Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey

by Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Editor)

This convenient text utilizes material from the award-winning Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (DTIB) to introduce students to the Bible and theological interpretation through a comprehensive book-by-book survey of the New Testament. The articles, authored by respected scholars, make unique contributions to the study of theological interpretation of Scripture.
Theological Interpretation of the New Testament provides a history of interpretation and covers major theological ideas for each book of the New Testament. Contributors include David E. Garland, Robert H. Gundry, I. Howard Marshall, Francesca Aran Murphy, Max Turner, and N. T. Wright. Students of the New Testament, pastors, and lay readers will appreciate this affordable volume. It will also serve as an excellent supplementary text in New Testament/Bible survey courses.

Genres: Theology, Reference, Biblical Studies, Christian, Biblical

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Kevin J. Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. From 1990-98 he was Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at New College, University of Edinburgh. Vanhoozer received a BA from Westmont College, an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England having studied under Nicholas Lash.

Reviews

[Zack Clemmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wildly hit-and-miss collection, culled from the introductions of a larger commentary work. A reference work, essentially, but probably not an especially useful one outside of its broader dictionary context. I mean, I get it, it's difficult to reduce the glories of a New Testament Gospel or Epistle or Apocalypse into ten pages, but you don't have to jam in every adjective and ten-cent verbed-noun of the contemporary theological lexicon, and sacrifice comprehensibility and readability in the process. Those contributors who limited their scope did the most good, like Garland on 1 Corinthians, Riches on Galatians, and Wright on Philippians.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction to the theological-interpretation approach, but like any collection of essays is a bit of a mixed bag. Several of the chapters place undue emphasis (in my opinion) on the historical perspectives, while the more interesting essays focus more directly on the theological and canonical approaches of interpretation. The Philippians and Colossians chapters are excellent.

Even though it's mixed, I'm keeping it on my shelf as a handy reference. For those interested in understanding and exploring the theological approach, there are probably better initial books out there.

[David Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usefulness varies by author. I especially liked the article on James.