[5] He argued that the interpretation of biblical texts needed to be informed by the language and customs of the relevant historical period.
[4] Gabler's second task was to compare biblical ideas with each other to discover universal scriptural truths on which dogmatic theology could be based.
"[7] In his 1897 essay "The Task and Methods of 'New Testament Theology'", William Wrede criticized the work of Weiss and Holtzmann and called for a history of religions approach to NTT.
[9] Wrede's project was never completed; although, Johannes Weiss came close with his unfinished Earliest Christianity: A History of the Period A.D. 30–150, originally published in 1914.
[11] Bultmann's interpretation was shaped by form criticism, according to which the authors of the synoptic gospels mainly collected and compiled traditions about Jesus.
While the historical Jesus was a Jewish rabbi and end-time prophet, the Christian church later proclaimed him to be messiah and lord after the Easter event.
[13] NT professor C. Kavin Rowe describes the 50 years after Bultmann as a "sterile" phase in the NTT field.
Utilizing the criterion of dissimilarity and other techniques, Jeremias concludes in contrast to Bultmann's form criticism that "[i]n the synoptic tradition it is the inauthenticity, and not the authenticity, of the sayings of Jesus that must be demonstrated".
In the words of Peter Stuhlmacher:[16] Jeremias presents us with a historically argued reversal of Bultmann’s kerygma theology: the decisive ground of faith is not found for the first time in the apostolic preaching of the crucified and risen Christ, but already in Jesus's word and work, as reliably attested in the Synoptic Gospels.French theologian Oscar Cullmann's Salvation in History (1965) was well received among Catholic exegetes, the ecumenical world, and OT scholars.
[17] Important NT theologies produced in the English-speaking world included Alan Richardson (1958), George Eldon Ladd (1974), Donald Guthrie (1981), Leon Morris (1986).
[10] NT professor C. Kavin Rowe wrote in 2006 that the field of NTT had experienced a "revival" in recent years.
Reviewing the work of German scholars Ferdinand Hahn (2001, 2005), Ulrich Wilckins (2002–2005), and Peter Stuhlmacher (1991, 1999), Rowe writes:[19] In multiple and important ways—and regardless of their many differences—their theologies converge to provide a coherent alternative to the larger Bultmannian paradigm in NTT.
And, finally, where Bultmann's existential interpretation clearly placed the accent on theological anthropology (human "self-understanding"), Hahn, Wilckens, and Stuhlmacher all insist on the centrality of theology proper: the NT is first of all about God.William Wrede's ideas continue to have influence among scholars, including Heikki Räisänen (1990), Klaus Berger (1994), Walter Schmithals (1994), and Gerd Theissen (1999).
In Galatians 4:4, he writes that Jesus was "born of a woman" (γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικός), a common Jewish figure of speech indicating that someone is a human being (see Job 14:1; Matthew 11:11).
To his Jewish audience, the Baptist warns that their descent from Abraham and covenant with God will not save them from the coming destruction (Luke 3:7–9).
[24] He is explicitly identified with the returning Elijah (Luke 1:17; Matthew 11:14), whose role is to prepare the people for God's arrival before the final the day of judgment (Malachi 3:1, 4:5–6).
The incident is something like the calling of a prophet, but the language used is reminiscent of what God says to his anointed one (i.e., the king) in Psalm 2:7 and to his servant, on whom he puts his Spirit so that he may bring justice to the world, in Isaiah 42:1–4.
The effect is thus to initiate Jesus into the office of God’s coming king, since the Old Testament passages, or certainly Psalm 2, were by now understood as prophecies still awaiting fulfillment.