Beyond New Testament Theology: A STory and a Programme [Paperback]

Heikki Raisaenen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0334027802 | ISBN-13: 978-0334027805 | Publication Date: June 29, 2010 | Edition: 2

This fascinating and comprehensive book, first published in 1990, is, as the original subtile put it, 'a story and a programme'. The story is that of the many attempts over the last two hundred years to write a theology of the New Testament, from the pioneering J. P. Gabler to the present day. Writing in Theology, Robert morgan describes it as 'surely the best available survey in any language and particularly useful for those less familiar with the German tradition'. However, the book contains more than a survey: the 'programme' maps out the way that New Testament theology should proceed in the future. The programme relates not only to subject-matter but also to audience, since in a secular society those who read the New Testament range far outside the confessions and churches. As might be expected, the reception for this radical thesis has ben a mixed one, but the importance of Professor Raisaenen's work has been strongly emphasized, not lesast by Professor Gerd Theissen in his A Theory of Primitive Christian Reigion. This new edition contains a survey of the debate over the last decade and also elaborates further on the programme for the future in the light of recent developments. Heikki Raisaenen is Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Helsinki.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: SCM Press; 2 edition (June 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0334027802
• ISBN-13: 978-0334027805
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,409,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars clear & broad review of scholarship, September 2, 2010

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johnmark_t - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond New Testament Theology: A STory and a Programme (Paperback)

This was assigned reading for a PhD seminar I had. The author lists in his Introduction his criteria for evaluating NT theologies since JP Gabler. Räisänen's sympathies are clearly with the "history of religions" approach to NT theology, particularly as defined by W. Wrede more than a century ago. The primary reason seems to be that collapsing the second step (finding what is normative/applicable today) into the first step (understanding the texts in their setting) always seems to distort what scholars find in the NT and early Christian documents. Räisänen tests NT theologies by his criteria so consistently that his own theology proposal at the end of the book came as little surprise to me.
The volume of the works Räisänen covers would take half a lifetime to digest. Histories of NT scholarship from native English-speakers will tend to skew their presentation toward English & American scholars, so Räisänen's perspective brings great balance for folks who are limited to English works and the select few continental works that have been translated. A word of caution to conservative/evangelical readers: scholars who argue for historicity and/or essential unity in the New Testament documents do not receive much respect from Räisänen.