These notes provide a basis for class discussion and for quizzes and exams. Use these guidelines as a basis of preparation for class discussion. For details about using the Lecture Notes materials click on . To display the Greek text contained in this page, download and install the free BSTGreek True Type fonts from Bible Study Tools.

Sources to Consult:
Vanhoozer, K. J. "Exegesis and Hermeneutics,"  New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture. Edited by Alexander, T. Desmond, Rosner, Brian S., Carson, D.A, Goldsworthy, Graeme, 52-64. Downers Grove, Il: Inter-Varsity, Press, 2000.

Scobie, C. H. H. "History of Biblical Theology."  New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture. Edited by Alexander, T. Desmond, Rosner, Brian S., Carson, D.A, Goldsworthy, Graeme, 16-17. Downers Grove, Il: Inter-Varsity, Press, 2000.
 
 

2.4.1 Using Tools for Analysis

2.4.1.1 Concordances
Sources to Consult:
Explanation of Concordances by Lorin L. Cranford

For discussion of details of usage see below topic 2.4.3.

2.4.1.2 Commentaries
Sources to Consult:
Explanation of Commentaries by Lorin L. Cranford

For discussion of details of usage see below topic 2.4.3.

2.4.1.3 Translations
Sources to Consult:
Translation Theory and Method by Lorin L. Cranford (pdf file requiring the Adobe Acrobat Reader)

The English Translations by Lorin L. Cranford
(a section of the New Testament survey class, topic 1.7.3, in outline form with hyperlinks to additional resources)
 
 

2.4.2 Issues of Structure and Organization of Material: Prolegomena
        At the outset of any attempt to develop a theological understanding of the New Testament and then articulate it in written form is the necessary decision of how to organize one's insights into a coherent expression. Any number of attempts at this can be found in a casual examination of published New Testament theologies.
        Also, a study of the history of  Biblical Theology is illuminating here. As Scobie summarizes (pp. 16-17), organizing structures in the beginning tended to follow the traditional rubrics that dogmatics had been using for centuries beforehand (God, humanity, sin, law, salvation etc.), especially as influenced by the dicta probantia of Protestant Orthodoxy in the scholastic era. With the shift to using the historical-critical exegetical method for interpreting scripture, the organizing structure moved from a systematic theology type structure to a history oriented structure, basing their presentations on a presupposed chronological structure of early leaders and their writings. In the twentieth century, a third option surfaced: organizing the discussion around themes or topics understood as lying resident within the biblical texts, over against imposing an externally derived organizing structure down on to the biblical texts. Each of these three patterns have been driven by specific sets of presuppositions about the nature of biblical or New Testament theology, interpretative method, and relevancy to today's Christian world.
        Below is a charting of several New Testament theologies reflecting their basic organizing structure:
 

        From the above listings, one can quickly notice how different the approach to doing a New Testament theology can be. Also evident is how significant the decision about structure will be. As you begin developing your own theological understanding of the New Testament -- remember the final exam for the semester -- decisions about structure and approach become critical at the outset of this enterprise.
        The decision about structure and approach will rest on several assumptions, most of which we have been studying up to this point in the semester. Let me list out some of those issues, about which you will need to draw some conclusion before beginning the development of your NT theology:

• Defining NT Theology:
• When examing the religious experiences and perspectives of the writers and central characters of the New Testament, can we develop a theological understanding from the NT documents? Or, should we confine ourselves to describing religious experience rather than theological understanding?
• Should NT theology be a historically descriptive undertaking? Or, should it be prescriptive? Or, some of both?
• What role should our view of divine revelation and inspiration play in formulating our theological understanding of the New Testament?
• What is the proper terminus for a New Testament theology?
• Obviously it begins with Jesus, but where does it stop?
• With the close of the apostolic age at the end of the first Christian century?
• With the apostolic fathers by the middle of the second Christian century?
• With the apologists at the close of the second Christian century?
• What rationale will be necessary for designating one of these terminus points?
• Unity and Diversity:
• Is there a New Testament theology or theologies contained inside the 27 documents of the NT?
• If diversity of views exist in the New Testament, what are common elements of belief that hold these views together?
• Should these be considered foundational to a NT theology? e.g., Bultmann's kergyma.
• How is the best way to get at these common elements?
• Should a New Testament theology be one dimensional, that is, a flat reading of the NT?  Or, should it be multi-dimensional, taking into consideration an assumed diversity of NT viewpoints?
• Important here is whether the focus rests on the sources, e.g., the NT, or on the contemporary theologian or readers of the theology.
• If multi-dimensional, how can we as modern readers individually hold to a multi-dimensional theology? Wouldn't this lead to theological schizophrenia?
• If the NT models individual perspectives in a community of faith, should this be our model? That is, is there room for a variety of NT theologies in contemporary Christian communities?
• Is yes, then what connection does a NT theology have to dogmatics?
• Especially what is the proper connection a credal statement such as the Baptist Faith and Message as it is now being used?
• Issue of Sources:
• What should be the proper sources for developing a New Testament theology?
• Canonical NT scriptures only?
• What about the use of other ancient sources?
• Connections:
• What is the proper connection of NT theology to OT theology?
• What then is the proper connection of NT theology to Biblical Theology?
• What is the connection of Biblical Theology to Dogmatics / Systematic Theology?

