A Concise New Testament theology - Softcover

Marshall, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184474289X ISBN 13: 9781844742899

Publisher: IVP, 2008

Synopsis

This volume is an abridgement of I. Howard Marshall's award-winning textbook 'New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel', for students and laypeople. He provides an accessible introduction to New Testament theology, and an attractive supplement for courses in New Testament survey.

About this title

From the Author

IVP: What can one hope to achieve in writing a New Testament theology? Is it something more than attempting to come up with a "good theological reading" of the New Testament?

I. Howard Marshall: I suppose that this question is really asking what New Testament theology is, and that is not an easy question to answer. What one can say is that all the New Testament authors are thinking and writing theologically whatever be the themes that they are addressing. What you are trying to do is to reconstruct the Christian beliefs that they must be presumed to have in order to write the things that they do. Similarly, you might try to reconstruct the political beliefs that shape the speeches of a politician, working back from what is explicit to what is implicit and gives content and coherence to the whole.

But then you have to go a bit further and ask whether the Christian beliefs of Paul, Luke, John and so on are essentially the same or diverse and even contradictory. A theology of the New Testament in the sense of a common body of belief held (with variations) by all the writers may be nothing more than a pious hope. Their views may have been so divergent that there is not enough of a common basis to warrant the name of "New Testament theology." I have tried to show that there is such a common core, while emphasizing that the different writers expressed and developed it in their own individual ways and at times not without problems (compare how Peter and Paul had a [in my opinion, temporary] difference of opinion, reflected in Galatians 2, and how James had to criticize what was probably a false understanding of Paul's theology). So a book on New Testament theology must exhibit the individual thinking of the various authors (and Jesus), show whether and how there is harmony between them, and bring out the particular nuances that may be peculiar to different writers.

About the Author

I. Howard Marshall (1934-2015) was a world-renowned New Testament scholar and the author or editor of at least thirty-eight books and more than 120 essays and articles. He taught New Testament at the University of Aberdeen for thirty-five years and was a professor emeritus for sixteen years. Among his numerous publications on the New Testament are his commentaries on the Gospel of Luke, Acts, 1-2 Thessalonians, the Pastoral Epistles and 1 Peter and 1-3 John. He is coauthor of Exploring the New Testament: A Guide to the Letters and Revelation and coeditor of the New International Greek Testament Commentary series, as well as the author of the series' volume on Luke. He has also authored New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel. Marshall was an evangelical Methodist who was born and lived most of his life in Scotland. He received a PhD from the University of Aberdeen and a DD from Asbury Theological Seminary.

Edition details

• Publisher: IVP
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184474289X
• ISBN 13: 9781844742899
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304