John Sailhamer Explained

John Herbert Sailhamer (October 17, 1946 – January 9, 2017)^[1] was an American professor of Old Testament studies at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California. He was president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2000 and made notable contributions to Old Testament studies.^[2]

Career

After a B.A. at California State University, Long Beach, his Th.M. at Dallas Theological Seminary, and his M.A. and Ph.D. (1981) at University of California at Los Angeles, Sailhamer began his teaching career in 1975 at Biola University, then taught at Bethel Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Western Seminary (1995–98), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1999–2006),^[3] and at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary beginning in 2006.^[4] He was briefly appointed as provost of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1993, but resigned before he was to begin serving in 1994.^[5]

Sailhamer served on the review and editorial teams for two recent Bible translations — the New Living Translation^[6] and the Holman Christian Standard Bible.^[7]

Sailhamer published extensively on Old Testament matters, especially the Pentateuch. Sailhamer's latest publication, The Meaning of the Pentateuch (2009), has been called his magnum opus and briefly broke into Amazon.com's top 100 sellers.^[8] John Piper has heartily endorsed it saying, "There is nothing like it. It will rock your world. You will never read the 'Pentateuch' the same again."^[9]

Historical Creationism

In Genesis Unbound: A Provocative New Look at the Creation Account (1996), Sailhamer argued for a view of creationism that he labels as "Historical Creationism", which contends that the creation week in Genesis 1 is a record of the preparation of the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve, not a record of the preparation of the whole planet Earth itself or the universe.^[10] This view, along with the book Genesis Unbound, has been endorsed by major evangelical pastors and theologians (particularly in the New Calvinist movement), such as Matt Chandler,^[11] Mark Driscoll,^[12] and John Piper.^[13]

Publications

• • Genesis: The Expositor's Bible Commentary (1990) with Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Richard Hess, Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland NIV Compact Bible Commentary (1999)^[14]
• An Introduction to Old Testament Theology: A Canonical Approach (1995)
• The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary (1995)
• Biblical Prophecy (1998)
• "Biblical Theology and the Composition of the Hebrew Bible", pp 25–37 in Biblical Theology: Retrospect and Prospect, edited by Scott J. Hafemann (2002)
• "The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation." (2009)

External links

• John Sailhamer's faculty bio from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
• The Writings of John Sailhamer (An Online Bibliography) (PDF)

Notes and References

1. Book: Ollenburger, Ben C.. Old Testament Theology: Flowering and Future. 2004. Eisenbrauns. 1-57506-096-5.
2. Reports Relating to the Fifty-First Meeting of the Society. JETS. 43. 1. March 2000.
3. News: McMillan. Byron Scott. Renowned Hebrew scholar to join Southeastern Seminary's faculty. https://archive.today/20130221074545/http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=1212. February 21, 2013. Baptist Press. Apr 19, 1999.
4. News: Phifer. Amanda. Golden Gate trustees meet at Rocky Mountain campus. Baptist Press. Oct 27, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20110510002654/http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=24275. 2011-05-10.
5. Book: Hannah, John D.. An Uncommon Union: Dallas Theological Seminary and American Evangelicalism. 2009. Zondervan. 233. 978-0-310-23786-0.
6. Web site: Taylor, Mark D.. March 2006. The New Living Translation.
7. Web site: Marlowe, Michael. August 2011. The Holman Christian Standard Bible.
8. Hansen. Collin. Jan 11, 2010. Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch. Christianity Today.
9. Web site: Piper, John. John Piper (theologian). Not Just for Theological Uber Geeks. 11 November 2009 .
10. Jordan. James B.. James B. Jordan. John Sailhamer Weighs In. Biblical Chronology. April 1997. 9. 4. 15 September 2012.
11. Book: Chandler, Matt. The Explicit Gospel. Crossway. 2014. 978-1-4335-3003-6. 96–97.
12. Book: Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe. Mark Driscoll . Gerry Breshears . Crossway. 2010. 978-1-4335-2757-9. 93. "We hold to historic creationism, which emphasizes that the first two chapters of Genesis, God's inspired and inerrant Word, tell us that the God who created everything (angels, space-time, mass-energy, sun, moon, and stars, and all species of animals) prepared the land for human habitation in six literal twenty-four-hour days. At the end of those days, he shaped dust and breathed the breath of life into it, creating Adam. From Adam's rib, God created the woman.".
13. .
14. Essex. Keith. Book Review: NIV Compact Bible Commentary. Master's Seminary Journal. Spring 1996. 7. 1. 139–140. 2012-10-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20130925213926/http://www.tms.edu/JournalBookReview.aspx?ID=537. 2013-09-25.