JETS 62.

2 (2019): 225–49

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
FROM A NEW TESTAMENT PERSPECTIVE

ECKHARD J. SCHNABEL*

Abstract: The history of writing comprehensive treatments of Old Testament theology, New
Testament theology, and biblical theology shows that some authors pursue a historical recon-
struction of theological traditions and proclamation, some authors present a systematic interpre-
tation of content and themes, and some authors offer a combination of both. The outline and
content of an Old Testament theology, a New Testament theology, or a biblical theology will be
influenced by the personal interests of the author, by the intended readers, and, more mundanely,
by word counts stipulated by publishers. At the same time, it can be argued that the character
of God’s revelation as well as the character of the biblical writings themselves demand that the
unity of the biblical message is explained in the context of the diversity and contingency of the
biblical writings. The variegated theological truth of Scripture is best explained in the context
of the historical realities of its authors and writings, taking into account relevant literary fea-
tures, and paradigmatically spelling out the significance of the biblical texts for modern readers.
Key words: Old Testament theology, New Testament theology, biblical theology, history of
research, historical reconstruction, theological interpretation, unity, diversity

I. DEFINITIONS
The phrase “biblical theology” deserves clarification. As is well known, the
term “theology” is not a biblical term: it is never used by the LXX translators nor is
it used in the NT.1 The term θεολόγος was used by Greek philosophers to describe
the poets whose texts (λόγος) describe the acts and behavior of a particular god
(θεός) or multiple gods, his or her genealogical and dynastic evolution, “and the
causal traits which they give to the world.” The earliest examples are references in
Plato (Resp. 2.379a). Aristotle calls poets such as Hesiod and Homer θεολόγοι (Met-
aph. 983b29; 1000a9), but then describes the highest of the three disciplines of phi-
losophy, which was later called metaphysics, as θεολογική: ὥστε τρεῖς ἂν εἶεν
φιλοσοφίαι θεωρητικαί, μαθηματική, φυσική, θεολογική (Metaph. 1026a19; cf.
1064b3). The Stoics divide theology into three parts (theologica tripartita): the mythi-
cal discourse about the gods of the poets, the political reference to the gods in the

* Eckhard Schnabel is Mary F. Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of NT at Gordon Conwell The-

ological Seminary, 130 Essex St., South Hamilton, MA 01982. He may be contacted at eschnabel
@gordonconwell.edu.
1 For the following cf. Winrich Löhr, “Theology,” in BNP 14:489–96, esp. 489, 493. A short version

of this essay was read as a paper at the annual meeting of the ETS in Denver, CO on November 13,
2018.
226 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

civic cults, and the “natural theology” that aligns the discourse about the gods with
nature (Varro, Antiquitates rerum divinarum fr. 6–12).
When the term was used by Christian writers in the second century, it was ini-
tially used to describe mythical or hymnic discourse on God (Isidorus, in Clement
of Alexandria, Strom. 6.53.5). In the third century, the term θεολογία was linked
with an emphasis on teaching (Strom. 1.176.1–2). When Eusebius wrote his Τῆς
ἐκκλησιαστικὴς θεολογίας (De ecclesiastica theologia), he used the term to describe the
doctrine of God, in particular the Trinity, in contrast to οἰκονομία, the doctrine of
the incarnation and Jesus’ acts of salvation. The definition of theology as the sci-
ence of the Christian faith—what we would call systematic theology—was coined
in the Middle Ages.
This background helps us to grasp the two main aspects of a “theology” of
the OT, the NT, or a biblical theology which can be pursued as a retelling of the
teaching about God by the biblical authors or as a philosophical-systematic reflec-
tion about and interpretation of the biblical texts—or, put differently, as an histori-
cal reconstruction of OT traditions or NT traditions and proclamation, or as sys-
tematic presentation of the content and themes of the OT and the NT.2

II. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

1. The traditional loci method. Initially, the term “biblical theology” described at-
tempts to demonstrate the foundation of Protestant dogmatics in OT and NT texts,
according to the material principle of sola scriptura.3 The first extant book title that
uses the phrase is Wolfgang Jacob Christmann, Teutsche biblische Theologie, published
in 1629.4 The title of the work by Sebastian Schmidt, published in 1671, is indica-
tive of the program of this early biblical theology: Collegium Biblicum, in quo dicta scrip-
turae Veteris et Novi testamenti iuxta seriem locorum communium theologicorum disposita dilu-
cide explicantur (A Biblical Collection of OT and NT Texts Explicated in Relation to the Se-

2 Jörg Frey, “Zum Problem der Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen

Testaments,” in Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen Testaments (ed. C. Breytenbach and F.
Frey; WUNT 205; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 3–53, 20.
3 For this section see the helpful survey of Frey, “Aufgabe und Durchführung,” 21–42. For the early

period cf. Otto Merk, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments in ihrer Anfangszeit: Ihre methodischen Probleme bei
Johann Philipp Gabler und Georg Lorenz Bauer und deren Nachwirkungen (Marburger Theologische Studien 9;
Marburg: Elwert, 1972); see also Heikki Räisänen, Beyond New Testament Theology: A Story and a Programme
(London: SCM, 1990), 3–90; Peter Balla, Challenges to New Testament Theology: An Attempt to Justify the
Enterprise (WUNT 2/95; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1997; repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998); D. A.
Carson, “Current Issues in Biblical Theology: A New Testament Perspective,” BBR 5 (1995): 17–41;
James Barr, The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999); D. A.
Carson, “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” NDBT (2000), 89–104; Dan O. Via, What is New
Testament Theology? (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002); James K. Mead, Biblical Theology: Issues, Methods, and
Themes (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007), 13–59; Edward W. Klink and Darian R. Lockett,
Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison of Theory and Practice (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012); and
surveys in OT theologies and NT theologies.
4 Wolfgang Jacob Christmann, Teutsche biblische Theologie (Kempten, 1629).
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 227
ries of Standard Theological Topics).5 The outline of “biblical theology” was determined
by the loci method of the medieval and contemporary systematic theology.
2. The historical turn of biblical theology. The first signs that biblical theology be-
came a more independent enterprise is the conviction by some scholars in the
eighteenth century, following the critique of scholastic orthodox theology by Pie-
tists such as Philipp Jakob Spener, that a biblical theology has advantages over sys-
tematic-dogmatic theology. The work by Anton Friedrich Büsching, published in
1758, advertises this advantage in the title, Gedanken von der Beschaffenheit und dem
Vorzuge der biblisch-dogmatischen Theologie vor der alten und neuen scholastischen (Thoughts on
the Nature and the Advantage of Biblical-Dogmatic Theology over the Old and New Scholastic
[Theology]).6 Johann Salomo Semler, in his four-volume Abhandlung von freier Unter-
suchung des Canon (Treatise of the Free Investigation of the Canon), published between 1771
and 1775, argued for the necessity of emancipating the study of OT and NT texts
from dogmatic theology.7 Gotthilf Traugott Zachariä, in his Biblische Theologie, also
published from 1771 to 1775, rearranged the biblical subjects in order to achieve a
greater alignment with the presentation in the OT and NT.8
The classic text regarded as the Geburtsurkunde (“birth certificate”) of biblical
theology is the inaugural lecture of Johann Philipp Gabler at the University of Alt-
dorf in 1787, entitled De iusto discrimine theologiae biblicae regundisque recte utriusque fini-
bus (The Proper Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology and the Specific Objectives
of Each).9 Gabler emphasized the historical character of the biblical texts and beliefs
which have to be explained from the style, the idiom, and the customs of the rele-
vant historical period. He abandoned the assumed unity of the biblical teaching of
the OT and the NT. He concluded that “biblical theology” has, by necessity, an
historical character as it conveys what the biblical writers said about divine matters.
Since Gabler does not abandon the conviction that the OT and NT convey clear
truths that are universally significant, irrespective of the time periods in which they
were formulated, he advocates a “double biblical theology” (thus the formulation
of Otto Merk):10 an historically informed and controlled biblical theology, and a

5 Sebastian Schmidt, Collegium Biblicum, in quo dicta scripturae Veteris et Novi testamenti iuxta seriem locorum

communium theologicorum disposita dilucide explicantur (Argentorati [Straßburg]: Städel, 1671).

6 Anton Friedrich Büsching, Gedanken von der Beschaffenheit und dem Vorzuge der biblisch-dogmatischen

Theologie vor der alten und neuen scholastischen (Lemgo: Meyer, 1758).
7 Johann Salomo Semler, Abhandlung von freier Untersuchung des Canon (4 vols.; Halle: Hemmerde,

1771–1775).
8 Gotthilf Traugott Zachariä, Biblische Theologie oder Untersuchung des biblischen Grundes der vornehmsten

theologischen Lehren (4 vols.; Göttingen/Kiel: Boßiegel, 1771–1775).

