New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel [Hardcover]

I. Howard Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2004

A 2005 ECPA Gold Medallion winner! "New Testament theology is essentially missionary theology," writes I. Howard Marshall. Founded on a sure-footed mastery of the data and constructed with clear thinking lucidly expressed, this long-anticipated New Testament theology offers the insights born of a distinguished career of study, reflection, teaching and writing on the New Testament. Marshall's New Testament Theology will speak clearly to a broad audience of students and nonspecialists. But even on the most familiar ground, where informed readers might lower their expectations of learning something new, Marshall offers deft insights that sharpen understanding of the message of the New Testament. Here is a New Testament theology that does not succumb to the fashion of settling for an irreconcilable diversity of New Testament voices but argues that "a synthetic New Testament theology is a real possibility. Beginning with the Gospels and Acts, proceeding to each of Paul's letters, focusing then on the Johannine literature and finally looking at Hebrews and the remaining general epistles, Marshall repeatedly stops to assess the view. And gradually he builds up a composite synthesis of the unified theological voice of the New Testament. On the way toward this synthesis, Marshall highlights clearly the theological voices of the individual New Testament books. Thus, his New Testament theology serves also as a sort of introduction to the New Testament books, making it double as an attractive complement to book-by-book introductions to the New Testament. Here is a New Testament theology that will not only guide students and delight teachers but also reward expositors with a lavish fund of insights for preaching.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is a stunning achievement by an outstanding scholar and gifted teacher. Here the fruit of wide reading and reflection over many years is set out most attractively. Students and scholars alike will appreciate the clarity of the discussion, the nuanced judgment on disputed issues and the guidance given to further reading. I particularly welcome the author's 'witness by witness' approach in his exposition of New Testament theology: the distinctive themes of the individual writings and the unifying threads both receive careful attention." (Graham Stanton, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge )

"This New Testament theology, the work of a distinguished, mature scholar, is most welcome! It is methodologically sound, attuned to the current issues in the field, lucid and genuinely comprehensive. Marshall's idea of the New Testament texts as missionary theology is intriguing and deserves careful reflection. This New Testament theology should be regarded as today's standard in the field." (David M. Scholer, Professor of New Testament and Associate Dean for the Center for Advanced Theological Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary )

"For decades, Howard Marshall has been a voice of thoroughness, fairness and moderation in biblical studies. Now, in a time when some are questioning the very need and legitimacy of New Testament theology, Marshall demonstrates why it must still be done and how it should be done, and then, quite simply, he does it. Biblical scholars and students on both sides of the Atlantic are once again indebted to a man who has written much and been a friend and a mentor to many." (J. Ramsey Michaels, Professor Emeritus, Southwestern Missouri State University )

"I. H. Marshall surveys the issues and themes of New Testament theology as only the dean of evangelical New Testament scholars could do." (Douglas J. Moo, Blanchard Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College Graduate School )

From the Author

IVP: What can one hope to achieve in writing a New Testament theology? Is it something more than attempting to come up with a "good theological reading" of the New Testament?

I. Howard Marshall: I suppose that this question is really asking what New Testament theology is, and that is not an easy question to answer. What one can say is that all the New Testament authors are thinking and writing theologically whatever be the themes that they are addressing. What you are trying to do is to reconstruct the Christian beliefs that they must be presumed to have in order to write the things that they do. Similarly, you might try to reconstruct the political beliefs that shape the speeches of a politician, working back from what is explicit to what is implicit and gives content and coherence to the whole.

But then you have to go a bit further and ask whether the Christian beliefs of Paul, Luke, John and so on are essentially the same or diverse and even contradictory. A theology of the New Testament in the sense of a common body of belief held (with variations) by all the writers may be nothing more than a pious hope. Their views may have been so divergent that there is not enough of a common basis to warrant the name of "New Testament theology." I have tried to show that there is such a common core, while emphasizing that the different writers expressed and developed it in their own individual ways and at times not without problems (compare how Peter and Paul had a [in my opinion, temporary] difference of opinion, reflected in Galatians 2, and how James had to criticize what was probably a false understanding of Paul's theology). So a book on New Testament theology must exhibit the individual thinking of the various authors (and Jesus), show whether and how there is harmony between them, and bring out the particular nuances that may be peculiar to different writers.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 765 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (October 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830827951
• ISBN-13: 978-0830827954
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Reference for Ministers!, April 18, 2005

By 

Jay Matthew Barnes "Big Time Nerd!" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (Hardcover)

With the massive amount of religious books being published these days, it would be helpful to know, as a minister, what to buy and what not to buy. This book is a definite buy! It has proven to be helpful to me in my preaching, teaching, and research as I have served as a minister in a local Protestant congregation. I.H. Marshall is one of the best biblical scholars of our time and this is perhaps his magnum opus.

