Learning to Love the Old Testament

The April 2014 issue of First Things includes an article about how often it is that we learn to love a particular subject area-music, art, philosophy, science, or whatever-because of a person. Often that person is a teacher, but it can also be a parent or friend or pastor, anyone who causes us to recognize that this particular thing is not just factual or important for some reason but it is also worthy of being pursued, even loved. The article is entitled 'Learning in Love', and emphasizes how we do indeed learn to love in a certain way through coming to care about an area of learning that somehow unlocks to us an insight into what a meaningful life really is. It is usually a person that unlocks this for us, since these pursuits are often hard work and not that easy to fully enter into. We usually need a push and encouragement and some insights from them to continue pursuing this learning.


I had been thinking about my college days as I began to read this article, for several reasons. A friend from college is on the verge of death; the weather now reminds me of a similar week in March when I was in college and about to go to see the ocean for the first time; and I have recently done a study of the Jewish feasts in the Old Testament. With these thoughts jumbled in my head, I read the article and was reminded of Dr. Walter Kaiser, Jr..


At a weekend retreat during my college years, Dr. Kaiser came to our campus to lead a retreat focused on how the books of Moses, the Torah, are still relevant today. Up to then I knew in a detached sort of way that the Old Testament was important, that I ought to know more about it, that I ought to care more about it than I did. I had read through the Old Testament from this sense of guilt but really only the prophets and Genesis were very compelling to me. I knew that the rest of it was somehow important but I didn't really care much about it.


What I heard from Dr. Kaiser that weekend was a first glimpse of why the whole Old Testament was worthy of being pursued, even loved. He clearly loved it. It showed in his enthusiasm and the way he tied many parts of it together to show its unity. While I knew in a cognitive way that it was important, that retreat gave me a glimpse of how much more it could be, how understanding it would unlock my understanding of the New Testament and would make life itself more meaningful.


It has been a long journey since then, around 40 years, and I am no great scholar of the Old Testament still, but as I have continued to seek understanding I have been startled at times at how the things I have learned from the Old Testament have changed my understanding of Christ and the gospel. So today I am reminded in gratitude of Dr. Kaiser, and I am thankful for how his love for the Bible that I saw that weekend in Oxford, Ohio, continues to influence my life.