9 Johann Philipp Gabler, “De iusto discrimine theologiae biblicae regundisque recte utriusque

finibus,” in Opuscula academica (ed. T. A. Gabler and J. G. Gabler; Ulm: Stettin, 1831), 2:179–98; cf.
Johann Philipp Gabler, “Von der richtigen Unterscheidung der biblischen und der dogmatischen
Theologie und der rechten Bestimmung ihrer beider Ziele,” in Otto Merk. Biblische Theologie des Neuen
Testaments in ihrer Anfangszeit. Ihre methodischen Probleme bei Johann Philipp Gabler und Georg Lorenz Bauer und
deren Nachwirkungen (Marburger Theologische Studien 9; Marburg: Elwert, 1972), 273–84; John Sandys-
Wunsch and Laurence Eldredge, “J. P. Gabler and the Distinction Between Biblical and Dogmatic
Theology: Commentary and Discussion of His Originality,” SJT 33 (1980): 133–58.
10 Merk, Biblische Theologie, 43.
228 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

“biblical theology in the stricter sense of the word” which is the sum of biblical
truths which can be the foundation of a reasonable Christian dogmatic theology.
Gabler’s work implied the necessity of differentiating between OT theology
and NT theology, projects that were very soon realized. Gabler’s colleague in Alt-
dorf, Georg Lorenz Bauer, published in 1796 a Theologie des Alten Testaments11 and,
between 1800 and 1802, a Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments,12 which presents
Christology according to the first three Gospels in volume 1; the theology and an-
thropology according to the first three Gospels and the Christian “theory of reli-
gion” according to John in volume 2; Christian religious concepts according to the
Apocalypse, Peter, Peter’s second Epistle, and the Epistle of Jude in volume 3; and
the teaching of Paul in volume 4. Soon, individual NT authors were treated in sepa-
rate theological analyses. Paul’s theology was discussed by Gottlob Wilhelm Meyer
in 180113 and by Johann Georg Friedrich Leun in 1803, with the telling subtitle “A
Companion to the Biblical Theology of the NT.”14 Ferdinand Christian Baur, in his
Lectures on New Testament Theology published posthumously in 1864,15 combined the
programmatic conceptions of Gabler and Bauer, acknowledging the interlocking
demands of historical reconstruction and interpretation.
William Wrede criticized Baur’s project in his programmatic essay Über Auf-
gabe und Methode der sogenannten neutestamentlichen Theologie (The Tasks and Methods of
“New Testament Theology”), 16 published in 1897, for achieving his historical recon-
struction only because he managed to align historical developments with the as-
sumed dialectic between Jewish Christianity and Pauline theology and the synthesis
of this dialectic in the Johannine project. Wrede criticized the NT theologies of

11 Georg Lorenz Bauer, Theologie des Alten Testaments oder Abriß der religiösen Begriffe der alten Hebräer.

Von den ältesten Zeugen bis auf den Anfang der christlichen Epoche. Zum Gebrauch akademischer Vorlesungen (Leip-
zig: Weygand, 1796); ET Georg Lorenz Bauer, The Theology of the Old Testament, or, A Biblical Sketch of the
Religious Opinions of the Ancient Hebrews from the Earliest Times to the Commencement of the Christian Era. Extract-
ed and Translated from the Theologie des alten Testaments of Georg Lorenz Bauer (trans. Philip Harwood; London:
Paternoster, 1838).
12 Georg Lorenz Bauer, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments (4 vols.; Leipzig: Weygand, 1800–1802);

this extensive work comprising 1,545 pages was not translated into English.
13 Gottlob Wilhelm Meyer, Entwickelung des Paulinischen Lehrbegriffs. Ein Beitrag zur Kritik des christlichen

Religionssystems (Altona: Hammerich, 1801).

14 Johann Georg Friedrich Leun, Reine Auffassung des Christenthums in den paulinischen Briefen. Ein

Seitenstück zur biblischen Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Leipzig: Weygand, 1803).
15 Ferdinand Christian Baur, Vorlesungen über neutestamentliche Theologie (ed. Ferdinand Friedrich Baur;

2 vols.; Gotha: Perthes, 1864; repr., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1973); ET

Ferdinand Christian Baur, Lectures on New Testament Theology (ed. and trans. Peter C. Hodgson and Robert
F. Brown; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
16 William Wrede, Über Aufgabe und Methode der sogenannten neutestamentlichen Theologie (Göttingen:

Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1897); repr. in William Wrede, “Über Aufgabe und Methode der
sogenannten neutestamentlichen Theologie,” in Das Problem der Theologie des Neuen Testaments (ed. G.
Strecker; Wege der Forschung 367; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1975), 81–154; ET
William Wrede, “The Tasks and Methods of ‘New Testament Theology’ [1897],” in The Nature of New
Testament Theology: The Contribution of William Wrede and Adolf Schlatter (ed. Robert Morgan; SBT 2/25;
London: SCM, 1973), 68–116.
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 229
Bernhard Weiß,17 Willibald Beyschlag,18 and Heinrich Julius Holtzmann19 for a lack
of clarity regarding methodical questions, and, with regard to Holtzmann, for the
failure to achieve a true historical connection.20 Wrede held that the historical de-
scriptions of the theology of the NT, whether conservative or liberal, were too
much influenced by their own theological interests and by their concern for the
application and normativity of the teaching of the NT. Wrede demanded that any-
body who analyzes the theology of the NT authors in terms of an academic, scien-
tific project must be guided by a “pure” interest in knowledge, not guided by per-
sonal or theological interests or viewpoints, allowing the scholar to perceive what
really happened, following the evidence wherever it leads.21
A hundred years later, Heikki Räisänen, in a short volume entitled Beyond New
Testament Theology (1990), sought to revive Wrede’s vision, in modified form, arguing
that biblical studies are “to serve society and mankind within their own limited re-
sources, but not the church in particular,” advocating a program that describes the
rise and development of early Christian thought “as an interplay between tradition,
experience, and interpretation.”22 Klaus Berger, in his Theologiegeschichte des Urchristen-
tums (History of the Theology of Early Christianity; 1994),23 claims to have written the
first comprehensive history of early Christian theology, made possible by leaving
behind literary-critical source criticism and relativizing the significance of redaction
criticism. Berger seeks to present the historical development, geographically fo-
cused, of the theological projects of the NT writers, in terms of a consistent execu-
tion of Wrede’s program.24 The subtitle “Theology of the NT” merely indicates
that, for Berger, a theology of the NT can be written only as a history of the theol-
ogy of early Christianity.25 James Barr advocates a biblical theology that is charac-
terized by the history of religion as an historical quantifier.26 Gerd Theißen, in his
Die Religion der ersten Christen. Eine Theorie des Urchristentums (The Religion of the Earliest
Churches; 2000),27 criticizes traditional theologies of the NT for providing an insid-

17 Bernhard Weiß, Lehrbuch der biblischen Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1868); ET

Bernhard Weiss, Biblical Theology of the New Testament (trans. David Eaton [vol. 1] and James E. Duguid
[vol. 2]; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1882/1893).
18 Willibald Beyschlag, Neutestamentliche Theologie oder geschichtliche Darstellung der Lehren Jesu und des

Urchristentums nach den neutestamentlichen Quellen (Halle: Strien, 1891/1892).

19 Heinrich J. Holtzmann, Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Theologie (2 vols.; Freiburg: Mohr, 1897).
20 Frey, “Aufgabe und Durchführung,” 27–28, following Otto Merk, “Biblische Theologie II. Neues

Testament,” TRE 6 (1980): 462.

21 Wrede, Aufgabe, 10 (84).
22 Räisänen, Beyond New Testament Theology, 120, 121.
23 Klaus Berger, Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums. Theologie des Neuen Testaments (UTB für

Wissenschaft: Grosse Reihe; Tübingen: Francke, 1994).

24 Berger, Theologiegeschichte, V, 3.
25 Jens Schröter, “Die Bedeutung des Kanons für eine Theologie des Neuen Testaments.

Konzeptionelle Überlegungen angesichts der gegenwärtigen Diskussion,” in Aufgabe und Durchführung

einer Theologie des Neuen Testaments (ed. C. Breytenbach and F. Frey; WUNT 205; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,
2007), 135–58, 143.
26 Barr, Concept of Biblical Theology, 605, 607.
27 Gerd Theißen, Die Religion der ersten Christen. Eine Theorie des Urchristentums (3rd rev. ed.; orig. 2000;

repr., Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 2003); ET Gerd Theissen, A Theory of Primitive Christian Religion (trans.
230 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

er’s perspective, written for future pastors; he wants to present a scholarly history-
of-religions (“religionswissenschaftliche”) description and analysis of earliest Chris-
tianity, describing “the content of that religion in such a way that it is accessible to
men and women whether or not they are religious,”28 employing the language and
categories of semiotic theory and the social construction of knowledge. As Johan
Vos suggests, Theißen separates what Wrede wanted to see combined, viz. a
presentation of early Christian religion and theology.29 A similar, shorter work is
Walter Schmithals, Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums (1994).30
3. Historical-theological descriptions of NT theology. Adolf Schlatter contrasted his
approach to writing a NT theology with the “statistical” inventories of NT thought
in Protestant orthodoxy, with the rationalistic concept of doctrinal method, and
with the history-of-religions school, accusing them of separating the act of thinking
from the act of living.31 He emphasizes in his Theologie des Neuen Testaments, pub-
lished in 1909/1910, that the men of the NT
do not even create the appearance of laying before us timeless items of
knowledge independent of historical conditions. Rather, their labor of thought
stands in conscious and independent combination with their willing and acting;
this labor has its foundation and its material in their experiences and serves
them as a means for carrying out their profession. Their thoughts are compo-
nents of their deeds and hence of their history. Therefore, the task of New Tes-
tament theology is not yet exhausted by setting up a catalogue of the thoughts
of Jesus and his disciples. By doing this an historical caricature easily arises: a
sum of abstract, timeless “doctrines,” which are conceived as the content of a
consciousness cut off from willing and acting.32
Despite the fact that Rudolf Bultmann accepted many of the arguments and
results of the history-of-religions school, he did not follow Wrede when he wrote
his Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1948–1953).33 He acknowledges that since the NT

John Bowden; London: SCM, 1999); Gerd Theissen, The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic
World (trans. John Bowden; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999). The book has its origins in the Speaker’s
Lectures given in Oxford in the spring of 1989 and 1999.
28 Theißen, Religion der ersten Christen, 13; Theissen, Religion of the Earliest Churches, xiii.
29 Johan S. Vos, “Theologie als Rhetorik,” in Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen

Testaments, 247–71, 250.