• A brief survey of the development of New Testament theology
• The nature and method of New Testament theology
• The distinction between theology and religion
• The relation between New Testament theology and dogmatics
• The limitations of a purely literary approach
• The weakness of a wholly analytical approach
• The place of personality in New Testament theology
• The place of the canon in New Testament theology
• The relation between history and theology
• Variety and unity within the New Testament
• The relevance of background studies for New Testament theology
• Questions of authenticity
• The structure of New Testament theology

        Once decisions have been made -- and arguments defending those decisions provided (now the need for a prolegomenon to a NT theology becomes apparent) -- then some other decisions need to be made. Most important will be the way of (1) organizing the documents of the NT for theological understanding, (2) tracing out key themes in each of the document sections and in each document; (3) how these can be related to a contemporary application and relevancy. Coming to grips with these issues will significantly impact the final product. Below we will explore some these issues.

2.4.3 Tracing Key Themes
        How can one determine what key emphases constitute the belief system of a NT document or group of NT documents? To be sure, not all the content of every NT writing has theological content, but the determination of theological content has been the particular quest of NT theology from the beginning of the modern era. Several strategies are important.

        One approach involves the use of a concordance to trace out frequently occurring words and/or themes. For example, a search on the Bible Study Tools online concordance for the word 'righteousness' in Romans results in 27 hits using the NRSV. A comparison with other translations is also important in order to confirm one's findings. Although print version of concordances for a limited number of English translations are available, today one can do a much more exhaustive study using a variety of online concordances available on the internet. One of the best sources is the gateway provided by Professor Mark Goodacre called All-in-One Biblcal Resources Search at http://www.ntgateway.com/multibib.htm. This suggests that in Romans righteousness constitutes a major emphasis. Of course, a more precise analysis comes from a study of the Greek word dikaiosuvnh for righteousness with 34 uses in Romans. A Greek NT concordance such as Kurt Aland's Computer-Konkordanz zum Novum Testamentum Graece is especially useful. The related Greek words must be included in a larger study as well. For this task, a theological dictionary such as Kittel's Theological Dictionary to the New Testament becomes essential.
        Of course, how does one determine frequently occurring words in a given NT document? To manually count these out is impractical, but some Bible study software programs now available provide a tagged Greek NT data base that can be used for searches that will quickly generate a listing of the Greek vocabulary of each NT documents. One of the best of these programs, available in either PC or Mac formats, is the Gramcord program. By generating, quickly and efficiently, a vocabulary list of a NT documents, the Bible student can easily determine the most frequently occurring theological oriented terms.
        Once a determination of the key theological words has been determined by using the above strategy, this list should be compared to the analysis of others who have written on this topic. The relevant section of our text book, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture, is a good beginning point. Other NT theological studies on the relevant NT document or grouping should be consulted.

        A second approach focuses on the rhetorical/literary structure of the NT document. Key words provide one helpful insight, but these cannot be the exclusive source for determining the theological perspective of the document. Important concepts may include discussions without the use of key labels or terms. These must be included in the theological reading of the document. The above theological dictionaries that are more general in coverage will normally include these aspects. Important also are commentaries that emphasize the literary approaches to exegesis. Those emphasizing a socio-rhetorical approach will be most useful for this. Additionally, the introduction of most every serious commentary will contain a theological summary of the key themes of the NT document. Of course, these are supplementary to utilizing a personal exegesis of the NT document emphasizing literary analysis.

