Some Significant Books of 1971: Part 5: The New Testament

Last year was marked by the publication of a large number of worthwhile volumes related to study of the New Testament. There has been one large gap, however: not enough truly worthwhile books for the non-specialist. The needs of the biblical scholar and theological student have been served well with a host of excellent commentaries, translations of important German works, creatively original monographs, and valuable collections of essays. But the needs of the lay Bible student have been sadly neglected. Most of the books published for him were either too inaccurate or too superficial to be of real help.

Leading the list is the first volume of a multi-volume theology of the New Testament by the eminent German scholar Joachim Jeremias. New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus (Scribners) is a model of twentieth-century biblical scholarship. It contains a wealth of information for the preacher and teacher who is willing to brush the dust off his Greek Testament and dig in; here is enough food for both shepherd and flock for many weeks.

Jeremias’s work is significant for a number of reasons. First, he (unlike many of his German colleagues) takes an essentially conservative view toward the reliability of the gospel records: the Synoptic Gospels, which form the basis of his study, are accepted as giving an essentially authentic picture of Jesus and his teachings. Current criteria for judging a gospel tradition’s authenticity are turned on their head with the statement that “in the synoptic tradition it is the inauthenticity, and not the authenticity, of the sayings of Jesus that must be demonstrated.” (This would seem to be the obviously correct approach, were it not that the converse has been stated so often recently!) Secondly, the author’s main concern is the New Testament itself, rather than the writings of scholars who make their livelihood by the study of the New Testament (though the secondary literature is by no means overlooked). Thirdly, the proclamation of Jesus is seen, quite rightly, to be the starting place, indeed the foundation, for a theology of the New Testament. If the pastor or theological student buys only one book this year, let it be this one!

A major commentary on the Bible being written by evangelical scholars is the “New International Commentary,” under the editorship of F. F. Bruce for the New Testament. Last year saw the publication of an important addition to the series in the massive Commentary on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris (Eerdmans). The author, an Australian Anglican and a regular contributor to CHRISTIANITY TODAY, is one of the younger initiators of the current resurgence of evangelical biblical scholarship that began in Britain in the fifties. A collection of his essays on the Fourth Gospel appeared in 1969, and this, together with the high standard of Morris’s other published works, gave us reason to expect great things from the present commentary. Our hopes were not in vain! This commentary of more than nine hundred pages takes its place alongside any of the recent works on John—and the past decade has seen the publication of more than its share of important commentaries on this Gospel—as one of the best. Its format is such that it will be of value to all serious Bible students and not only to those who know Greek. If I felt inclined toward prophecy, I would predict that Morris’s volume, like the older commentary by Westcott, will continue in print and be used to the blessing of the Christian Church when many of the other recent works on the Fourth Gospel will have long since been forgotten.

The American publication of F. F. Bruce’s New Testament History (Doubleday) is a testimony to the growing strength of evangelical scholarship: not only are conservative scholars stepping outside normal evangelical publication channels more often, and frequently by invitation, but they are also writing some of the standard works in the field. Bruce’s volume, though not radically different from the histories by Filson and Reicke, is undoubtedly the best all-round study in the field and is certain to have a wide circulation as a basic textbook in seminaries and colleges. Although it is rather heavy going at times (beginners will be well advised to skip over the early chapters on the intertestamental period and come back to them later), it will be of interest to all serious Bible students. The author wears his learning lightly, and his lucid style wins for him a place of honor in that all too small cadre of scholars whose works are read and appreciated by ordinary Christian laymen and pastors as well as by their professional colleagues. It is gratifying that the publisher has made Bruce’s work available in very attractive American dress and in paperback as well as hardback. This year also saw American publication of Bruce’s Tradition: Old and New (Zondervan), a useful introduction to commonly misunderstood aspects of the writing, compilation, and interpretation of the New Testament.

Another book that should find a wide audience is N. E. Han’s A Parsing Guide to the Greek New Testament (Herald). Rather than using alphabetical order, like Bagster’s, Han goes verse by verse. Although Greek teachers may not appreciate it, beginning students, at least, will certainly find it helpful.