30 Walter Schmithals, Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums. Eine problemgeschichtliche Darstellung (Stuttgart:

Kohlhammer, 1994).
31 Cf. Adolf Schlatter, Zur Theologie des Neuen Testaments und zur Dogmatik. Kleine Schriften (ed. Ulrich

Luck; orig. 1909; repr., Theologische Bücherei 41; München: Kaiser, 1969).
32 Adolf Schlatter, Die Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Erster Teil: Das Wort Jesu. Zweiter Teil: Die Lehre der

Apostel (Calw: Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1909/1910), 1:10–11; the second edition appeared in two volumes:
Adolf Schlatter, Die Geschichte des Christus (Stuttgart: Calwer Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1923); Adolf Schlatter,
Die Theologie der Apostel (Calw: Calwer, 1922); ET Adolf Schlatter, The History of the Christ: The Foundation of
New Testament Theology (trans. Andreas J. Köstenberger; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997); Adolf Schlatter, The
Theology of the Apostles: The Development of New Testament Theology (trans. Andreas J. Köstenberger; Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1999).
33 Rudolf Bultmann, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (9th ed.; ed. Otto Merk; orig. 1948, 1951, 1953;

repr., UTB 630; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1984); ET Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament
(trans. Kendrick Grobel; 2 vols.; London: SCM, 1952/1955).
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 231
is a document of history, “specifically the history of religion,” the interpretation of
the NT requires historical investigation; however, rather than analyzing the writings
of the NT as the sources for a reconstruction of primitive Christianity as a phe-
nomenon of the historical past, he opts for placing reconstruction at the service of
the interpretation of the NT writings “under the presupposition that they have
something to say to the present.”34 Bultmann focuses on theological interpretation
rather than on historical reconstruction. Still, the outline of his Theologie des Neuen
Testaments is decidedly historical rather than systematic, albeit in a non-
chronological manner: after clarifying “Presuppositions and Motifs of NT Theolo-
gy” in Part I, he presents an anthropological-soteriological analysis of the theolo-
gies of Paul and John in Part II 35 and “The Development toward the Ancient
Church” in Part III. The historical situation of the witnesses of the kerygma is only
tangentially significant since they share a common position in religion history (the
relevance of the Gnostic redeemer myth) and a “deep relatedness in substance”
that exists between John and Paul “in spite of all their differences in mode of
thought and terminology.”36
Most NT theologies written by German scholars follow a basic historical out-
line. Max Meinertz was the first Roman Catholic scholar to write a Theologie des Neu-
en Testaments (1950),37 beginning with a long section on Jesus, in obvious contrast to
Bultmann. Hans Conzelmann’s Grundriss der Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1967)38
largely followed the outline of Bultmann.
Werner Georg Kümmel, in his Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1969)39 includes,
against Bultmann and Conzelmann, the proclamation of Jesus, before describing
the theology of Paul and John. Joachim Jeremias, reacting against Bultmann, in his
Neutestamentliche Theologie. Erster Teil: Die Verkündigung Jesu (1971), 40 focuses nearly
exclusively on reconstructing the proclamation of Jesus; an “interpretation” of the
message of Jesus is found at best in the “systematizing of the proclamation of Je-
sus.”41 The short Grundriß der neutestamentlichen Theologie (1974)42 by Eduard Lohse

34 Bultmann, Theology, 2:251 (Bultmann, Theologie, 600), in the Epilogue.

35 In Grobel’s translation separated as Part II and Part III.
36 Bultmann, Theology, 2:9 (Bultmann, Theologie, 361).
37 Max Meinertz, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (2 vols.; Die Heilige Schrift des Neuen Testaments

Ergängungsband I–II; Bonn: Hanstein, 1950).

38 Hans Conzelmann, Grundriß der Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Einführung in die evangelische

Theologie Band 2; München: Kaiser, 1967); ET H. Conzelmann, An Outline of the Theology of the New
Testament (trans. John Bowden; London: SCM, 1969).
39 Werner Georg Kümmel, Die Theologie des Neuen Testaments nach seinen Hauptzeugen. Jesus–Paulus–

Johannes (NTD Ergänzungsreihe 3; Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1969); ET Werner Georg
Kümmel, The Theology of the New Testament According to its Major Witnesses: Jesus–Paul–John (trans. John E.
Steely; Nashville: Abingdon, 1973).
40 Joachim Jeremias, Neutestamentliche Theologie. Erster Teil: Die Verkündigung Jesu (Gütersloh: Mohn,

1971); ET Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus (trans. John Bowden; Lon-
don: SCM, 1971).
41 Gerhard F. Hasel, New Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate (orig. 1970; repr., Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 107.

42 Eduard Lohse, Grundriß der neutestamentlichen Theologie (Theologische Wissenschaft 5.1; Stuttgart:

Kohlhammer, 1974).
232 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

describes Jesus’ proclamation, before analyzing Paul, the theology of the Synoptic
writers, John, and the (assumed) later texts of the NT canon. A similar outline is
found in Leonard Goppelt’s Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1975/1976), 43 with an
extensive presentation of Jesus’ proclamation. Alfons Weiser, who wrote the sec-
ond of two volumes of a Roman Catholic NT theology, entitled Theologie des Neuen
Testaments II. Die Theologie der Evangelien (1993),44 emphasizes Jesus’ ministry, death,
and resurrection as establishing the essential unity of the theologies of the four
Gospels.45
Peter Stuhlmacher in his Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1992/1999),46 who also
adopts an historical outline, emphasizes the tradition-historical continuity of the
theology of the NT witnesses with OT and early Jewish traditions as well as the
tradition-historical and theological coherence within the NT texts.
While Kümmel, Lohse, Weiser, and Stuhlmacher emphasize the unity of the
theology of the NT in the context of the diversity of the NT texts, the historically
arranged descriptions of the theology of the NT by Joachim Gnilka (1994),47 Klaus
Berger (1994),48 and Georg Strecker (1996)49 abandon the notion of the unity of the
theology of the NT as they assess mutual interdependences and influences without
arriving at a theological evaluation.50
Hans Hübner presents, in the three volumes of his Biblische Theologie des Neuen
Testaments,51 fundamental theological prolegomena (the question of canon, covenant,
revelation, and the one God of both Testaments) and an existentialist interpretation

43 Leonhard Goppelt, Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Erster Teil: Jesu Wirken in seiner theologischen

Bedeutung. Zweiter Teil: Vielfalt und Einheit des apostolischen Christuszeugnisses (ed. J. Roloff; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975/1976); ET Leonhard Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament (trans. John
E. Alsup; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976/1982).
44 Alfons Weiser, Theologie des Neuen Testaments II. Die Theologie der Evangelien (Kohlhammer

Studienbücher Theologie 8; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1993). The first volume was supposed to be written
by Helmut Merklein who passed away in 1999 at the age of 59 years.
45 Weiser, Theologie, 217–226 (“VII. Der tragende Einheitsgrund: Jesus von Nazareth”).
46 Peter Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments (2 vols.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &

Ruprecht, 1992/1999); cf. Peter Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band 1: Grundlegung.
Von Jesus zu Paulus (3rd rev. ed.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005); ET Peter Stuhlmacher,
Biblical Theology of the New Testament (trans. Daniel P. Bailey; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018).
47 Joachim Gnilka, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (HThK, Supplement-Band 5; Freiburg: Herder,

1994); cf. Joachim Gnilka, Neutestamentliche Theologie. Ein Überblick (NEchtB: NT Ergänzungsband 1;
Würzburg: Echter, 1989). For an evaluation see Rudolf Hoppe, “Überlegungen zur Theologie des
Neuen Testaments aus katholischer Sicht,” in Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen Testaments,
59–61.
48 Berger, Theologiegeschichte.
49 Georg Strecker, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (completed and edited by Friedrich-Wilhelm Horn;

Berlin: De Gruyter, 1996); ET Georg Strecker, Theology of the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2000). Strecker follows a redaction-critically established outline, beginning with Paul before
presenting a reconstruction of the early Christian tradition of Jesus’ proclamation, an analysis of the
Synoptic Gospels, the Johannine school, and what he regards as Deutero-Paulines and of the Catholic
Epistles.
50 For this verdict cf. Frey, “Aufgabe und Durchführung,” 35.
51 Hans Hübner, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band 1: Prolegomena. Paulus. Band 2: Die

Theologie des Paulus und ihre neutestamentliche Wirkungsgeschichte. Band 3: Hebräerbrief, Evangelien und Offenbarung.
Epilegomena (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990/1993/1995) [1,251 pp.].
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 233
of Paul’s letters, Hebrews, the Gospels, and Revelation, focusing on a reconstruc-
tion of the theological use of the OT, in particular the Septuagint, by the NT au-
thors and on questions of continuity and discontinuity. 52 He asserts in the Epi-
legomena that the NT authors who lived and wrote in the context of the authority
of Holy Scripture and the Christian kerygma saw that the same God in his self-
revelation, “the God who spoke in Israel’s Scripture as the One who promises—
and who continues to speak!—is also the God who revealed himself in the histori-
cal event Jesus Christ. Thus the God of Scripture is, for the NT authors, their God.
The God of Scripture is the divine Father of Jesus Christ.”53
Historical chronological presentations of the theology of the NT have also
been offered by Joseph Bonsirven (1951); 54 Archibald Hunter (1957); 55 George
Eldon Ladd (1974);56 Stephen Neill (1976);57 and Leon Morris (1986),58 who begins
with the Pauline writings. Timo Eskola, in his A Narrative Theology of the New Testa-
ment (2015),59 follows an historical sequence, beginning with Jesus’ message, con-
tinuing with the teaching of earliest Christianity and Paul the theologian, and end-
ing with a chapter on Jewish Christianity (Hebrews, James, 1–2 Peter, Johannine
literature), seeking to “construct a synthesis of the theological thinking present in
different New Testament writings by focusing on the metanarrative of exile and
restoration.”60
While not billed as a NT theology, James Dunn’s Christianity in the Making
(2003/2009/2015)61 should be mentioned here as well, as suggested by the first two
sentences in volume 1: “Christianity is without doubt the most significant and
longest-lasting influence to have shaped the character and culture of Europe (and
so also of ‘the West’) over the last two millennia. To understand Christianity better,
its own character and the core elements which made its beliefs and values so influ-
ential, remains therefore an important task and a continuing challenge for historical
inquiry.”62 While Dunn writes a history of earliest Christianity in the first century,
his description is often highly theological, as his chapters in the first volume on the
kingdom of God and the character of discipleship demonstrate. A similar work is

