Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Meredith Kline's, Kingdom Prologue

My pastor recently gave me a copy of a book by Meredith Kline, Kingdom Prologue.  It discusses the book of Genesis, unpacking much of the covenant imagery replete throughout this book, as well as the rest of Scripture.  Here are my (slightly edited) thoughts I sent to him regarding the book.  I thought they might make for an interesting blog post:




To start off, I was really struck by the depth in which Kline is able to capture covenant imagery, and help convey the deeper meanings behind Genesis.  So often, I've read through Genesis with barely a cursory glance to certain phrases such as, "in that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord."  These words don't have near as much impact until you have someone with the historical background and training to unpack the meaning which, in the context written, would have been better understood.

His imagery of the Holy Spirit and His work conveying God's Presence and accompanying the Angel of the Lord was also pretty striking.  As I've been reading through Isaiah, I'm struck more and more by the times I've read the images of the pillars of fire and cloud, and how they directly link to the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I've read before that the Holy Spirit and His work is often overlooked by the church, and given my non-pentecostal, evangelical upbringing, I think this is certainly true in the Christian circles where I was raised.  The poignant way Kline is able to center creation as a whole around the Triune God is really quite refreshing, and brings very exciting context to the book of Genesis.  It also brings together the presence of fire and cloud which is replete throughout the history of the Church in a way I hadn't appreciated.

Those insights which further unify Scripture into a cohesive whole revolving around the work of the Triune God are really quite excellent.

There were also insights into the nature of the fall which seemed very reminiscent of Calvin's commentaries on Genesis.  One thing I've really appreciated from reading Calvin is his strict adherence to the text and his ability to unpack certain details so they better make sense.  His exposition of the circumstances in Jacob's mixed household was very helpful when my wife and I were reading Genesis 2 years ago (as you've said before, it's so easy to gloss over the truly terrible circumstances brought about by our sinful spiritual forefathers).  Kline's descriptions of Adam and Eve's sin, and the consequences therein had a similar feel, I think.

(On a brief side note, I also appreciated his flexibility in the Genesis timeline, while still remaining faithful to the historic text.  A few of my favorite Christian think-tanks can't quite seem to do this, and tend to associate any deviation from the 6,000 year old, scientific interpretation of Genesis 1 as not taking the creation account seriously.  It's a terrible (and sometimes intentional, I think) misunderstanding, and I think Kline handles the situation with some delicacy.)

There were a few things which I struggled to fully wrap my mind around, and I know a few more readings (after Vanhoozer, of course) will help.  One was his use of the words "Megapolis" and "Metapolis."  Unfortunately, both of the prefixes have connotations in my techie-brain which make it hard to context-switch.  Meta- (in my world) typically refers to a type of concept abstracted from another concept.  This is commonly found in words like "metadata" or "metacharacters" come up.  Metadata is, literally, "data about data."  Metapolis doesn't quite feel like an abstracted concept, per se, since it refers to the final culmination of the City of God, fully recreated and consummated by His perfect work.  Of course Kline points out that the final goal for the first Adam was this very achievement, and thus it is only by the Second Adam that it will be brought about.  I think the wording is perhaps difficult for a techie-geek like myself :)

The imagery regarding the Holy Spirit, particularly the Glory-Cloud as the Glory-Spirit and his exposition proceeding from it will take a few more reads as well.  I really liked, however, that Kline helps explain the concept of being created in God's image.  So many teachers are distorting this idea by either implying or directly stating that we have "seeds of the divine" seated within our human selves.  Kline's explanation seems to fit more cohesively with Scripture, and avoids the panentheistic overtones.

The last major theme I really appreciated was that of creation and re-creation, of Eden produced and reproduced (albeit in a redemptive motif).  It's amazing to me that I could spend 30 years of my life in church and never been shown some of the connections between the Garden, Canaan, and Christ.  To have the Garden scenario laid out so clearly, and then linked consistently to the introduction of God's people into a "land flowing with milk and honey" is pretty amazing.  It's incredible to see the parallels between them: God's provision of a "paradise" which would be His Kingdom-Temple.  God's introduction of a Holy people into said paradise -- a people of prophets, priests, and kings, to bear His Word and protect the Temple from evil (even cast it out).  Of the terms imposed by a just and sovereign God: obey and be blessed, disobey and be cursed.  The people's self-subjugation to the Serpent and the resulting diaspora from God's presence.  And THEN, to see this played out again by Christ, our Second Adam, our perfect Prophet/Priest/King Who IS God's Holy Temple, and to see the story finally go the way it should, because God's own Son has descended from His glory to redeem His lost Bride...man!  What an exciting redemptive history God has wrought!

This book has helped connect many dots which were left over from my time reading Berkhof, Vos, and Horton

No comments: