The Christian View of the Old Testament

In an era when faith and science seemed locked in mortal combat, Frederick Carl Eiselen mounted a sophisticated defense of the Old Testament's place in Christian thought. Published in 1912, this rigorous theological work addresses the crisis of biblical confidence that had gripped the previous fifty years, when modern criticism and evolutionary theory challenged Scripture's authority. Eiselen contends that early Christians viewed the Hebrew Bible not as obsolete but as foundational, and he traces how the New Testament's understanding of Jesus emerges directly from Old Testament promises and foreshadowing. He maps the connections between ancient Israel's hopes and Christ's mission, arguing that to jettison the Old Testament is to sever Christianity from its own roots. Though written over a century ago, the book grapples with questions that remain urgent: how do believers honor texts written in radically different contexts while affirming their living relevance? For serious students of theology, biblical scholars, and anyone wrestling with the relationship between ancient Scripture and modern faith, this treatise offers both historical insight and enduring challenge.