HEAVEN ON EARTH
The Temple in Biblical Theology
Eds: T. Desmond Alexander & Simon Gathercole. Paternoster. 283 pages
ISBN 1 84227 272 1
This is a fairly academic book which is well worth reading. Its main aim is to explore the function of the temple within the Bible and to explain its implications for our theology.
The backbone of the book is exegetical. We move through the various books of the Old and New Testaments gathering an understanding of the role of the temple. Some intriguing observations emerge. The basic function of the temple is threefold. It is a place of revelation, a place of atonement and a place where God’s presence dwelt as a covenant sign. A strong case is made that Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, which record the building of the temple, show a similar ambivalence to it as Stephen expresses in Acts 7. Perhaps the most stimulating essay on the Old Testament material is by Crispin Fletcher-Louis, which explains the temple as forming the background to understanding Christ’s incarnation. He unfolds this in terms of the image of God in man. Unlike pagan temples, God’s temple has no image or idol, but rather the high priest functioned not only as man’s representative before God but as God’s ‘idol’, God’s representation to man.
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