Once again, the effect of the Biblical Theological Movement on the ecumenical movement was far-reaching. Willoughby (ed.), The Study of the Bible Today and Tomorrow (The University of Chicago Press, 1947).
Biblical Theology in Crisis by Brevard S. Childs Part 1: Remembering a Past
Major Elements of the Consensus
The younger scholars sensed a sterility and narrowness in the critical work of the previous generation. Of course, there were certain ambiguities in the formulation of the distinctive features of the Bible.
Unresolved Problems
The impact of the Biblical Theology Movement was strong on the seminaries during the immediate post-war period. Interest in hermeneutical questions was part of the Biblical Theology Movement from the beginning.
The Cracking of the Walls
From the beginning of the movement, a group of scholars has always resisted biblical theology's emphasis on the unity of Scripture. In Ernst Kasemann's essays 20 the essential unity of the New Testament received an even more aggressive challenge. In the 1930s there were criticisms that theology had been replaced by the history of religions.
Among Anglo-Saxon New Testament scholars, Dodd's interest in the Hellenistic, Gnostic background of the New Testament continued. Many of the crucial points of his abbreviated presentation are still sketchy and tentative. The term was naturally retained in conservative circles during the period that the Biblical Theology Movement in the classical sense of the theory of.
The old concern for the "theological dimension of the Bible" has been dismissed as inadequate. The growing uncertainty about the place of the Bible was again reflected in the form of the sermon.
Biblical Theology in Crisis by Brevard S. Childs Part 2: Seeking a Future
The Need for a New Biblical Theology
One of the soft spots in the biblical theology movement lay in the failure to develop the field of biblical theology as a rigorous discipline. One often got the impression that what separated Biblical Theology from the disciplined study of the Old and New Testaments was a homiletical topping. There is another important aspect of the problem which would support the need to develop the field of biblical theology in our time.
The church needs more than ever the guidance of the Bible in its struggle for understanding and faithful response. It is of great importance that these concepts are imbued with content that is informed by Bible study. The tragic part of the Biblical Theology Movement lies not only in the defeats it suffered due to insufficient scholarship and conceptual confusion, but also in the impression given that the Bible has no important role to play in the coming age.
It may well be that some of the direction for the new biblical theology of the future will come from the experiences of priests on the front lines of the church's confrontation with the world. Fortunately, God still has a way of using the Bible that is out of sync with the publishing schedule of the religious press.
The Shape of a New Biblical Theology
The interpretation of the material will vary according to the particular context in which it is placed. Again, the attempt to make biblical theology within the context of the canon is important. How does the supposed context of the canon relate to other contexts in which the Bible can be read.
In contrast, Jerome advocated the need to understand the original context of the Old Testament. The same hermeneutical problem becomes acute in trying to understand the relation of the Old Testament to the New. But what is the nature of this connection between the Testaments within the context of the canon.
First of all, the New Testament's use of the Old Testament is limited to only part of the Old Testament. Certainly, the variation in the New Testament's use of the Old must be properly recognized and evaluated.
Biblical Theology’s Role in Decision- Making
Interest in this problem focuses on the role of the Bible for the Christian within the complex world of modern ethical decisions. Christian's use of the Bible will bring important insights with respect to the Bible and the world. How does one understand this obvious tension between the various witnesses of the Bible regarding the will of God.
We have tried to outline one aspect of the biblical approach to the problem of knowing God's will. Once the matter is established, the descriptive task of using the Bible consists of two major approaches to biblical tradition. Again, it is important to map the outer limits of the area within which the Bible focuses.
The revelation of the will of God to the prophets and apostles did not function in this way, nor does the Bible play this role. It is therefore no coincidence that much of the ethical emphasis in the Bible focuses on questions of the will.
Recovering an Exegetical Tradition
Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" to sense a completely different dimension of reflection on the Bible. The historical-critical method is an inadequate method for studying the Bible as the writings of the church, because it does not work from the necessary context. To the extent that the use of the critical method sets up an iron curtain between the past and the present, it is an inadequate method for studying the Bible as the scripture of the church.
Its purpose would be to take seriously the responsibility of interpreting the Bible as the scriptures of the world. A precritical interpretation of the Bible has much to offer the modern Biblical theologian. First, many of the precritical commentators tried to deal seriously with the Bible as the scriptures of the church.
Perowne carefully gives the use of the Psalms in the New Testament and acknowledges. Finally, one learns from the church's great classical expositors how Scripture comes into being.
Biblical Theology in Crisis by Brevard S. Childs Part 3: Testing a Method
Psalm 8 in the Context of the Christian Canon
Again to summarize: New Testament author working on the basis of the Greek Old. They introduce another framework for moving from the world of the Old Testament to the world of modern man. Characteristically, he is concerned that the testimony of the Old Testament is not lost in a Christianization of the Old Covenant.
The New Testament writer of Hebrews testifies that man does not possess the world; everything is not subject to him. He has struggled and lost himself, and succumbed to the threats of the world. When we read the Old Testament from the light of the New Testament in the context of the Christian faith, we confess that in Jesus Christ true manhood has already appeared.
However, it is equally important to read this New Testament confession in the light of the Old Testament. The reverse movement of the dialectic belongs to theological reflection in the context of the canon.
Moses’ Slaying in the theology of the Two Testaments
In the Old Testament, the term ger originally designated a social class of landless foreigners who lived without the protection of a clan. 11:27 which leaves out the Midianite episode and joins the first departure with the exodus.9 The clear reference to Moses' lack of fear of the king in light of Ex. The remarkable feature in the thinking of the New Testament writer is his creative use of certain particular theological alternatives.
Finally, the characteristic features of hearing the Old Testament from the New Testament can be illuminated when compared to the typical movements found in rabbinic midrash. 2 as a main theme of the Exodus passage: Moses' voluntary participation in the suffering of his people. The question of justice -- the rightness or wrongness of the act -- is very much at the fore.
Driver is typical of the late nineteenth-century Liberal Protestant view, which appreciates Moses' sympathy for the This history of unbelief is aligned with the Old Testament prophets and climaxes in the rejection of the Messiah.
Proverbs, Chapter 7, and a Biblical Approach to Sex
An analysis of the chapter revealed that the call to wisdom was contrasted with the way of folly. The question now arises whether there is another use of the language of the Prov., ch. Not only is human, physical love valued and exalted, but the relationship between man and woman is completely mutual.
We then turned to the Song of Songs and traced another use of the same erotic language. What is the effect of reading Proverbs in light of Song of Songs and Song of Songs in light of Proverbs. Conversely, reading the Song of Songs in light of Proverbs exerts an important canonical check in another direction.
The prophetic use of the term belongs to another Biblical theme and should not be associated with its use in Prov., chap. Turning to the New Testament, no direct use is made of the text of Prov., chap.
The God of Israel and the Church
The monotheism of the Old Testament is assumed everywhere in the New Testament and at no point is it refuted. The Old Testament testimony to God functioned in the church as part of the Christian proclamation of divine promise and divine judgment. Moreover, Jesus completely shares or takes over the functions of the Old Testament God for the church.
Finally, one would seek to relate the inner movement and outer structure of the Old Testament testimony to its function within the New Testament. The use of the Shema in the New Testament shows that the church saw itself in absolute agreement with the Old Testament and Judaism regarding the uniqueness of God. What it means to interpret the New Testament in the light of the Old.
Conversely, what does it mean to interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New. The God of the Old Testament is not the God of Israel alone, but of all the nations.
