In the late 80s and early 90s perhaps no Old Testament scholar had built around him a way of Bible reading more than Brevard Childs at Yale. Childs resisted two approaches to Bible and theology — the historical-critical method that all but ignored theology and the “biblical theology” approach because it was too historical-critical in [...]
NT Wright’s “Worldview-Story” as Biblical Theology
Nov 30, 2012 @ 0:07 By 9 Comments
In a spectrum from history to systematic theology, where does someone like NT Wright fit? Is he closer to the history or the systematics end? Edward Klink III and Darian Lockett, in their fine new book, Understanding Biblical Theology, put Wright smack-dab in the middle of the two, but they put D.A. Carson’s history of redemption [...]
How the Early Christians Read the Bible
Nov 28, 2012 @ 5:05 By 19 Comments
It is not unusual for a first-time Bible reader to encounter a New Testament author quoting an Old Testament author, for the reader to wander back to the Old Testament to read that text too, and discover — “Wow, that’s not quite what the Old Testament author had in mind.” One of my favorites is [...]
Biblical Theology as Salvation History
Nov 28, 2012 @ 0:09 By 2 Comments
How does one read the Bible “biblically,” that is how does one read it right? That word “biblical” has some options and it is not quite as simple as some suggest. Some theologians study a theme hard and then run the whole Bible — or much of the Bible — through that theme and sometimes [...]
When is Theology Truly “Biblical”
Nov 26, 2012 @ 4:53 By 8 Comments
Everyone claims their theology is biblical. Which means “biblical” is used by everyone and so many different approaches use “biblical” that “biblical” diminishes in value. It becomes, sad to say, little more than a claim to authority. What does it take for you to say something is “biblical”? Does biblical theology (as historical description — [...]
The Roles of Biblical Criticism (RJS)
Nov 15, 2012 @ 6:10 By 5 Comments
The introduction to the new book by Marc Brettler (Brandeis University), Peter Enns (Eastern University) and Daniel J. Harrington (Boston College), The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically & Religiously, provides a brief sketch of the history of biblical interpretation and the rise of historical criticism. The emphasis of this book [...]
The Bible and the Believer (RJS)
Nov 8, 2012 @ 6:10 By 16 Comments
A couple of years ago Pete Enns, along with Marc Brettler (Brandeis University) and Daniel J. Harrington (Boston College) participated in a panel discussion at The University of Pennsylvania on “The Challenge of Reading the Bible Today: Can the Bible be read both Critically and Religiously? Jewish, Catholic and Protestant Perspectives.” The audio of the [...]
These are the Generations of Adam (RJS)
Oct 23, 2012 @ 5:20 By 11 Comments
This it the final post on Peter C. Bouteneff’s book Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives. Through this book we have looked at the way the OT and second Temple Jewish sources viewed and used the creation narratives in Genesis 1-3, the way Paul and the other NT writers used the creation [...]
A Conversation About Genesis (RJS)
Oct 11, 2012 @ 5:31 By 20 Comments
We’ve been looking at the question of beginnings from the perspective of the early church fathers using Peter Bouteneff’s book. The post Tuesday concentrated on Basil – and his Hexaemeron. But it is also useful to listen to what contemporary Christian thinkers and biblical scholars have to say about Genesis. This twelve minute clip comes [...]
Basil Again, With a Little Athanasius on Top (RJS)
Oct 9, 2012 @ 5:39 By 8 Comments
Perhaps this post would be better titled “Atheism is an Age Old Problem.” One of the most interesting insights is the nothing new under the sun phenomenon, at least when it comes to human nature. The next chapter of Peter Bouteneff’s book Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives looks at the Cappadocian [...]
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