New Testament theology

New Testament theology (NTT) is the branch of biblical theology that concerns the study and interpretation of the New Testament (NT). It seeks to explain the meaning of NT texts in their own grammatical, historical and cultural terms. It is separate from dogmatic theology and systematic theology. It is related but distinct from historical theology.

Academic field

There are two main approaches to NTT. The first is reconstructing the theology of the NT writers. The second approach is to offer a systematic presentation of NT teaching. Frank Thielman uses a "canonical and synthetic approach" that addresses each NT book separately or canonically but also includes thematic or synthetic summaries.

1700s–1800s

In the 17th century, attempts to prove that Protestant dogmatic theology was based in the Bible were described as biblical theology. These early works explained biblical texts according to standard outlines used in systematic theology. In the 1770s, Johann Salomo Semler argued that biblical theology needed to be separated from dogmatic theology.

Johann Philipp Gabler 1787 lecture "On the Proper Distinction Between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology" is considered the beginning of modern biblical theology. Gabler believed the Bible was "the one clear source from which all true knowledge of the Christian religion is drawn". For Gabler, dogmatic theology must be based on a biblical theology that is "pure and unmixed with foreign elements". Gabler identified two tasks for biblical theology. The first task was to provide an accurate historical description of the ideas found in the Bible. The second task was to compare these ideas with each other to discover universal scriptural truths on which dogmatic theology could be based. He argued that the interpretation of biblical texts needed to be informed by the language and customs of the relevant historical period. Significantly, Gabler did not assume that the Old Testament (OT) and NT possessed a uniformity in beliefs. Gabler was followed by George Lorenz Bauer, who wrote biblical theologies for the OT (1796) and the NT (1800–1802).

Major NT theologies were written in the 19th century by Bernhard Weiss (1868), Willibald Beyschlag (1891–1892), and Heinrich Julius Holtzmann (1897). In 1897, William Wrede criticized these earlier efforts for reflecting their authors' own theological viewpoints. He called for use of a history of religions approach, absorbing NTT into historical study of all early Christian literature. Wrede's ideas influenced later scholars, including Heikki Räisänen (1990), Klaus Berger (1994), Walter Schmithals (1994), and Gerd Theissen (1999).

20th–21st centuries

After the publication of Rudolf Bultmann's 1948 Theology of the New Testament, the field of NTT went through 50 year "sterile" phase. However, NT professor C. Kavin Rowe wrote in 2006 that the field had experienced a "revival" in recent years. Reviewing the work of German scholars Ferdinand Hahn (2001, 2005), Ulrich Wilckins (2002–2005), Peter Stuhlmacher (1991, 1999), Rowe writes:

In multiple and important ways—and regardless of their many differences—their theologies converge to provide a coherent alternative to the larger Bultmannian paradigm in NTT. Where Bultmann famously side-stepped the significance of the OT, Hahn, Wilckens, and Stuhlmacher all affirm the inseparability of the Old from the New. Where Bultmann refused the historical Jesus a part in the theology of the NT, Hahn, Wilckens, and Stuhlmacher press for the necessity of Jesus' earthly life as an essential ingredient of NTT. Where Bultmann saw deep and irreconcilable theological contradiction within the NT (the radical divergences between Paul/John and Frühkatholizismus ['Early Catholicism'], for example), Hahn, Wilckens, and Stuhlmacher argue for a discernible theological unity amidst the obvious and real diversity of the NT writings. And, finally, where Bultmann's existential interpretation clearly placed the accent on theological anthropology (human "self-understanding"), Hahn, Wilckens, and Stuhlmacher all insist on the centrality of theology proper: the NT is first of all about God.

Georg Strecker (1996) and Joachim Gnilka (1994), however, continue in the Bultmannian tradition. Both highlight the NT's theological diversity in ways that Rowe believes "render questionable its existence as a collection."

References

• Matera, Frank J. (January 2005). "New Testament Theology: History, Method, and Identity". Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 67 (1): 1–21. JSTOR 43725389.
• "New Testament Theology". Encyclopedia of the Bible. Archived from the original on June 30, 2024.
• Rowe, C. Kavin (Summer 2006). "New Testament Theology: The Revival of a Discipline. A Review of Recent Contributions to the Field". Journal of Biblical Literature. 125 (2): 393–410. doi:10.2307/27638367. JSTOR 27638367.
• Schnabel, Eckhard J. (2023). New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan, US: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-1-4934-4306-2.
• Scott, J. Julius, Jr. (September 2008). "Study of the Thematic Structure of the New Testament". Themelios. 33 (2).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Stuhlmacher, Peter (2018). Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Translated by Bailey, Daniel P. William B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4080-6.

Further reading

Early scholarship

• Bauer, Georg Lorenz (1800–1802). Biblische Theologie des Neuen Testaments (in German). Leipzig: Weygand.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) 4 volumes.
• Beyschlag, Willibald (1891). Neutestamentliche Theologie oder geschichtliche Darstellung der Lehren Jesu und des Urchristentums nach den neutestamentlichen Quellen (in German). Vol. 1. Halle: Strien.
• Beyschlag, Willibald (1892). Neutestamentliche Theologie oder geschichtliche Darstellung der Lehren Jesu und des Urchristentums nach den neutestamentlichen Quellen (in German). Vol. 2. Halle: Strien.
• Gabler, Johann Philipp (Spring 2011) [1787]. "On the Proper Distinction Between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology" (PDF). Midwestern Journal of Theology. 10 (1). Translated by Sandys-Wunsch, John; Eldredge, Laurence: 1–11. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 28, 2024.
• Holtzmann, Heinrich Julius (1897). Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Theologie (in German). Freiburg: Mohr.
• Semler, Johann Salomo (1771–1775). Abhandlung von freier Untersuchung des Canon (in German). Halle: Hemmerde. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4.
• Weiss, Bernhard (1882). Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Vol. 1. Translated by Eaton, David. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
• Weiss, Bernhard (1883). Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Vol. 2. Translated by Duguid, James E. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
• Wrede, William (1973) [1897]. "The Tasks and Methods of 'New Testament Theology'". In Morgan, Robert (ed.). The Nature of New Testament Theology: The Contribution of William Wrede and Adolf Schlatter. Studies in Biblical Theology. London: Wipf and Stock. pp. 68–116. ISBN 9781606087077.

20th and 21st century scholars

• Berger, Klaus (1994). Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums: Theologie des Neuen Testaments (in German). UTB. ISBN 978-3825280826.
• Hahn, Ferdinand (2011). Theologie des Neuen Testaments (in German). Vol. 1–2 (3rd ed.). Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-8252-3500-0.
• Gnilka, Joachim (1994). Theologie des Neuen Testaments (in German). Herder. ISBN 345123307X.
• Räisänen, Heikki (1990). Beyond New Testament Theology: A Story and a Programme. London: SCM. ISBN 0-334-01907-9.
• Schmithals, Walter (1997). The Theology of the First Christians. Translated by Dean, O. C. Westminster John Knox. ISBN 9780664256159.
• Strecker, Georg (2000). Horn, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Theology of the New Testament. Translated by Boring, Eugene M. de Gruyter; Westminster John Knox. ISBN 9783110156522.
• Theissen, Gerd (1999). The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic World. Translated by Bowden, John. Fortress. ISBN 9781451408652.
• Wilckens, Ulrich (2002–2005). Theologie des Neuen Testaments (in German). Vol. 1–3. Neukirchener.