea 1... more This essay canvasses a representative range of options on the theological implications of Hosea 11:7-9, then offers an exegesis of some of its more vexing and difficult aspects. Arguing that the theological context the book establishes for interpreting the phrase "I am God and not a human" (Hos. 11:9) is God's incomparable love, it then closes with a series of theological reflections on the contribution Hosea 11:7-9 makes to our understanding of the nature of God in relation to his redemptive dealings with Israel.

Prophetic intentionality in the Twelve

Canon Formation: Tracing the Role of Sub-Collections in the Biblical Canon, 2023

The paper approaches the issue of prophetic intentionality in the Twelve from the perspective of ... more The paper approaches the issue of prophetic intentionality in the Twelve from the perspective of canonical hermeneutics. The first section seeks to provide readers with a general sense of the hermeneutical issues at stake by addressing the significance of canonical location for interpreting prophetic intentionality in the Twelve. The second section focuses upon the relationship between the integrity of the twelve witnesses and their booked shape in the overall presentation of the Twelve. The third section raises the question of the nature of the Twelve’s unity and its relation to prophetic intentionality, while the fourth section makes use of the books of Hosea and Malachi to illustrate the character of prophetic intentionality at work in the Twelve. The final section brings matters to a close with some concluding reflections on the booked shape of the Twelve.

Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: A Critically Appreciative Engagement

The following engagement with Bauckham canvasses a number of approaches to the relationship betwe... more The following engagement with Bauckham canvasses a number of approaches to the relationship between authorship and tradition in Old Testament scholarship, concluding that the scope of his proposal needs to be expanded to make room for an account that gives greater prominence to the way in which the theological authority of canon functioned on a hermeneutical level in the formation history of biblical books, prior to the drawing up of canonical lists. This observation is not so much a criticism of Bauckham’s fine book as it is an opportunity to identify the need for a more expansive account of the function of authorship as an agent of control in the formation of the integrity, coherence, and unity of biblical witnesses.

Theological reflection on ‘the Christ event’ in Scripture and The Elder Testament

Syndicate: A Living Network of Scholarship in the Humanities, 2021

The paper seeks to draw out the implicit distinction between 'election disclosure' and 'adoption ... more

Reformed Theology and Modern Biblical Criticism

The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology, 2020

This essay was co-authored for a volume in the Oxford Handbook series. My contribution in the es... more This essay was co-authored for a volume in the Oxford Handbook series. My contribution in the essay covers the issue of Calvin's view of allegory and the literal sense (p. 115-16), along with the role of creation in the biblical theological models of Geerhardus Vos, Karl Barth, Gerhard von Rad, and Brevard Childs (p. 124-30). The entire volume is available at the Oxford University Press website.

Christ’s Work in the Psalms: Luther on Psalm 8 and Scripture’s Literal Sense

Who is Jesus Christ for Us Today?, 2018

The Defenestration of Prague and the Hermeneutics of ‘Story’: A Response to Peter Leithart

Reformed Faith & Practice, 2018

Rethinking Ethics in Deuteronomy: Review of Stephen L Cook on Deuteronomy

The Living Church, 2019

Christopher R. Seitz, The Elder Testament: Canon, Theology, Trinity (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018), pp. vi + 304, $39.95

International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2020

The Christomorphic Shaping of Time in Radner's Time and the Word

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2018

Ephraim Radner's recent book Time and the Word provides a wide-ranging theological and historical... more Ephraim Radner's recent book Time and the Word provides a wide-ranging theological and historical analysis of the different ways in which readers of Christian scripture have understood the biblical presentation of time. This essay discusses the authorizing assumptions at work in Radner's position on time, then engages a question raised by those assumptions, namely, the status of the incarnation's uniqueness in Radner's approach.

