Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison of Theory and Practice

Examines and compares the five major schools of thought regarding biblical theology.

Understanding Biblical Theology provides an expert and clarifying look at the catch-all term “biblical theology,” a movement that tries to remove the often-held dichotomy between biblical studies for the Church and as an academic pursuit.

Using a spectrum between history and theology, each of the five “types” of biblical theology are identified as landing somewhere on the continuum from “more theological” to “more historical” in concern and practice.

This text defines them in detail and gives a brief developmental history for each one, exploring each method through the lens of one contemporary scholar who champions it:

• Biblical Theology as Historical Description (James Barr)
• Biblical Theology as History of Redemption (D. A. Carson)
• Biblical Theology as Worldview-Story (N. T. Wright)
• Biblical Theology as Canonical Approach (Brevard Childs)
• Biblical Theology as Theological Construction (Francis Watson).

Readers will gain an appreciation for each of these approaches and understand how any student of the Bible can learn from them.

Edward W. Klink III, Ph.D. (University of St. Andrews) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He is the author of The Sheep of the Fold: The Audience and Origin of the Gospel of John), editor of The Audience of the Gospels: The Origin and Function of the Gospels in Early Christianity, and is currently writing a commentary on the Gospel of John for the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series.

Darian R. Lockett, (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He is the author of Purity and Worldview in the Epistle of James, Letters for the Church, Letters from the Pillar Apostles, and The Catholic Epistles: Critical Readings.