The New Testament Interpretation of Scripture

The New Testament Interpretation of Scripture is an important and challenging contribution to New Testament scholarship. As a contrast to form criticism, it presents a fresh, in-depth study of Scripture interpretation within the tradition of Judaism. Professor Hanson's analytical study of Paul's use of the Scriptures on the question of his meaning in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 concludes that these verses constitute the strongest possible assurance that the advent of Christ had been predestined by God and that his death and resurrection were the means of self-revelation and redemption for those who chose to enter the fellowship of the Christian church. His examination of these verses further leads to the conclusion that assumptions of gnosticism as their inspiration are erroneous. And in the logion in John 1:51, he perceives that it is the church that is indicated as the place where God is to be encountered and worshiped. He surveys and elaborates on current studies on the scriptural sources for the doctrine of the "descent into Hades" to reveal that the doctrine was partly based on a messianic interpretation of the 16th, 68th, 88th, and 89th Psalms, as well as on a typological interpretation of the book of Jonah. The New Testament Interpretation of Scripture is a thoughtful, erudite work, persuasively and lucidly argued by one of Britain's most respected New Testament scholars.

Anthony Tyrrell Hanson was Professor of Theology at the University of Hull, and former senior editor of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament.