Decalogue

Lecturer in Biblical Studies at All Nations Christian College, Ware, England. Until 2014 he was Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity Theological College, Perth, Australia. Previously Deputy Warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge and a seminary lecturer in Indonesia for over twenty years. Author of Two Testaments, One Bible: The Theological Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments, Tight Fists or Open Hands? Poverty and Wealth in Old Testament Law, and several books in Indonesian. Research interests include Deuteronomy, the Decalogue, the relationship between the Testaments, and wealth and poverty in the Old Testament.

I grew up in a generation of children required to memorize and recite the Ten Commandments by heart. They set the shape of accepted Christian ethics. Later, I visited many churches with the Ten Commandments inscribed on the walls but lacking the vital context of the opening affirmation of God's redeeming grace: 'I am the LORD your God who brought you up out of the house of bondage'—law without gospel. David Baker's timely book challenges us to reconsider the foundational place of the Decalogue in Christian personal and public ethics. But he is also careful to note the context—both the biblical context of God's people's obedience as a grateful response to saving grace, and the surrounding context of Ancient Near Eastern cultures and laws, for helpful comparison and contrast. The result is a richly rewarding textbook, surveying the field of biblical scholarship comprehensively but with a light touch, drawing together many threads in wider biblical theology, and reflecting on the relevance of the Ten Commandments in contemporary church and society.