Preface

Summary

The Speaker's Lectures in Biblical Studies in the University of Oxford for 1992 and 1993 provided the opportunity to draft most of this book. I was assured that I could use the lectures to try something out, and that is what I did. I trust that this version reflects a more mature, and indeed coherent, stage in my thinking: in Oxford, I contested the whole idea of ‘typology’ in 1992, only to restore it in 1993!

Although the original drafts provided the basis for what appears here, none has remained unchanged, not least because the integration of the two sets of lectures has effected an almost total transformation of the original order. In several cases, there has been substantial rewriting, with the inclusion of additional material; in some, the omission of repetitive recapping, which was necessary for a lecture audience; and, in most, a recasting of link paragraphs. Furthermore, one previously published paper has been incorporated in slightly revised form, others plundered at various stages.

I am grateful to Professor Ernest Nicholson and those who elected me to the Speaker's Lectureship for giving me the stimulus to develop this work. Others, for whom I have a great respect, did me the honour of faithfully coming to the lectures and offering encouragement; to these too I would express my thanks, especially Professor John Barton, Professor Christopher Rowland and Dr Sebastian Brock. I hope this version will not disappoint them, or Professor Maurice Wiles, my Cambridge Doktorvater and career-long mentor. To him I dedicate this volume.