52 Cf. description and critique by Peter Stuhlmacher, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band 1:

Grundlegung. Von Jesus zu Paulus. Band 2: Von der Paulusschule zur Johannesoffenbarung. Der Kanon und seine
Auslegung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992/1999), 1:36–37.
53 Hübner, Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments, 276.
54 Joseph Bonsirven, Theologie du Nouveau Testament (Paris: Aubier, 1951); ET Joseph Bonsirven, The-

ology of the New Testament (trans. S. F. L. Tye; London/Philadelphia: Burns & Oates/Westminster, 1963).
55 Archibald M. Hunter, Introducing New Testament Theology (London: SCM, 1957).
56 George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).
57 Stephen C. Neill, Jesus Through Many Eyes: Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (Philadelph-

ia: Fortress, 1976).

58 Leon Morris, New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986).
59 Timo Eskola, A Narrative Theology of the New Testament (WUNT 350; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,

2015).
60 Eskola, Narrative Theology, 14.
61 James D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Christianity in the Making 1; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,

2003); idem, Beginning from Jerusalem (Christianity in the Making 2; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009); idem,
Neither Jew nor Greek: A Contested Identity (Christianity in the Making 3; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015).
62 Dunn, Jesus Remembered, 1.
234 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

the multi-volume Christian Origins and the Question of God (1992/1996/2003/2013) of

N. T. Wright,63 who states that he undertakes the project as a historian of the first
century,64 and that the climax of the volume on Paul is his account of Paul’s theol-
ogy.65 Wright interprets the theological views of Jesus and Paul in the context of a
reconstructed metanarrative of Israel’s exile and restoration through the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
A focus on historical reconstruction in OT theology can be seen, most prom-
inently, in Gerhard von Rad’s Theologie des Alten Testaments (1960), 66 and also in
Bruce Waltke’s An Old Testament Theology (2006),67 despite its subtitle “An Exegeti-
cal, Canonical, and Thematic Approach.” Waltke analyses and describes “the opal-
escent theological details of the blocks of writing in the Old Testament.”68
4. Recent thematic NT theologies. Several NT follow the traditional loci method.
Frederick Grant, in his An Introduction to New Testament Thought (1950)69 discusses
God, miracles, man, Christ, salvation, and the church. Alan Richardson, in his An
Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (1958),70 presents sixteen chapters on
faith and hearing, knowledge and revelation, the power of God unto salvation, the
kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit, the reinterpreted messiahship, the Christology of
the apostolic church, the life of Christ, the resurrection and ascension and victory
of Christ, the atonement, etc., ending with chapters on ministries within the church,
baptism, and the Eucharist.
Karl-Hermann Schelkle, in his Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1968–1976)71 also
follows the loci method, discussing in four volumes God, creation, God’s revela-
tion in Jesus Christ, ethics, and the church.
Maximiliano García Cordero, in his Teologia de la Biblia II et III: Nuevo Testamen-
to (1972)72 presents a thematic theology of the NT based on the conviction that the

63 N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God 1;

Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992); idem, Jesus and the Victory of God (Christian Origins and the Question of
God 2; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996); idem, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the
Question of God 3; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003); idem, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Christian Origins
and the Question of God 4; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013).
64 Wright, People of God, 468; Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, xiii.
65 Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, xv.
66 Gerhard von Rad, Theologie des Alten Testaments. Band 1: Die Theologie der geschichtlichen Überlieferungen

Israels. Band 2: Die Theologie der prophetischen Überlieferungen Israels (München: Kaiser, 1960); ET Gerhard
von Rad, Old Testament Theology. Volume I. The Theology of Israel’s Historical Traditions. Volume II. The Theology
of Israel’s Prophetic Traditions (trans. D. M. G. Stalker; Edinburgh/Westminster: Oliver &
Boyd/Westminster John Knox, 1962/1965).
67 Bruce K. Waltke, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2006).

68 Ibid., 143.
69 Frederick C. Grant, An Introduction to New Testament Thought: A Comprehensive Survey of the Key Ideas

(Nashville: Abingdon, 1950).

70 Alan Richardson, An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (London: SCM, 1958).
71 Karl Hermann Schelkle, Theologie des Neuen Testaments. I. Schöpfung. II. Gott war in Christus. III Ethos.

IV. Jüngergemeinde und und Kirche (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1968–1976); ET Karl Hermann Schelkle, Theology of
the New Testament (trans. William A. Jurgens; 4 vols.; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1971–1978).
72 Maximiliano García Cordero, Teologia de la Biblia II et III: Nuevo Testamento (Biblioteca de Autores

Cristianos 335/336; Madrid: Editorial Católica, 1972).

 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 235
theology of the NT is mainly Christology. He begins with a section on the person
of Jesus Christ, followed by sections on the Kingdom of God and the church of
Christ; the mystery of God who is one God in three persons; the mystery of re-
demption; the Christian hope; the Christian calling in terms of faith, hope, and
charity; the sacraments; and the religious and moral obligations of the Christian. In
his exposition of these themes, García Cordero follows the historical development
from the message of Jesus as presented in the Synoptic Gospels to Acts, Paul, the
other epistles, and Johannine literature.
Donald Guthrie, in his New Testament Theology subtitled “A Thematic Study”
(1981),73 combines the loci method with a presentation, for each theological theme,
of the historical focus of the Synoptic Gospels, the Johannine literature, Acts, Paul,
Hebrews, and later NT texts.
Wilhelm Thüsing, in Die neutestamentlichen Theologien und Jesus Christus
(1981/1998/2001),74 seeks to establish the unity of the diverse NT texts and theol-
ogies in the proclamation of the historical Jesus who is the Risen One, highlighting
continuity and identity.75
George Caird, who died in 1984, wrote a New Testament Theology (1992) 76
which begins with the Apostolic Conference and proceeds to present the theology
of the NT in eight substantive chapters on the divine plan, the need of salvation,
the three tenses of salvation, the fact of salvation, the experience of salvation, the
hope of salvation, the bringer of salvation, and the theology of Jesus.
François Vouga, Une théologie du Nouveau Testament (2001),77 presents the theol-
ogy of the NT in chapters on salvation, the human condition, politics and the
church, the establishment of the church on the foundation of the death and resur-
rection of Jesus of Nazareth, and eschatology, analyzing the contribution of these
themes of the Gospels, Paul, Ephesians, Hebrews, James, First Peter, and the
Apocalypse. Vouga asserts that research into the truth of the gospel takes the form
of an open dialogue if and when it adopts the reality of the NT texts and their au-
thors whose theological unity is expressed in terms of conflicting interpretations of
the history of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.78
Philip Esler’s New Testament Theology: Communion and Community (2005)79 is an
unconventional attempt of a thematic presentation of the theology of the NT,
based on social identity theory meant to help modern readers of the NT writings to

73 Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology: A Thematic Study (Leicester, UK: InterVarsity, 1981).
74 Wilhelm Thüsing, Die neutestamentlichen Theologien und Jesus Christus. Grundlegung einer Theologie des
Neuen Testaments. Band I: Kriterien aufgrund der Rückfrage nach Jesus und des Glaubens an seine Auferweckung. Band
II: Programm einer Theologie des Neuen Testaments mit Perspektiven für eine Biblische Theologie. Band III. Einzigkeit
Gottes und Jesus-Christus-Ereignis (Münster: Aschendorff, 1981/1998/2001) [1,211 pp.].
75 Cf. Hoppe, “Überlegungen,” 62.
76 George B. Caird, New Testament Theology (ed. L. D. Hurst; Oxford: Clarendon, 1994).
77 François Vouga, Une théologie du Nouveau Testament (Le Monde de la Bible 43; Geneva: Labor et

Fides, 2001).
78 Vouga, Théologie, 442.
79 Philip F. Esler, New Testament Theology: Communion and Community (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005).
236 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

“engage with the authors of these texts on an interpersonal and intersubjective ba-
sis that involves hearing their voices as much as reading their words.”80
Thomas Schreiner’s New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (2008) 81
has four main sections. Part 1 analyzes the fulfillment of God’s saving promises:
the already-not yet, with chapters on the kingdom of God in the Synoptic Gospels,
eternal life in John’s Gospel, and inaugurated eschatology outside the Gospels. Part
2 is entitled “The God of Promise: The Saving Work of the Father, Son, and Spir-
it,” with chapters on the centrality of God and of Christ, on Jesus as Messiah, Son
of Man, and Son of God, on Jesus’ saving work, on Paul’s Christology and soteri-
ology, on the Christology of Hebrews through Revelation, and on the Holy Spirit;
this is essentially a section on theology proper, Christology, soteriology, and pneu-
matology. Part 3, entitled “Experiencing the Promise: Believing and Obeying,”
discusses the problem of sin, faith and obedience, and the law and salvation history,
that is, anthropology and Christian ethics. Part 4 treats the people of the promise
and the future of the promise, that is, ecclesiology and eschatology.
Greg Beale’s A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament
in the New (2011)82 overlaps with comprehensive biblical theologies as it analyzes
the theological storyline of the OT which is then traced “into and throughout” the
NT, with the bulk of the discussion consisting of “attempts to elaborate on the
main plotline categories of thought through surveying the places in the New Tes-
tament where that thought is expressed.”83 For example, Part 3 is entitled “The
Story of the Inaugurated End-Time Resurrection and New-Creational Kingdom as
a Framework for NT Theology,” and Part 5 is “The Story of Salvation as Inaugu-
rated End-Time New Creation,” with chapters 15 and 16 entitled “The Inaugurated
Latter-Day Justification” and “Inaugurated Latter-Day Reconciliation as New Crea-
tion and Restoration from Exile.” If one were to use traditional systematic labels,
Beale covers anthropology and soteriology in Part 4, soteriology in Part 5, pneuma-
tology in Part 6, ecclesiology in Parts 7 and 8, and ethics in Part 9.
The thematic approach to an OT theology received a major impetus from
Walter Eichrodt’s Theologie des Alten Testaments (1933–1939).84 He uses “covenant”
as the organizing principle, which is of particular significance in the first main
part—“God and Nation”—which is followed by “God and World,” and “God and
Men.” The thematic organization can readily be seen in the five chapters of Part
Three, which in turn discuss the individual and the community in the OT God-man
relationship, the fundamental forms of man’s personal relationship with God, the

80Esler, New Testament Theology, 8.

