From Prophecy to Testament: The Function of the Old Testament in the New

The theology of the New Testament is indebted to, and is a reflection of, major Old Testament themes, images, and language, because the New Testament authors wrote in the context of the Old Testament and the rich Jewish tradition of the study and interpretation of Scripture.

A group of ancient Jewish writers provided the Christian church with its Old Testament Greek text (the Septuagint) and provided Aramaic translations (the Targums) for some of the writers of the New Testament. This group also produced many works that,whether intentionally or not, offered interpretations, expansions, and explanations of difficult or obscure Old Testament passages that influenced the New Testament authors.

From Prophecy to Testament opens with a basic overview of past work on the development of New Testament theology, and then offers a superb collection of essays exploring the numerous ways in which New Testament writers were formed and informed by the biblical and extrabiblical literature of the Israelite people of the Second-Temple period.

Craig A. Evans, PhD, is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly journals and the author or editor of numerous publications.