A Place to Stand: Proverbs 8 and the Construction of Ecclesial Space

Scottish Journal of Theology, 2017

Recent debate over the question whether ’amôn in Proverbs 8:30 should be rendered in a passive or... more Recent debate over the question whether ’amôn in Proverbs 8:30 should be rendered in a passive or active sense is helpful for illuminating the nature of the interaction between theology and exegesis in biblical interpretation. This essay offers an assessment of this debate with a view towards clarifying its christological significance, arguing that the semantics and syntax of Proverbs 8:30, as well as the theological frame of reference established by verses 22–31, exert an ‘ontological pressure’ upon our understanding of divine identity in Proverbs 8. These considerations offer an alternative avenue of approach to the poem that honours the Old Testament’s commitment to monotheism, while also allowing the Old Testament’s own presentation to shape our understanding of the character of the LORD’s oneness.

Reading Forward: The Old Testament and Retrospective Stance

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2015

Recent years have witnessed the rise of an interpretive model that construes the Old Testament's ... more Recent years have witnessed the rise of an interpretive model that construes the Old Testament's literal sense in 'christotelic' terms. 1 While the term itself appears to be of recent vintage, the hermeneutical assumptions undergirding this approach to Israel's scriptures find expression in a variety of contexts in the history of biblical interpretation. 2 The approach is arguably at least as old as the reception history of Paul's letter to the Romans, in which we learn that "Christ is the end [telos] of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." 3 Broadly speaking, two different ways of thinking of Christ in relation to the OT find their origins here, one of which interprets the Greek word telos in terms of the OT's subject matter (res) or authorizing purpose, and another which glosses that word primarily in terms of an eschatological goal. Because these readings are not mutually exclusive, on one level christotelic readings of the OT may be interpreted in traditional terms as the belief that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the goal or telos of the Old Testament. Christotelism would then be something akin to theological shorthand for the belief that the OT finds its fulfillment in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus who is the Christ, a non-controversial claim for most Christian readers of the OT. In the hands of its more recent advocates, however,

The Christology of Israel's Psalter

Currents in Theology and Mission, 2014

Is the Old Testament a Christian book? Although the catholic tradition of the church typically an... more Is the Old Testament a Christian book? Although the catholic tradition of the church typically answers this question in the affirmative, a study of church history reveals the presence of occasional dissenters, some of whom were quite vociferous in their rejection of the Christian character of the Old Testament (e.g., Marcion). In our own day, negative responses to this question are typically understated, often assuming the form of neglect rather than outright hostility. This is especially evident in the worship life of the contemporary church, where New Testament readings from the lectionary, whether gospel or epistle, typically form the basis for Sunday morning homilies or sermons. It is not too much to say that Old Testament preaching has fallen upon hard times, and this is due in no small part to the church's uncertainty when it comes to affirming the Old Testament's relationship to Jesus Christ. Can one say that the Old Testament not only points to Christ as its fulfillment or telos, but that it also mediates Christ, both to us and to the Israel of its own day? For many in our day, Christianity begins with the incarnation; ergo, reading the Old Testament as Christian scripture is little more than a hopelessly anachronistic exercise, grounded in a form of uncontrolled allegory or 'spiritualizing.' After all, there were not multiple incarnations, but one (John 1:14). But to acknowledge, along with John, that the Word is not yet made flesh in the Old Testament economy is not the same as saying that the Word is not yet made visible, for Christ the eternal Word revealed himself to Israel 'at many times and in diverse ways', through the figural form and Christ-shaped witness of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, prior to his revelation as the incarnate Son (Luke 24:44; cf. Hebrews 1:1). Not only the individual psalms of the Psalter, but also its larger shape and message, may therefore be rightly construed as 'christomorphic' in character. Just what does it mean to say that the Psalter is christomorphic in character? The answer is not overly complicated. The Greek term morphē is usually glossed in English as form, and in Philippians 2:6-7, the Son of God's assumption of the form of a servant (morphēn doulou) makes visible the invisible God. 2 To say that the Psalter is christomorphic is to say that there is a morphological fit between the literary shape and theological message of the Psalter, on the one hand, and the earthly life and ministry of the incarnate and risen Christ, on the other. By virtue of this 'accordance' or morphological fit between Christ and the witness of Israel's Psalter, 3 Jesus the Christ is made visible to Israel in a time of promise.

Atonement in the Minor Prophets

T & T Clark Companion to the Atonement , 2017

A Tale of Two Testaments 2013

The Bible as Christian Scripture: The Work of Brevard S. Childs, 2013

Overcoming Historicism's Dividing Wall of Hostility: The Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Christian Ethics: A Series in Faith and Ethics, 2014

In the wake of the breakdown of historical-critical modes of reading the Bible, a new movement—th... more In the wake of the breakdown of historical-critical modes of reading the Bible, a new movement—the theological interpretation of Scripture—seeks to heal the rift between biblical and theological studies, in both the academy and the Church. Four books reviewed here introduce major facets of the movement.

Review of Dan Driver's Brevard Childs, Biblical Theologian for the Church's One Bible

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2014

Transcendental Argument Revisited

Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame , 2009

Prophetic intentionality and the Book of the Twelve : a study in the hermeneutics of prophecy

University of St Andrews Dissertation Repository, Oct 26, 2007

This thesis explores the hermeneutical issues raised by critical approaches to the Book of the Tw... more This thesis explores the hermeneutical issues raised by critical approaches to the Book of the Twelve and their implications for the concepts of authorial intention, history, and canon. By means of a critical engagement with the Twelve’s modern reception history it seeks to demonstrate that with few exceptions, recent attempts to come to terms with the peculiar character of the prophetic intentionality at work in the Twelve reflect the continuing impact of historicism and its hermeneutical legacy upon the study of Old Testament prophecy. As a result the key role played by theological pressures of divine identity and canon in the Twelve’s formation history continues to be marginalized, particularly with respect to the figural and eschatological moves involved in the redactional expansion of prophecy. The study seeks to constructively address these problems by offering a theological exegesis of the character of divine ‘visitation’ in Hosea’s prologue. Access to the thesis will be found at the St Andrews Research Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/527

God's Incomparable Love in Hosea 11:7-9

Lutheran Forum, 2021

This essay canvasses a representative range of options on the theological implications of Hosea 1... more This essay canvasses a representative range of options on the theological implications of Hosea 11:7-9, then offers an exegesis of some of its more vexing and difficult aspects. Arguing that the theological context the book establishes for interpreting the phrase "I am God and not a human" (Hos. 11:9) is God's incomparable love, it then closes with a series of theological reflections on the contribution Hosea 11:7-9 makes to our understanding of the nature of God in relation to his redemptive dealings with Israel.

Prophetic intentionality in the Twelve

Canon Formation: Tracing the Role of Sub-Collections in the Biblical Canon, 2023

The paper approaches the issue of prophetic intentionality in the Twelve from the perspective of ... more The paper approaches the issue of prophetic intentionality in the Twelve from the perspective of canonical hermeneutics. The first section seeks to provide readers with a general sense of the hermeneutical issues at stake by addressing the significance of canonical location for interpreting prophetic intentionality in the Twelve. The second section focuses upon the relationship between the integrity of the twelve witnesses and their booked shape in the overall presentation of the Twelve. The third section raises the question of the nature of the Twelve’s unity and its relation to prophetic intentionality, while the fourth section makes use of the books of Hosea and Malachi to illustrate the character of prophetic intentionality at work in the Twelve. The final section brings matters to a close with some concluding reflections on the booked shape of the Twelve.

Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: A Critically Appreciative Engagement

The following engagement with Bauckham canvasses a number of approaches to the relationship betwe... more The following engagement with Bauckham canvasses a number of approaches to the relationship between authorship and tradition in Old Testament scholarship, concluding that the scope of his proposal needs to be expanded to make room for an account that gives greater prominence to the way in which the theological authority of canon functioned on a hermeneutical level in the formation history of biblical books, prior to the drawing up of canonical lists. This observation is not so much a criticism of Bauckham’s fine book as it is an opportunity to identify the need for a more expansive account of the function of authorship as an agent of control in the formation of the integrity, coherence, and unity of biblical witnesses.