2.4.4 Using Theological Rubrics
        Traditionally, systematic theology or dogmatics has been organized around a series of logically progressing topics called rubrics. Usually they number about 8 to 10 topics and move from God to end-times concerns, covering the basic issues of Christian belief.
        Both Ladd and Stagg in the above chart reflect the attempt to do a New Testament theology with these rubrics as the central organizing structure. Given current trends in NT theology, this approach will not be viewed positively since it hearkens too much back to Gabler's reine biblische Theologie emphasis. Even more importantly, it risks a one dimensional flat reading of the NT, although Ladd somewhat successfully avoids this with his creative approach. The individuality of each NT writer is obscured by this approach. The most dangerous presupposition for the extreme examples of this approach is a very rigid view of inspiration that assumes one can read the mind of God from the NT and that this divine mind strictly follows an Enlightenment pattern of logical, progressive thinking found only in Western culture. To box God in by such assumptions is, of course, impossible. It also ultimately denies both the divine and the human aspects involved in revelation and the composition of the New Testament documents.
        For these rubrics to become the organizing framework successfully, the NT theologican must carefully determine which of the topics is legitimately covered in the NT. Individual NT documents will seldom, if ever, cover many or most of these rubrics. Even if alluded to, they may, or may not, constitute major emphases in the content of the separate documents. All of this must be carefully sorted out before the discussion can begin. Then the NT theologian must be certain to treat honestly the diversity of perspective on each rubric as the discussion proceeds across the groupings of NT documents (typically, Synoptic Gospels - Primitive Church - Paul - John), also noting the gaps where they take place among the NT documents. Some kind of rationale for why they were included / excluded needs to be provided as a part of the discussion.
        As should be clear, this approach is fraught with land mines, but can be done with a fair degree of helpfulness when correctly approached. The usefulness of such a work focuses on the modern reader's needs more than on the exegesis of the biblical text. At times this is important to have available, especially when first beginning to formulate one's own religious belief system as a relatively new Christian.

2.4.5 The Role of History
        The importance of history in developing a theological understanding of the NT is pretty much held universally by contemporary NT theologians. But, how history should impact the final product, e.g., a NT theology, is another matter completely.
        Several levels of historical understanding come to play in developing a NT theology. For a detailed discussion of some of these see Lecture Notes 2.3.
        First, an over arching historical understanding of the NT world and the major characters and events of the Jesus and the apostolic eras need to be developed. This will focus on the first Christian century.
        Determining how world events and leaders (most the Roman empire and emperors) impacted the lives of Jesus and the apostles is critical to this historical understanding. Also, important is understanding Jewish history and religious thinking during the time leading up to and including this beginning Christian century. Viewed as increasingly important is the study of the social history of this era as well, both in terms of Jewish and Hellenistic patterns.
        Included in this historical perspective is the determination of a chronological framework including as much detail as legitimately possible for the lives of Jesus, the early church, the apostles, and especially Paul and John since they typically are seen as the major religious thinkers of this period outside of Jesus himself. The limitations of the available primary sources will become apparent in this effort, but must not prevent the effort to develop an understanding to the furthest possible extent.
        This historical framework will provide the structure for connecting the internal history segments in the various documents of the NT.
        Second, an assessment of the compositional history of the NT documents must be completed. With historical exegesis as foundational to our understanding of the content of the NT documents, an identification of the traditional external history issues like author, time, place, reader, purpose needs to be done in so far as such is possible. Certain literary forms are more sensitive to these issues, such as the letters. But all of the NT documents need to be posited along the above chronological framework in order to give understanding to the occasion that prompted their composition. The need of this becomes apparent in a comparison of the above chart. For example, the breaking out of the Pauline corpus in the NT between the authentic letters of Paul and the so-called deuteropauline letters will play an important role in the final NT theology product. See both Goppelt and Strecker as but two illustrations of this.
        Third, some exploration of the history of the development of the religious thinking of the major NT personalities, as well as that of the early church, is necessary. The religious understanding of Jesus and the apostles was not static, but developing throughout their individual ministries. As Luke says of the boy Jesus (Luke 2:52 -- he grew in wisdom...), this pattern of spiritual growth continued all through Jesus' life, and in the lives of the apostles as well. This is an essential element of vital spiritual experience, then and now. Thus some tracing of this development of thinking needs to be incorporated into the NT theology product.
        One example of this relates to Paul's understanding of the nature and time of the Second Coming of Christ. In 1 Corthians 15 he clearly relates the resurrection of the believer to the return of Christ, but in 2 Corinthians and Philippians he is often understood to have changed his mind and related it then to the moment of death for the individual believer. For a detailed discussion of this, see my doctoral dissertation, "A Study of II Corinthians 5:1-10 in the Light of Various Interpretations of Pauline Eschatology", completed in 1975. Also, most Pauline theologies will treat this issue.

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