81Thomas R. Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008);
cf. Thomas R. Schreiner, Magnifying God in Christ: A Summary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2010).
82 Gregory K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New

(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011).

83 Ibid., 6.
84 Walther Eichrodt, Theologie des Alten Testaments. Teil 1: Gott und Volk. Teil 2/3: Gott und Welt/Gott

und Mensch (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1933/1935/1939); ET Walter Eichrodt, Theology of the
Old Testament (2 vols.; trans. J. A. Baker; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961/1967).
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 237
effect of piety on conduct (OT morality), sin and forgiveness, and the indestructi-
bility of the individual’s relationship with God (immortality). The thematic ap-
proach of Walter Kaiser (1978)85 uses the concept of promise as organizing princi-
ple, while Walther Zimmerli (1972),86 Claus Westermann (1978),87 Horst Dietrich
Preuß (1991/1992), 88 Robin Routledge (2008), 89 and John Walton (2017) 90 use
God’s revelatory actions as organizing principle.
5. Reconstructions of the theology of NT writings and authors. Most NT writings and
authors have received theological treatments. The literature on the theology of the
apostle Paul is hardly manageable. This is not the place to provide a survey.
Several evangelical publications entitled “Theology of the NT” present the
theology of the individual authors of the NT writings: Roy Zuck, Darrell Bock, and
other members of the Dallas Theological Faculty in a volume entitled A Biblical
Theology of the New Testament (1994);91 I. Howard Marshall in his New Testament Theol-
ogy (2004);92 and Frank Thielman, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Syn-
thetic Approach (2005).93
Both Marshall and Thielman provide synthetic, that is, thematic summaries at
the end of larger sections on the (Synoptic) Gospels94 and Acts, on Paul’s letters,
and on the non-Pauline letters, as well as in a concluding chapter on the theological
unity of the NT. Marshall briefly comments on the biblical context of the NT writ-
ings and on the missionary situation of their authors, before presenting, under the
heading “Through Diversity to a Common Theology,”95 the main theme of the NT,
focusing on redemption; the framework of thought within which the NT writers
operated; and the ways they developed the main theme. Within this last item, Mar-
shall treats the following subjects: (1) the context of mission—God the Father, and
the story of God and humanity; (2) the center of mission: Jesus Christ and the sav-

85 Walter C. Kaiser, Toward an Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978).
86 Walther Zimmerli, Grundriss der alttestamentlichen Theologie (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1972); ET
Walther Zimmerli, Old Testament Theology in Outline (trans. D. E. Green; Atlanta: John Knox, 1978).
87 Claus Westermann, Theologie des Alten Testaments in Grundzügen (Grundrisse zum Alten Testament 6;

Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978); ET Claus Westermann, Elements of Old Testament Theology
(trans. D. W. Stott; Atlanta: John Knox, 1982).
88 Horst Dietrich Preuß, Theologie des Alten Testaments. Band 1. JHWHs erwählendes und verpflichtendes

Handeln. Band 2. Israels Weg mit JHWH (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1991/1992); ET Horst Dietrich Preuss,
Old Testament Theology (trans. Leo G. Perdue; OTL; Louisville: Westminster, 1995/1996).
89 Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology: A Thematic Approach (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic,

2008).
90 John H. Walton, Old Testament Theology for Christians: From Ancient Context to Enduring Belief (Down-

ers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017).

91 Roy B. Zuck, ed., A Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Chicago: Moody, 1994).
92 I. Howard Marshall, New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: In-

terVarsity, 2004); cf. I. Howard Marshall, A Concise New Testament Theology (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-
Varsity, 2008).
93 Frank Thielman, Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach (Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2005).
94 Marshall, New Testament Theology, 491–601, treats the Gospel of John, and Revelation, in Part 4 on

the Johannine literature.

95 Marshall, New Testament Theology, 710–26.
238 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ing event; (3) the community of mission: the renewed Israel, the response of faith,
the Holy Spirit, the church, and the love command; and (4) the consummation of
mission: the fullness of salvation. Thielman divides his synthesizing chapter into
five sections:96 the convergence of the human problem and God’s answer to it in
Jesus (anthropology and Christology), faith as response to God’s gracious initiative
(soteriology), the Spirit as the eschatological presence of God (pneumatology), the
church as the people of God (ecclesiology), and the consummation of all things
(eschatology).
6. Combination of historical reconstruction and synthetic interpretation. Four NT theol-
ogies combine a reconstructive/descriptive with a synthetic/systematic presenta-
tion of the theology of the NT. Eberhard Hahn, who passed away in 2015, pub-
lished at the age of 76 his Theologie des Neuen Testaments (2002).97 Volume 1 presents
in eight parts the diversity of the NT as the history of theology of early Christianity:
the proclamation of Jesus and the reception of the Jesus tradition; the proclamation
and theology of the oldest Christian churches; the theology of the apostle Paul; the
theology of the Pauline school (2 Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, Pastoral
Epistles); the theological concepts of the Hellenistic-Jewish writings independent of
Paul (James, 1 Peter, Hebrews, Revelation); the theological concepts of the Synop-
tic Gospels and Acts; Johannine theology; and the transition to the history of the-
ology of the second century (Jude, 2 Peter, Apostolic Fathers). Hahn presents the
results of historical-critical NT research, in the context of repeated methodological
discussions, including source critical and tradition historical discussions, in dis-
course that is close to the (Greek) text of the NT. Volume 2, entitled “The Unity of
the New Testament: A Thematic Presentation,” has five main parts: (1) the OT as
the Bible of early Christianity; (2) God’s revelatory activity in Jesus Christ, which
includes a section on the work of the Holy Spirit and on the implicitly Trinitarian
structure of the NT witness; (3) the soteriological dimension of God’s revelatory
activity, with a discussion of human beings as created beings and sinners, the prob-
lem of the law, salvation, and the gospel as proclamation and actualization of salva-
tion; (4) the ecclesiological dimension of God’s revelatory activity, which includes a
discussion of NT ethics; and (5) the eschatological dimension of God’s revelatory
activity. The discussion in Volume 2 is not exclusively systematic but includes sec-
tions, for example, on emphases in Jesus’ proclamation, in Paul, or in John. Hahn
consistently includes sections on the unity of the various themes and their rele-
vance for the church today; for example, the discussion of Christology in §8 pre-
sents in four sections the diverse emphases of NT concerning Jesus’ person and
history from preexistence to his resurrection and ascension, while section five de-
scribes the unity of NT Christology and section six includes reflections on the ec-
clesial traditions and on the tasks of Christology today.

Thielman, Theology, 681–725.

96
97Ferdinand Hahn, Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band 1. Die Vielfalt des Neuen Testaments:
Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums. Band 2. Die Einheit des Neuen Testaments: Thematische Darstellung
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002).
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 239
Ulrich Wilckens finished the last volume of his six-volume Theologie des Neuen
Testaments (2002–2009),98 with a total of 2,134 pages, at the age of 81. Wilckens
decided to finish this project with the goal of helping the discipline of NT studies
to find its way out of its fundamental crisis and to renew academic theological stud-
ies for the faith and life of the church. The first four volumes have the subtitle
“history of early Christian theology” which is analyzed in thirty sections; the final
two volumes describe “the theology of the New Testament as foundation of the
teaching of the church” in sixteen sections. The first and second volumes analyze
the life, proclamation, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth; the third vol-
ume presents a history of the early church and of Paul’s ministry before providing
theological summaries of the NT letters; the fourth volume analyzes the theology
of Q and the Gospel of Mark, of the Gospel of Matthew, of the Gospel of Luke
and the Book of Acts, of the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles, and of
John’s Revelation, ending with a discussion of the emergence of the canon as Holy
Scripture. The two systematic volumes analyze and explain the theological signifi-
cance of the canon for faith and for the life of the church; the one true God in the
OT; God’s consummation of salvation in the person and life of Jesus; the death
and resurrection of Jesus as the fundamental events of salvation in the proclama-
tion and theology of the early church; the Holy Spirit; the gospel, and its emissaries;
baptism as integral reality of the Christian life; the Lord’s Supper as center of the
life of the church; the nature of the church; the salvation-historical horizon of the
church, with a discussion of unbelieving Israel; the meaning of the law for Chris-
tians; the persistence of the church in the truth of the gospel, with a discussion of
the offices of the church; the persistence of the church in prayer; creation and the
world; eschatology; and the triune God.
Ben Witherington’s The Indelible Image: The Theological and Ethical World of the
New Testament (2009/2010),99 entitled New Testament Theology and Ethics in the second
edition of 2016,100 also treats the theology of the NT in two volumes, first present-
ing the NT evidence in an historical perspective before offering a systematic analy-
sis. In volume one,101 he analyzes the person, identity, and teaching of Jesus; Paul’s
theology; the epistles of Jude, James, and Peter; Hebrews, the Gospel of John, and
1 John; the Synoptic Gospels and Acts; and Revelation and 2 Peter. Volume two

98 Ulrich Wilckens, Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band I. Geschichte der urchristlichen Theologie. Teilband 1:

Geschichte des Wirkens Jesu in Galiläa. Teilband 2. Jesu Tod und Auferstehung und die Entstehung der Kirche aus
Juden und Heiden. Teilband 3. Die Briefe des Urchristentums. Teilband 4. Die Evangelien, die Apostelgeschichte, die
Johannesbriefe, die Offenbarung und die Entstehung des Kanons (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener,
2002/2003/2005/2005); Ulrich Wilckens, Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Band II: Die Theologie des Neuen
Testaments als Grundlage kirchlicher Lehre. Teilband 1: Das Fundament. Teilband 2: Der Aufbau (Neukirchen-
Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2007/2009).
99 Ben Witherington, The Indelible Image: The Theological and Ethical World of the New Testament. Vol. 1:

The Individual Witnesses. Vol. 2: The Collective Witness (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009/2010).
100 Ben Witherington, New Testament Theology and Ethics (2 vols.; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity,

2016).
101 The chapter headings in the first volume, entitled “The Individual Witnesses,” are less cryptic in

the second edition; e.g. chapter five, which was entitled “Beloved Theology and Ethics” in the first
edition, now has the title “John: Eyewitness testimony from ‘the One Whom Jesus Loved.’”
240 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

presents what Witherington calls the symbolic universe and the narrative thought
world of Jesus, and—each heading beginning with “The New Testament consensus
on”—the Christology, theology proper, pneumatology, soteriology, eschatology,
and ethics of the NT.
The brief New Testament Theology of Jon Isaak (2011)102 presents chapters on
Paul, the Synoptic writers, John, and the remaining canonical witnesses before de-
scribing NT Christology, revelation, theology proper, anthropology, pneumatology,
ecclesiology, and eschatology.
Many authors do not write comprehensive biblical theologies but analyze par-
ticular themes or authors. A recent example for the former is Andreas Kösten-
berger and Peter O’Brien’s Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mis-
sion (2001),103 for the latter Larry Helyer’s The Witness of Jesus, Paul, and John: An Ex-
ploration in Biblical Theology (2008).104
A recent theology of the OT which combines narrative-theological descrip-
tion with thematic presentation is John Goldingay’s Old Testament Theology (2003–
2009).105 Volume one provides a theological commentary on the OT story from
creation to exile and restoration, with the concluding chapter on the coming of
Jesus; each of the eleven chapters, which adopt a narrative approach to the OT
texts, begins with the word “God” followed by a verb, which highlights the theo-
logical focus of the work. The next two volumes are thematic: volume two de-
scribes “Israel’s Faith”: God, Israel, the nightmare (faithlessness and its conse-
quences), the vision (hope, transformation, renewal), humanity, the world, and the
nations; volume three describes “Israel’s Life”: living with God (submission and
celebration, prayer and thanksgiving), living with one another (family and commu-
nity, city and nation), and living with ourselves (spirituality and character, leaders
and servants).
7. Comprehensive biblical theologies. Millar Burrows, who was Professor of Biblical
Theology at Yale Divinity School, offered the brief An Outline of Biblical Theology
(1946).106 He conceived of biblical theology as a description of “the essential nature
and basic features, the real fundamentals of biblical religion,”107 seeking to combine
the descriptive task with establishing the significance of biblical religion for the
present. The book consists of a discussion of theological topics taken from system-
atic theology, such as authority and revelation, God, Christ, the universe, man, the
people of God, the divine judgment, sin, judgment and salvation, eschatology, the
way of salvation, the Christian life, offices and functions, public worship, Christian
service, and moral and social ideals. In order to avoid the impression of conveying

102 Jon M. Isaak, New Testament Theology: Extending the Table (Eugene. OR: Cascade, 2011) [381 pp.].
103 Andreas J. Köstenberger and Peter T. O’Brien, Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology
of Mission (NSBT 11; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001; 2nd ed. in preparation).
104 Larry R. Helyer, The Witness of Jesus, Paul, and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology (Downers

Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008).

105 John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology. Volume 1: Israel’s Gospel. Volume 2: Israel’s Faith. Volume 3:

Israel’s Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003/2006/2009).

106 Millar Burrows, An Outline of Biblical Theology (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1946).
107 Burrows, Outline, 3.
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 241
unchanging ideas, he seeks to consider each topic “in its chronological develop-
ment and with reference to its historical background.”108
Geerhardus Vos, who taught from 1893–1932 in the newly-created Depart-
ment of Biblical Theology at Princeton, published his Biblical Theology: Old and New
Testaments (1948) a year before his death.109 Vos defines the discipline of biblical
theology as “the study of the actual self-disclosures of God in time and space
which lie back of even the first committal to writing of any Biblical document, and
which for a long time continued to run alongside of the inscripturation of revealed
material.”110 He delineates four main features of biblical theology: the historic pro-
gressiveness of the process of revelation, the actual embodiment of revelation in
history, the organic nature of the historic process, and the practical adaptability of
revelation. The book first discusses the OT in two parts: the Mosaic period of reve-
lation, and the prophetic epoch of revelation; the second, much shorter part of the
book treats the NT, discussing revelation connected with John the Baptist, Jesus’
temptation, and Jesus’ public ministry.
Edmund Clowney, in his Preaching and Biblical Theology (1961), asserts, in the
tradition of Vos, that “the development of biblical theology is redemptive-historical.
The divisions of biblical theology are the historical periods of redemption, marked
by creation, the fall, the flood, the call of Abraham, the exodus, and the coming of
Christ.”111 Joseph Blenkinsopp’s A Sketchbook of Biblical Theology (1968)112 is a collec-
tion of essays on themes and problems of biblical theology, providing a thematic
treatment of motifs the author deems important. Hartmut Gese’s Zur biblischen The-
ologie (1977)113 offers analyses of the biblical understanding of Scripture, death, law,
atonement, the Lord’s Supper, the prologue of the Gospel of John, and the ques-
tion of worldview.
Willem VanGemeren’s The Progress of Redemption: The Story of Salvation from Crea-
tion to the New Testament (1988)114 is treated by Goldsworthy as a biblical theology
because it “seeks to uncover the whole story of the Bible from creation to new
creation.”115 Like Vos and Clowney, VanGemeren outlines his project in terms of
salvation history, which he divides into twelve periods: creation in harmony, crea-
tion in alienation, election and promise, a holy nation, a nation like the other na-
tions, a royal nation, a divided nation, a restored nation, Jesus and the kingdom, the
apostolic era, the kingdom and the church, and the New Jerusalem.

108 Ibid., 6.
109 Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948; repr.,
Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2003).
110 Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, 5; for the following see ibid., 5–9.
111 Edmund P. Clowney, Preaching and Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 16.
112 Joseph Blenkinsopp, A Sketchbook of Biblical Theology (London/New York: Burns & Oates/Herder,

1968).
113 Hartmut Gese, Zur biblischen Theologie. Alttestamentliche Vorträge (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1977).
114 Willem VanGemeren, The Progress of Redemption: The Story of Salvation from Creation to the New Testa-

ment (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988).

115 Graeme Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles

(Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), 90.

242 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Hans Klein’s Leben neu entdecken. Entwurf einer Biblischen Theologie (1991)116 was
written for a broader audience. The book is divided into two parts: “Life: Theology
of the OT,” and “New Life: Theology of the NT,” each divided into four chapters.
The outline of the two parts, which follow a thematic approach, is symmetrical, and
sometimes the headings of chapters and sections are virtually identical. For exam-
ple, in Part I, chapter 1 is “The God who gives life,” with chapter 4 entitled “God
gives new life,” with the sections: “The renewal of creation”; “The renewal of the
people of God”; “The renewal of the individual”; “Eternal life in the presence of
God”; and “The theological meaning of the expectation of new life.” Correspond-
ingly, Part II, chapter 2 is “The God who gives new life,” with chapter 4 entitled
“The victory of the new life,” with the sections: “The time of the events of the last
days”; “The place of the final events”; “The resurrection of the dead”; “The final
judgment”; and “The consummation.”
Brevard Childs’s Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflec-
tion on the Christian Bible (1992)117 combines reconstruction and interpretation. He
first describes “The discreet witness of the OT,” which follows first a general
chronological outline from creation to Babel, the patriarchal traditions, Mosaic
traditions, possession of the land, the judges, the monarchy, the divided kingdom,
and exile and restoration, before discussing the prophetic tradition, the apocalyptic
tradition, the wisdom tradition, and the tradition of the Psalms. The section “The
discreet witness of the NT” describes the church’s earliest proclamation, Paul’s
gospel, the formation of the Gospels, the theology of the four Gospels, the witness
of Acts, and the post-Pauline age. A third major section presents “Theological re-
flection on the Christian Bible,” with ten systematic chapters on the identity of
God; God the creator; covenant, election, the people of God; Christ the Lord; rec-
onciliation with God; law and gospel; humanity: old and new; biblical faith; God’s
kingdom and rule; and the shape of obedient life: ethics.
Scott Hafemann’s The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart
of the Bible (2001) summarizes the theology of the OT and NT with the purpose of
presenting “the one true God.”118 In the two volumes that he edited—Biblical Theol-
ogy: Retrospect & Prospect (2002)119 and Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity
in Diversity (2007)120—he presents methodological and thematic studies. The latter
volume has thematic essays on the covenant relationship, the commands of God,

116 Hans Klein, Leben neu entdecken. Entwurf einer Biblischen Theologie (Calwer Taschenbibliothek 23;

Stuttgart: Calwer, 1991).

117 Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian

Bible (London: SCM, 1992); cf. Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology: A Proposal (Philadelphia: Fortress,
2002).
118 Scott J. Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith: Understanding the Heart of the Bible

(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 20.

119 Scott J. Hafemann, ed., Biblical Theology: Retrospect & Prospect (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic,

2002).
120 Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House, eds., Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Di-

versity (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).

 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 243
the atonement, the servant of the Lord, the day of the Lord, the people of God,
and the history of redemption.
Charles Scobie, The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology (2003),121
after 100 pages of prolegomena, provides “A Sketch of Biblical Theology” in 800
pages, following a thematic outline with four main parts—“God’s Order,” “God’s
Servant,” “God’s People,” and “God’s Way.” Each of the twenty chapters is orga-
nized symmetrically in four parts—"OT: Proclamation,” “OT: Promise,” “NT:
Proclamation,” and “NT: Consummation.” For example, in Part 1, “God’s Order,”
chapter 3 discusses “The Lord of History.” In the section “OT: Proclamation,”
Scobie’s discussion is structured by the following headings: “Salvation history,”
“The story line,” “God acts in history,” “God speaks in history,” and “Remember
the former things.” Subsequently, the section “OT: Promise” discusses “Prophetic
eschatology,” “Signs of the times,” “Judgment in history,” “Salvation in history,”
and “The time of the end.” In the section “NT: Fulfillment,” Scobie’s discussion
headings are “The climax of salvation history,” “The story line,” “God acts in his-
tory,” “God speaks in history,” and “Do this in remembrance of me.” Finally, the
section “NT: Consummation” analyzes “Prophetic eschatology,” “Signs of the
times,” “Judgment in history,” “Salvation in history,” and “The time of the end.”
The chapter ends with theological reflections on “The Lord of History.”
James Hamilton’s God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology
(2010)122 is an example of a biblical theology which focuses on a particular theme
that is regarded as fundamental, or descriptive, of the entire Bible. Hamilton argues
in chapter 1 that the unity that holds the diverse biblical writings together is the
concept of “God’s glory in salvation through judgment,” a phrase that is repeated
in each of the following six chapters which treat the Torah, the Prophets, the Writ-
ings, the Gospels and Acts, the Letters of the NT, and Revelation; chapter 8 replies
to objections to the suggested centrality of “God’s glory in salvation through judg-
ment” as the theme of the Bible, and chapter 9 discusses “God’s glory in salvation
through judgment in ministry today.” A similar treatment is offered by Peter Gen-
try and Stephen Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding
of the Covenants (2012).123
Thomas Schreiner, in his The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and
New Testaments (2013),124 presents central themes of the biblical writings by analyz-
ing, in thirty-four chapters, the books of the OT and of the NT; the twelve minor
prophets are treated in a single chapter, the Gospel of Luke is combined with Acts,
and Paul’s letters are treated in a single chapter.

121 Charles H. H. Scobie, The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerd-

mans, 2003).
122 James Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Cross-

way, 2010).
123 Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding

of the Covenants (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).

124 Thomas R. Schreiner, The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments

(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013).

244 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Jeffrey Niehaus’s three-volume Biblical Theology (2014–2017) 125 employs the

concept of God’s covenants with humankind and with Israel to outline the struc-
ture of biblical theology. The result is a general salvation-historical outline from the
creation covenant and Noahic covenant via the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosa-
ic covenant to the new covenant. In each volume the reality of the respective cove-
nants is described in thematic terms.
John Goldingay’s Biblical Theology (2016),126 as did his OT theology, focuses on
God’s revelation and actions, as the subtitle “The God of the Christian Scriptures”
indicates. Goldingay discusses in eight chapters God’s person, God’s insight (em-
bodied in the world, declaratory, testified to, imperative, inspiring, diverse), God’s
creation (the heavens and the earth, the human community, the nation, human
beings, the person, waywardness and its consequences), God’s reign (in Israel,
through Jesus), God’s Anointed (Christology), God’s children (the congregation
and its servants), God’s expectations (ethics, worship), and God’s triumph (escha-
tology).

III. METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS

This survey of publications that present a theology of the OT, a theology of
the NT, or a biblical theology confirms that what John McKenzie wrote nearly 45
years ago is still true today: “Biblical theology is the only discipline or sub-discipline
in the field of theology that lacks generally accepted principles, methods, and struc-
ture. There is not even a generally accepted definition of its purpose and scope.”127
More recently, James Mead says that there are two kinds of water: muddy water and
deep water, asserting that “biblical theology is deep water” which all too easily can
appear to be also muddy water. 128 I want to offer the following methodological
observations.
1. Biblical theologies cannot be purely historical reconstructions. I use the phrase “bibli-
cal theology” here as shorthand for OT theologies, NT theologies, and comprehen-
sive biblical theologies. Wrede’s demand of an uninterested “pure” historical inves-
tigation is hermeneutically naïve. All exploration of historical texts is shaped in one
way or another by the historical context and the theological convictions of the exe-
gete.129 It was not Wrede himself, but the reality of the progress and regress of the
historical-critical investigation of the OT and NT in the twentieth century which
caused scholars to focus nearly exclusively on historical questions, that is, on histor-
ical reconstructions. These reconstructions largely remained speculative, as Childs

125 Jeffrey J. Niehaus, Biblical Theology. Volume 1. The Common Grace Covenants. Volume 2. The Special

Grace Covenants: Old Testament. Volume 3. The Special Grace Covenants: New Testament (Wooster: Weaver,
2014–2017).
126 John Goldingay, Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Aca-

demic, 2016).
127 John L. McKenzie, A Theology of the Old Testament (Garden City: Doubleday, 1974), 15; quoted by

Scobie, Biblical Theology, 3.

128 Mead, Biblical Theology: Issues, Methods, and Themes, 12.
129 Thus, forcefully, Frey, “Aufgabe und Durchführung,” 28.
 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 245
and Stuhlmacher have repeatedly reminded us.130 Most scholars came to believe
that the study of the OT and of the NT showed their content to be historically and
theologically diverse, even contradictory. When writing an OT theology, should
one include a section on the theology of “P” or on the theology of a reconstructed
recension of “P”? A section on the theology of various redactional levels of what
critics call Second Isaiah whose “textual habitat” has “decreased quite substantial-
ly”?131 A section both on canonical Mark and on the recension of Mark that Mat-
thew and Luke used?132 A section on traditional Q133 or on the version of Q which
Matthew used and on the version of Q that Luke used?134
As a result of the increasingly and confusingly diverse hypotheses on oral and
literary sources and traditions which even experts have a hard time keeping track of,
the suggestion of a consistent OT theology, or NT theology, let alone an overall
biblical theology, hovers, for many, somewhere between impossible and ludicrous.
It is not a coincidence that it is scholars who are less concerned about the purity of
their reputations as scholars than about the health of the church who have written
OT theologies, NT theologies, and comprehensive biblical theologies.
2. The historical character of the biblical writings must be recognized in a biblical theology.
Since there is agreement on the above criticism of Wrede—our understanding of
historical texts is shaped by our historical and hermeneutical context—it seems
obvious, whether or not we accept that Gabler should determine the character of
biblical theology, that a theology of the Hebrew Scriptures, a biblical theology of
the NT, and a comprehensive biblical theology would explore the theological con-
victions of the biblical authors in historical context. If the church believes that God
revealed himself “to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in vari-
ous ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:1–2), sum-
maries of the theological content of God’s revelation, as inscripturated in what we
call the OT and the NT, should plausibly take into account both the stages of salva-

130 Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology in Crisis (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970); Peter Stuhlmacher,

“Historische Kritik und theologische Schriftauslegung,” in Schriftauslegung auf dem Wege zur biblischen
Theologie (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995), 59–127; Peter Stuhlmacher, Historical Criticism and
Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Toward a Hermeneutics of Consent (trans. R. A. Harrisville; Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1977).
131 Ulrich Berges, “The Book of Isaiah as Isaiah’s Book: The Latest Developments in the Research

of the Prophets,” OTE 23.3 (2010): 559.

132 On the latter see Andreas Ennulat, Die ‘Minor Agreements.’ Untersuchungen zu einer offenen Frage des

synoptischen Problems (WUNT 2/62; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1994), esp. 417–28.

133 Cf. Christopher M. Tuckett, Q and the History of Early Christianity. Studies on Q (Edin-

burgh/Peabody, MA: T&T Clark/Hendrickson, 1996); John S. Kloppenborg Verbin, Excavating Q: The
History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000).
134 For the latter see Dieter Lührmann, Die Redaktion der Logienquelle (WMANT 33; Neukirchen-

Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1969); Migaku Sato, Q und Prophetie. Studien zur Gattungs- und Traditionsgeschichte der
Quelle Q (WUNT 2/29; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1988); Daniel Kosch, Die eschatologische Tora des
Menschensohnes. Untersuchungen zur Rezeption der Stellung Jesu zur Tora in Q (NTOA 12; Freiburg/Göttingen:
Universitätsverlag/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990); cf. Ulrich Luz, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (EKK
I/1–4; Zürich/Neukirchen-Vluyn: Benziger/Neukirchener, 1985–2001), ET Ulrich Luz, Matthew (3 vols.;
trans. W. C. Linss; Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2001–2005).
246 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

tion history and the historical character of the biblical writings and the historical
location of their human authors.
The OT theology of Goldingay, the NT theologies of Hahn and Wilckens,
and the biblical theology of Childs are good models for how this can be done. At
the same time, it should be noted that the multivolume publications of Goldingay,
Hahn, and Wilckens serve as a warning about the scope of combining historical
reconstruction and synthetic interpretation. A narrative or canonical approach
helps reduce or avoid altogether the need to take into account hypothetical and
diverse reconstructions of the tradition history of, for example, the Pentateuch and
the Gospels. Eskola has shown how to do this.
3. The theological content of the biblical writings determines the content of a biblical theology.
Theological significance is found in God’s verbal revelation and in God’s interven-
tions in history. It has been a challenge to provide a plausible outline of an OT
theology, a NT theology, and a comprehensive biblical theology. It is surely fair to
say that the audience helps determine the outline of such projects: popular audienc-
es may benefit from a book-by-book treatment; students and scholars will likely
benefit from an outline that focuses on major periods such as the patriarchs, the
exodus and early Israel, the monarchy, the exilic period, or the proclamation of
Jesus, the Jerusalem church, and Paul; a combination of an historical outline with a
theological synthesis will be of interest to all audiences, depending on the length of
the project. The theology of writings of particular historical periods is easier to out-
line than thematic sections or projects, especially if the author works with a con-
trolling center or theme of the OT, the NT, or the entire Bible. It is self-evident
that in writing a biblical theology one describes what the biblical texts say about
God; while beginning every chapter heading with a reference to God is consistent
with this goal, it is also tiring. The imposition of categories from systemat-
ic/dogmatic theology was a problem in the early decades of the loci method and
continues to be a challenge.
Using biblical categories as engines for the classification and outline of a bib-
lical theology is not without potential pitfalls: the category of “the kingdom of
God” is referred to in the OT and the NT only occasionally, rarely in Paul’s writ-
ings;135 the term “covenant” is frequent in the OT (284 references) but not a con-
trolling term in the NT (33 references); if “covenant” is taken as a controlling cate-
gory, care should be taken that the outline and content of “covenantal theologies”
of the OT and NT do not owe more to existing hermeneutical and ecclesial pre-
suppositions of the interpreter than to the analysis of the biblical texts. The terms
“exodus” and “exile” are exceedingly rare: they occur more often in headings in-
serted by editors of editions of the Bible rather than in the biblical texts; biblical
theologies that use “exodus” or “return from exile” as controlling categories seem
to rely more on reconstructions of tradition history than on the biblical material.
More complex categories used to present the material may reflect the personal in-

135 Only in Rom 14:17; 1 Cor 4:20; 6:9; 15:24, 50; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5; Col 4:11; 1 Thess 2:12; 2 Thess

1:5; 4:1, 18; cf. Col 1:12, 13.

 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 247
terests of the biblical theologian; this seems to be the case in Greg Beale’s New Tes-
tament Biblical Theology, as the subtitle—“The Unfolding of the OT in the New”—
indicates: a look at the table of contents demonstrates a controlling interest in sal-
vation history, the already and not-yet of creation and new creation, with the result
that the term “eschatological” is used ten times and the phrase “inaugurated end-
time” thirteen times, while the word “Jesus” occurs only once and the term
“Christ” twice. Biblical theologies which work with a controlling thematic center
are helpful in highlighting the unity of the OT, the NT, and of Scripture, but more
often than not this comes at the expense of describing the diversity and contingen-
cy of God’s revelation in specific historical contexts.
It might be understandable that an OT scholar jokes that the NT is “a series
of Christian and ecclesial footnotes to the OT,”136 but this assertion is a serious
theological misjudgment and surely an insult both of Jesus’ proclamation and Paul’s
theology. The statement, “The New Testament is an interpretation, or series of
interpretations, of the OT in the light of the person and work of Jesus of Naza-
reth,”137 is less seemingly polemical, but still inadequate when we take into account
the literary genres and the purposes of the NT texts: the four Gospels are biog-
raphies of Jesus which contain biblical interpretation but were not written for that
purpose, and neither the long Book of Acts nor Paul’s letters are interpretations of
the OT, irrespective of the fact that these authors regard the life, death, and resur-
rection of Jesus as the fulfilment of God’s revelation in Israel. Much more helpful
is Goldsworthy when he asserts, “If we are correct in maintaining that the NT sees
the death and resurrection of Jesus as the telos, the intended goal of history, then we
have to conclude that the meaning of history is to be found in Christ.”138
While the author of an OT theology may plausibly decide not to put Jesus
Christ at the beginning or at the center of his outline and presentation, authors of
NT theologies and of comprehensive biblical theologies must take at least three
realities seriously: without the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, there would be
no NT writings and no church and thus no audience for an NT theology or a com-
prehensive biblical theology; the divine identity of Jesus, the crucified and risen
Kyrios139 is by necessity a fundamental reality in a plausible description of the theol-
ogy of the NT witnesses; the fact that the NT canon begins with four biographies
of Jesus firmly anchors at least a NT theology in the person, life, death, and resur-
rection of Jesus of Nazareth. Models for a such a fundamental focus on Jesus are
the NT theologies of Goppelt, Stuhlmacher, Schnelle, Hahn, and Wilckens.
4. The literary character of biblical texts should shape in some way biblical theology. Since
biblical theology is pursued in service to the church which, historically, has accept-

136 Goldingay, Old Testament Theology, 1:24, awkwardly defended in 2:13. Goldingay does not explain

the literary genre of this statement: he may not have meant it as a joke.
137 Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology, 151.
138 Ibid., 60.
139 Cf. Richard J. Bauckham, God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (Grand Rap-

ids: Eerdmans, 1999); Richard J. Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on
the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009).
248 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

ed the authority of the Scriptures, literary analyses are relevant as well: sapiential
sayings, parables, and psalms of lament and praise, have different implications for
the life of the church than the imperatives in didactic texts in the Gospels and in
Paul’s letters. The Gospels are not narrative compositions modeled on fiction, nor
theological tracts addressing problems in a particular church, but biographies of
Jesus the Messiah: the Gospel of Mark should be read with a primary focus on Je-
sus, and only secondarily with a focus on Mark’s theology.
Since present readers of the OT and NT, depending on denomination and
theological socialization, may be tempted to read scriptural statements as law, or as
personal promise, or as ancient history, comments on a proper understanding of
biblical historiography, legal texts, poetry, wisdom literature, genealogy, metaphor,
etc., however brief, would seem to be indispensable in theologies of the OT and
NT.
5. The historical audiences of the biblical writings should be taken into account. The date
of composition of the biblical texts should not be ignored, as is sometimes the case,
although in some instances it may be difficult if not impossible to establish a plau-
sible date. The historical situation of the audiences of the biblical writers cannot
always be determined, especially with regard to the OT writings; we are on firmer
ground for most of the NT texts.
It would be helpful if and when, for example, OT theologies comment on
how Psalm 119 would have been heard not only by the faithful but also by Israel-
ites and Judeans attracted to the worship of Baal; or if NT theologies comment on
how Rom 3:21–31 would have been understood not only by the believers but also
by worshipers of Isis who visit one of the Roman house churches. Such an outsider
perspective would be a helpful tool in the communication of biblical theology to-
day.
6. The present readers of the biblical texts require some attention. While it is not the
task of a biblical theology to incorporate a full interaction with systematic theologi-
cal questions which arise in the contemporary cultural context of the author, which
is the task of dogmatic/systematic theology, and while a biblical theology is not the
same as Christian proclamation, the description of a biblical theology which makes
truth claims must be meaningful both for students and pastors, as well as for mis-
sionaries, evangelists, and even non-Christians who are looking for reasons regard-
ing the plausibility of the convictions of the biblical authors.140 For authors and
readers who accept that the Scripture consisting of the OT and NT is the inspired
and authoritative word of God, the distance between the historical meaning of the
biblical text and the contemporary significance of the biblical text generally should
not be a deep crevasse on a glacier from which there is no escape.
In a biblical theology that seeks to be relevant for the church, the salvation-
historical “point in time” of modes of faith, worship, and behavior will be spelled
out: Israelites were required to bring sin offerings, but followers of Jesus are not

140 See generally Frey, “Aufgabe und Durchführung,” 43–45.

 BIBLICAL THEOLOGY FROM A NT PERSPECTIVE 249
required to do so since their faith unites them with the reality of Jesus’ death on the
cross as hilastērion, the atoning presence of God.
7. Writing a comprehensive biblical theology is an exercise in humility. If a comprehen-
sive biblical theology includes a full OT theology and NT theology, and if it in-
cludes both reconstruction and interpretation, it can easily become a massive, say,
ten-volume work which includes historical, literary, and theological reconstruction
and systematic interpretation. This is possible, given the length of Karl Barth’s
Church Dogmatics which includes exegesis, historical reconstruction, and theological
analysis, published in four sections with a total of seventy-three paragraphs in
twelve volumes (the study edition has thirty volumes) and a total of 9,000 pages (of
the German original); however, Barth’s project also serves as a warning that the
attempt to write a comprehensive presentation may never be completed. Since
most authors want to finish projects, a truly comprehensive biblical theology—one
that does justice to the requirements of historical, literary, and theological analyses
of the OT and the NT—will not be able to provide detailed exegetical justifications
for every item of its theological analysis. The author of a comprehensive biblical
theology thus must have the courage to build much of his presentation on the his-
torical, literary, and theological work done by other OT and NT scholars. Humility
is a biblical virtue, as the psalmist says, “The Lord sustains the humble but casts the
wicked to the ground” (Ps 147:6), and as Jesus teaches, “Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:29–30).
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