Theological reflection on ‘the Christ event’ in Scripture and The Elder Testament

Syndicate: A Living Network of Scholarship in the Humanities, 2021

The paper seeks to draw out the implicit distinction between 'election disclosure' and 'adoption ... more

Reformed Theology and Modern Biblical Criticism

The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology, 2020

This essay was co-authored for a volume in the Oxford Handbook series. My contribution in the es... more This essay was co-authored for a volume in the Oxford Handbook series. My contribution in the essay covers the issue of Calvin's view of allegory and the literal sense (p. 115-16), along with the role of creation in the biblical theological models of Geerhardus Vos, Karl Barth, Gerhard von Rad, and Brevard Childs (p. 124-30). The entire volume is available at the Oxford University Press website.

Christ’s Work in the Psalms: Luther on Psalm 8 and Scripture’s Literal Sense

Who is Jesus Christ for Us Today?, 2018

The Defenestration of Prague and the Hermeneutics of ‘Story’: A Response to Peter Leithart

Reformed Faith & Practice, 2018

Rethinking Ethics in Deuteronomy: Review of Stephen L Cook on Deuteronomy

The Living Church, 2019

Christopher R. Seitz, The Elder Testament: Canon, Theology, Trinity (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018), pp. vi + 304, $39.95

International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2020

The Christomorphic Shaping of Time in Radner's Time and the Word

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2018

Ephraim Radner's recent book Time and the Word provides a wide-ranging theological and historical... more Ephraim Radner's recent book Time and the Word provides a wide-ranging theological and historical analysis of the different ways in which readers of Christian scripture have understood the biblical presentation of time. This essay discusses the authorizing assumptions at work in Radner's position on time, then engages a question raised by those assumptions, namely, the status of the incarnation's uniqueness in Radner's approach.

A Place to Stand: Proverbs 8 and the Construction of Ecclesial Space

Scottish Journal of Theology, 2017

Recent debate over the question whether ’amôn in Proverbs 8:30 should be rendered in a passive or... more Recent debate over the question whether ’amôn in Proverbs 8:30 should be rendered in a passive or active sense is helpful for illuminating the nature of the interaction between theology and exegesis in biblical interpretation. This essay offers an assessment of this debate with a view towards clarifying its christological significance, arguing that the semantics and syntax of Proverbs 8:30, as well as the theological frame of reference established by verses 22–31, exert an ‘ontological pressure’ upon our understanding of divine identity in Proverbs 8. These considerations offer an alternative avenue of approach to the poem that honours the Old Testament’s commitment to monotheism, while also allowing the Old Testament’s own presentation to shape our understanding of the character of the LORD’s oneness.

Reading Forward: The Old Testament and Retrospective Stance

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2015

Recent years have witnessed the rise of an interpretive model that construes the Old Testament's ... more Recent years have witnessed the rise of an interpretive model that construes the Old Testament's literal sense in 'christotelic' terms. 1 While the term itself appears to be of recent vintage, the hermeneutical assumptions undergirding this approach to Israel's scriptures find expression in a variety of contexts in the history of biblical interpretation. 2 The approach is arguably at least as old as the reception history of Paul's letter to the Romans, in which we learn that "Christ is the end [telos] of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." 3 Broadly speaking, two different ways of thinking of Christ in relation to the OT find their origins here, one of which interprets the Greek word telos in terms of the OT's subject matter (res) or authorizing purpose, and another which glosses that word primarily in terms of an eschatological goal. Because these readings are not mutually exclusive, on one level christotelic readings of the OT may be interpreted in traditional terms as the belief that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the goal or telos of the Old Testament. Christotelism would then be something akin to theological shorthand for the belief that the OT finds its fulfillment in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus who is the Christ, a non-controversial claim for most Christian readers of the OT. In the hands of its more recent advocates, however,