Basically he goes through each section of each document of the New Testament relating to his readers the theological themes found therein. Thus, when preaching or teaching a passage, all you would have to do is open this book up to the appropriate page and get some helpful insights (after you have done the hard work of mulling over the text yourself of course!).

In case you are concerned about the investment, understand two things. Since the author is I.H. Marshall, this book is 1) Evangelical and 2) thoroughly researched.

This is no willy-nilly, off-the-cuff work; it is is a great book and a must have for those who minister in the church!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gold mine of insight, December 11, 2008

By 

James Korsmo "developing theology" (Moorhead, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (Hardcover)

I. Howard Marshall is one of the most distinguished evangelical New Testament scholars of the past twenty-five years. And the adjective "evangelical" is not necessary to make that statement true: he stands tall in any scholarly company. His work has been devoted to the documents of the New Testament, from Luke-Acts to the Pastoral Epistles, with many important works of biblical theology as well. This work, New Testament Theology, is clearly the fruit of his long career.

First, a word about general format. Marshall begins with an introduction about the nature of New Testament theology. He then proceeds systematically through the documents of the New Testament, with periodic breaks for synthesis and comparison. He sums up the theology of the Synoptics and Acts, for example, before proceeding to Paul, and after discussing the Pauline corpus document by document, he synthesizes Paul's letters and then proceeds to carefully compare the theology of Paul's letters to the theology of the synoptics and Acts, and so on throughout the collections of literature that make up the New Testament. In each book, Marshall begins with some introductory comments about the book, it's setting, authorship, etc. He then tells the "theological story" of the book by moving chunk by chunk through each book, dealing with the major teaching units and their content. After moving through the book this way, he synthesizes the theology by approaching the book's content in a more theologically organized way, looking at things like "God the Father" or "Spiritual Gifts" or the like. This allows the book's theology to speak to itself, but also helps the book's theology to speak toward the categories of systematics and helps piece together an author's theological perspective.

I have really enjoyed reading this book, and though I haven't yet read it cover to cover, everything I've read has been well informed and uniformly excellent. I have also really enjoyed his synthesis and comparison articles, such as the article dealing with the synoptics and acts in relation to Paul, which help to explore some of the really important and pressing issues that are often so formative to a New Testament theology. I also really enjoyed his article on the theology of the Pauline letters. His synthesis was concise and clear, bringing out important themes. He is certainly conversant in the latest developments in Pauline studies, but defends a very balanced approach. He also deals delicately but effectively with the "authorship" questions by synthesizing Paul's earlier theology of the undisputed letters and then discussing the data from the disputed (and almost uniformly considered to be later if genuine) epistles in relation to this basic formulation. This allows the later letters to modify and support the undisputed letters without making authorship a stumbling block to the whole enterprise.

In short, this is a great book that I highly recommend. Marshall's writing is clear and learned, and this book has proven to be both good reading and an essential reference work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marshal's as usually - Great!, July 27, 2010

By 

Daniel J. Doleys - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (Hardcover)

I. Howard Marshall is the Honorary Research Professor of New Testament at the University of Aberdeen. His other publications include commentaries on Acts (TNTC), 1 Peter (IVPNTC), John (NICNT), and Luke (NIGTC).

The number and quality of the New Testament theologies in print at present require any new volume to not only be excellent but also set itself off from the others. Some of the best current NTTs include Dunn, Schreiner (abridgment), Thielman and the classics Ladd and Guthrie. If there is anyone who can add a worthwhile contribution to this list it would be Marshall.

Marshal writes with a canonical approach, treating each of NT documents individually. The book is sectioned into corpora: "Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels and Acts", "The Pauline Letters", "The Johannine Literature", and "Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter and Jude". In addition there is an "Introduction" where Marshall argues for his methodology and approach, where he especially refutes Raisanen. Here he states that this volume is an attempt "to explore the New Testament writers developing understanding of God and the world". Finally there is a "Conclusion" discussing the unity and diversity in the NT.

The chapters start with short introduction to the book, a discussion through the content of the book, a discussion of the theological themes in the book and quite a good bibliography. The strongest chapters are those in the Gospels and the Pastorals, which is to be expected from Marshall. Like many in recent years, Marshall states in the introduction that he sees the main theme of the New Testament is the inclusion of the Church in God's mission through Jesus. He then makes comments throughout the text of each chapter of how the document provided a contribution to this theme. While this is a worthwhile pursuit, it seems that sometimes Marshall forces some of his connections here.

The greatest strength of this volume, besides the wealth of Marshall's NT knowledge from a lifetime of study and devotion to the New Testament, is his continual interaction with many specialized and recently released works where he sees great promise or agreement. It is clear that Marshall is involved and up to date on nearly all the major issues in New Testament theology. The writing quality, depth of information and theological analysis makes Marshall's New Testament Theology, in my opinion, the best canonical approach volume of NTT. Paired with Ladd for some more synthesis, you would have the best textbook set for a New Testament theology course.