New Testament TheologyThis work is not a history of New Testament times, nor an account of New Testament religion. Nor does it proceed from a view that the New Testament was written as theology. We must bear in mind that the writers of the New Testament books were not writing set theological pieces. They were concerned with the needs of the churches for which they wrote. Those churches already had the Old Testament, but these new writings became in time the most significant part of the Scriptures of the believing community. As such, they should be studied in their own right, and these questions should be asked: What do these writings mean? What is the theology they express or imply? What is of permanent validity in them? We read these writings across a barrier of many centuries and from a standpoint of a very different culture. We make every effort to allow for this, but we never succeed perfectly. In this book I am trying hard to find out what the New Testament authors meant, and this not as an academic exercise, but as the necessary prelude to our understanding of what their writings mean for us today. -- From the Introduction |
From inside the book
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... early church, whether it goes back to Jesus himself or to one of his followers. The question inevitably arises ... churches for which they wrote. Those churches already had the Old Testament, but these new writings became in time the ...
... early Christian religion and theology.”7 But is the tide really wrong in either aspect? It is, of course, possible to write a theology of the early church, taking into consideration all the early literature available. But the church has ...
... early church to attempt it,17 and I marvel at the confidence with which some approach the task. The historical approach is a very uncertain approach, because our knowledge of the history of the early church (as opposed to our ...
... early church and the way the documents came to be in their present form as the necessary prelude to theology ... early Christians over against what Judaism or Hellenism or firstcentury society in general believed. It is reasonable to ...
... early church with its emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Nothing in the Epistles leads us to think that the first Christians made any attempt simply to pass on what Jesus had said. They did, of course, remember it and they ...
Contents
the Holy Spirit | |
discipleship | |
Part three The Johannine Writings | |
the doctrine of Christ | |
God the Father | |
God the Holy Spirit | |
the Christian Life | |
The epistles of John | |
Part two The synoptic gospels and Acts | |
The gospel of Mark | |
The gospel of Matthew | |
the doctrine of God 8 The gospel of Luke and Acts the doctrine | |
Christ | |
the salvation of our | |
The revelation of John | |
Part four The general epistles | |
The epistle to the Hebrews | |
The epistle of James | |
The past epistle of Peter | |