The Christology of Israel's Psalter

Currents in Theology and Mission, 2014

Is the Old Testament a Christian book? Although the catholic tradition of the church typically an... more Is the Old Testament a Christian book? Although the catholic tradition of the church typically answers this question in the affirmative, a study of church history reveals the presence of occasional dissenters, some of whom were quite vociferous in their rejection of the Christian character of the Old Testament (e.g., Marcion). In our own day, negative responses to this question are typically understated, often assuming the form of neglect rather than outright hostility. This is especially evident in the worship life of the contemporary church, where New Testament readings from the lectionary, whether gospel or epistle, typically form the basis for Sunday morning homilies or sermons. It is not too much to say that Old Testament preaching has fallen upon hard times, and this is due in no small part to the church's uncertainty when it comes to affirming the Old Testament's relationship to Jesus Christ. Can one say that the Old Testament not only points to Christ as its fulfillment or telos, but that it also mediates Christ, both to us and to the Israel of its own day? For many in our day, Christianity begins with the incarnation; ergo, reading the Old Testament as Christian scripture is little more than a hopelessly anachronistic exercise, grounded in a form of uncontrolled allegory or 'spiritualizing.' After all, there were not multiple incarnations, but one (John 1:14). But to acknowledge, along with John, that the Word is not yet made flesh in the Old Testament economy is not the same as saying that the Word is not yet made visible, for Christ the eternal Word revealed himself to Israel 'at many times and in diverse ways', through the figural form and Christ-shaped witness of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, prior to his revelation as the incarnate Son (Luke 24:44; cf. Hebrews 1:1). Not only the individual psalms of the Psalter, but also its larger shape and message, may therefore be rightly construed as 'christomorphic' in character. Just what does it mean to say that the Psalter is christomorphic in character? The answer is not overly complicated. The Greek term morphē is usually glossed in English as form, and in Philippians 2:6-7, the Son of God's assumption of the form of a servant (morphēn doulou) makes visible the invisible God. 2 To say that the Psalter is christomorphic is to say that there is a morphological fit between the literary shape and theological message of the Psalter, on the one hand, and the earthly life and ministry of the incarnate and risen Christ, on the other. By virtue of this 'accordance' or morphological fit between Christ and the witness of Israel's Psalter, 3 Jesus the Christ is made visible to Israel in a time of promise.

Atonement in the Minor Prophets

T & T Clark Companion to the Atonement , 2017

A Tale of Two Testaments 2013

The Bible as Christian Scripture: The Work of Brevard S. Childs, 2013

Overcoming Historicism's Dividing Wall of Hostility: The Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Christian Ethics: A Series in Faith and Ethics, 2014

In the wake of the breakdown of historical-critical modes of reading the Bible, a new movement—th... more In the wake of the breakdown of historical-critical modes of reading the Bible, a new movement—the theological interpretation of Scripture—seeks to heal the rift between biblical and theological studies, in both the academy and the Church. Four books reviewed here introduce major facets of the movement.

Review of Dan Driver's Brevard Childs, Biblical Theologian for the Church's One Bible

Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, 2014

Transcendental Argument Revisited

Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame , 2009

Prophetic intentionality and the Book of the Twelve : a study in the hermeneutics of prophecy

University of St Andrews Dissertation Repository, Oct 26, 2007

This thesis explores the hermeneutical issues raised by critical approaches to the Book of the Tw... more This thesis explores the hermeneutical issues raised by critical approaches to the Book of the Twelve and their implications for the concepts of authorial intention, history, and canon. By means of a critical engagement with the Twelve’s modern reception history it seeks to demonstrate that with few exceptions, recent attempts to come to terms with the peculiar character of the prophetic intentionality at work in the Twelve reflect the continuing impact of historicism and its hermeneutical legacy upon the study of Old Testament prophecy. As a result the key role played by theological pressures of divine identity and canon in the Twelve’s formation history continues to be marginalized, particularly with respect to the figural and eschatological moves involved in the redactional expansion of prophecy. The study seeks to constructively address these problems by offering a theological exegesis of the character of divine ‘visitation’ in Hosea’s prologue. Access to the thesis will be found at the St Andrews Research Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/527