COMMENTARIES Nineteen seventy-one could well be called the year of the commentary. In addition to Morris on John, an unusually large number of other important volumes were published. Colossians and Philemon by Eduard Lohse (Fortress), the first volume in the “Hermeneia” series, takes pride of place as a model of an exegetical commentary and as the most beautifully produced volume of any of those mentioned in this survey article. One seldom thinks of a critical commentary as a work of art, but this one is—right down to the choice of typeface (it even has an appendix explaining the use of symbols and other aspects of the design). In the more important area of content as well the volume must be given an A plus. The commentary is full enough to be helpful but does not waste words; even though it is a translation of a German original published in 1968 (in the Meyer series), it has been brought up to date and put into smooth, natural English. The introductions are brief; matters usually discussed at the beginning of a commentary are discussed in the context of the exegesis or in excursuses appropriately placed in the text. Even the thorny question of the Pauline authorship of Colossians is left open till the end of the commentary. Despite the tenuous nature of the case for the view that the epistle stems from a circle of Paul’s disciples who preserved, studied, and developed his teaching (Philemon is considered genuine), one does not feel that Lohse has prejudged the case; furthermore, the exegesis of Colossians as a whole is relatively independent of the question of authorship, and those who differ with Lohse on the matter (as I do) will still find his work of great value.

The award for the most original commentary of the year goes to the late W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, who jointly produced the latest New Testament addition to the “Anchor Bible.” Matthew: A New Translation With an Introduction and Notes (Doubleday) is an extremely interesting commentary, though it can hardly be recommended as the definitive work on the First Gospel. In many ways it is a refreshing work—the authors differ with nearly the whole world of contemporary New Testament scholarship regarding the general conclusions of gospel criticism, and this is not entirely a fault. Still, one has the feeling that many of the conclusions stated rather dogmatically in the lengthy introduction have not been thoroughly researched but represent the authors’ opinions, or even hunches, ingenious though they be. The New Testament scholar who is concerned with matters of gospel criticism cannot afford to ignore the material presented and the conclusions suggested, but the general Bible student and the pastor will have to wait for a more adequate, up-to-date commentary on Matthew to meet his needs.

Two additional commentaries in the Meyer series that have been translated from German into English are The Gospel of John by Rudolf Bultmann and The Acts of the Apostles by Ernst Haenchen (both Westminster). Both works have been indispensable tools for academic work on John or Acts since the first editions appeared two and three decades ago. Both represent radical approaches to these writings (i.e., they take an extremely negative view of the historical value of John and Acts and write from an existentialist theological perspective), but the authors are noted scholars and have written works with which all who are concerned with the study of early Christianity must come to terms. Once again the publisher is to be commended for bringing out American editions that are less expensive than their British counterparts.

Five commentaries that the non-specialist will find of value are F. F. Bruce, First and Second Corinthians (Oliphants); James M. Boice, Philippians: An Expositional Commentary (Zondervan); D. E. Hiebert, The Thessalonian Epistles (Moody); Ernest Best, First Peter (Oliphants); and F. F. Bruce, The Epistles of John (Revell). Boice’s expositions originated as radio sermons on the “Bible Study Hour” and are not only exegetically helpful but also related to the practical problems of everyday Christian living. The Oliphant volumes are in the “New Century Bible,” a relatively new series that already contains several admirable commentaries; unfortunately the series has not found an American publisher. Each is useful and will be of help to the theological student, pastor, and advanced lay Bible student.

A commentary on the whole New Testament by Martin Franzmann was published along with the complete text of the RSV as the Concordia Bible With Notes (Concordia). Distinctively Lutheran elements are restrained; all evangelicals can use this profitably as a New Testament for study.

JESUS CHRIST Two leading New Testament scholars who have given us very personal records of their convictions concerning Jesus are the Swiss theologian Eduard Schweizer and C. H. Dodd, the doyen of British biblical scholarship. Neither would be described as “evangelical” or “conservative” in the normal use of those words, but each comes through as a person deeply committed to Jesus Christ. Jesus (John Knox), Schweizer’s testimony, is the more personal of the two; if one were to edit out the occasional theological judgment and, more often, the extreme critical opinions that punctuate the book, the result would be a fairly orthodox exposition with a somewhat pietist flavor. It may seem strange that a deep, personal faith in Jesus as Lord can co-exist with Bultmannianism, or something like it—but there it is.

Dodd’s book, The Founder of Christianity (Macmillan), is more conservative but less devotional in tone than Schweizer’s Jesus. Whereas Schweizer reaches beyond the Gospels to the rest of the New Testament and is concerned with the place of Jesus in the faith of the early Church, Dodd focuses on the “historical Jesus” whom he believes can be discerned in the gospel records. In this regard he takes a much more positive view of the historical value of the Gospel than is common in some circles—though he is scarcely a fundamentalist (in spite of what some might think who have read only H. Trevor-Roper’s now famous review). Quite rightly, Dodd stresses the importance of passages like Luke 1:1–4, where the author states that he fully intends to write an account that is historically reliable, and the strong case that exists for the essential historicity of the Gospels, even the Fourth Gospel.

Jesus and Man’s Hope, edited by D. G. Miller and D. Y. Hadidian (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), is the title of a varied but fascinating two-volume collection of papers originally presented at the “Festival on the Gospels” held in April, 1970, to mark the one hundred seventy-fifth anniversary of Pittsburgh Seminary. Contributors include leading Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars of varied theological perspectives and a few non-theologians (of whom R. M. Frye is by far the most interesting). That each of the lead papers on each of the Gospels should question some of the fundamental assumptions of “mainstream” gospel criticism, and give plausible reasons for doing so, indicates the state of flux that exists in this area of New Testament research.

PAUL THE APOSTLE Two fairly non-technical works on the life and teaching of Paul are Gunther Bornkamm’s Paul (Harper & Row) and The Ministry and Message of Paul by Richard Longenecker (Zondervan). Bornkamm, a former student of Rudolf Bultmann who has tended to become a little more conservative than his mentor, attempts to reconstruct, first the life and work of the Apostle, and then the central features of his theology. The resulting work is admirable, and the student can use it with profit if he keeps in mind the dubious presuppositions that underlie the Heidelberg professor’s work (such as the historical unreliability of Acts or the genuineness of only seven of Paul’s epistles). Bornkamm rightly stresses, however, the continuity between the messages of Jesus and Paul. Longenecker’s study takes a more conservative but by no means less competent approach. The author has studied Paul and his place in early Christianity for many years and has distinguished himself by an earlier and more technical work, Paul: Apostle of Liberty. Most of the material contained in the book was written for the forthcoming Zondervan Pictorial Bible Encyclopedia and is a foretaste (I hope) of good things to come.

Two more technical works devoted to Paul are The Sayings of Jesus in the Churches of Paul by David L. Dungan (Fortress) and Perspectives on Paul by Ernst Käsemann (Fortress). The former, centering primarily on First Corinthians 7:10 and 11 and 9:14, seeks to determine the extent and manner of Paul’s use of the tradition used by the Synoptic Evangelists; the author’s conclusion is that “Paul stands squarely within the tradition that led to the Synoptic gospels,” effectively countering the view of some that the Apostle knew only a few sayings of Jesus. The volume by Kasemann offers in English dress seven scholarly and sometimes polemical essays dealing with Paul’s anthropology, the saving significance of the death of Jesus in Paul, justification and Heilsgeschichte in Romans, the faith of Abraham (Romans 4), the body of Christ, liberty in worship, and the Pauline antithesis between spirit and letter. As always Kasemann stimulates one to look afresh at the text of Scripture, but he is hardly the best guide available, in either historical methodology or theology.

COLLECTED ESSAYS One of the most creatively original of recent collections of essays on the New Testament is Law in the New Testament by J. Duncan M. Derrett (Darton, Longman and Todd), professor of Oriental Laws in the University of London. Derrett’s essays are models of historical scholarship and draw on a wide knowledge of rabbinics and Oriental legal thinking. All but one of the eighteen chapters relate to the Gospels, with a strong emphasis on the parables. There is a valuable chapter on the trial of Jesus and also on Romans 7:1–4. No student of the life and teachings of Jesus can afford to overlook this volume. Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament by J. A. Fitzmyer (G. Chapman), a leading Aramaic scholar, offers an equal treat for the scholar. Subjects include: the use of the Old Testament in Qumran and in the New Testament, the Semitic background of various gospel texts and phrases, First Corinthians 11:10 and Second Corinthians 6:14–7:1 in relation to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Melchizedek (the subject of two essays), Jewish Christianity in Acts in the light of the Qumran documents, the Bar Cochba period, the Oxyrhynchus Sayings of Jesus and the so-called Gospel according to Thomas, and the similarities and dissimilarities between the Ebionites and the Qumran community. Not exactly bedtime reading, but biblical and historical scholarship at its best!

The Future of Our Religious Past, edited by James M. Robinson (Harper & Row), contains a selection of essays from the 1964 festschrift for Rudolf Bultmann on his eightieth birthday, now available in English for the first time. More than half the essays are concerned primarily with the New Testament and are by some of the big names in scholarship (mostly German): Nils Dahl (on history and eschatology in the light of the Scrolls), W. G. Kümmel (eschatology and the proclamation of Jesus), E. Käsemann (reconciliation in the New Testament), H. Koester (early Christian heresy), J. M. Robinson (the literary genre of “Q”), H. Thyen (“baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”), E. Dinkler (Peter’s confession), G. Bornkamm (Matthew 28:16–20), and H. Conzelmann (the background of the wisdom motif). One of the more interesting contributions is found in the “theology and philosophy” section in the form of a philosophical meditation on Romans 7 by Hans Jonas.

John and Qumran (G. Chapman) contains nine important essays that relate the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Fourth Gospel. Two are by the editor, James H. Charlesworth (a comparison of the dualism of IQS 3:13–4:26 with that of John; Qumran, John, and the Odes of Solomon). Also included are an introductory essay by Raymond E. Brown on the Scrolls and the New Testament, Qumran and the theology of John by James L. Price, the Johannine Paraclete and the Qumran writings by A. R. C. Leaney, the calendar of Qumran and the passion narrative in John by A. Jaubert (a most important essay!), Qumran, John, and Jewish Christianity by G. Quispel, First John and Qumran by M.-E. Bois-mard, and the origin of the Gospel according to John by W. H. Brownlee. There is a select bibliography of writings on the subject, as well as full indexes.

A final collection of essays worthy of mention is the festschrift for Joachim Jeremias, Der Ruf Jesu und die Antwort der Gemeinde (The Call of Jesus and the Answer of the Church) (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), edited by E. Lohse and others. The contributors are all former students of Jeremias. A few of them, for example Norman Perrin and Eduard Lohse, have already achieved international fame as scholars, and we may expect to hear more from them in the future. There is nothing particularly earthshaking about the essays, but they all represent a high quality of scholarship and are worthy of the great man they seek to honor. A valuable feature is the long bibliography of the writings of Jeremias, which contains a subject and Scripture index.

HISTORY OF EXEGESIS A subdiscipline of biblical studies that is increasingly coming into its own is the history of biblical interpretation. Four valuable additions to the field appeared during the past year. Herrschaft und Unterwerfung Christi (Lordship and Subjection of Christ) (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck) is the title of a study of First Corinthians 15:24–28 in the writings of the Fathers up to the end of the fourth century. T. H. L. Parker has written a much needed introduction to Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries (Eerdmans) that will doubtless prove to be a very useful tool for students of Calvin and New Testament exegetes alike. V. Noskov Olsen, a Seventh-day Adventist scholar, has published his Basel dissertation on The New Testament Logia on Divorce: A Study of Their Interpretation From Erasmus to Milton (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck); the author illustrates how difficult it is for those who profess submission to the authority of the Bible to be truly objective in their interpretation of its teaching. David R. Catchpole’s The Trial of Jesus: A Study in the Gospels and Jewish Historiography From 1770 to the Present Day (Leiden: E. J. Brill) offers an excellent introduction to both Jewish interpretation of the Gospels and the gospel texts themselves. Among the various emphases is the need for scholars to take the tradition preserved in Luke more seriously than they have tended to do in the past.

SPECIALIZED STUDIES A plethora of academic treatises poured from the presses last year, gladdening the heart of every New Testament scholar. The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity (A. R. Allenson) by R. N. Longenecker of Trinity in the “Studies in Biblical Theology” series discusses Christological titles under three headings: (1) images and motifs that are distinctively Jewish Christian, (2) affirmations related to messiahship, (3) titles associated with lordship. The introductory chapter on methodology is very important and is worthy of reflection. Longenecker has blazed the trail for younger American evangelical scholars who want to make a mark for God in the arena of biblical scholarship. Luke: Historian and Theologian by I. H. Marshall (Zondervan) is another example of the type of work needed.

Two additional titles that have advanced the cause of Lucan research are R. F. Zehnle, Peter’s Pentecost Discourse: Tradition and Lukan Reinterpretation in Peter’s Speeches of Acts 2 and 3 (Abingdon), and T. Schramm, Der Markus-Stoff bei Lukas (The Marcan Material in Luke) (Cambridge). Zehnle offers a careful study of Petrine sermons in Acts 2 and 3 that attempts to relate them to the theology and literary structure of Acts. The work by Schramm serves as a corrective to some research done on the Lucan writings during the past two decades, especially by Germans.

Creation and Redemption: A Study in Pauline Theology (Leiden: E. J. Brill) by J. G. Gibbs is a study of Romans 5:12–21; 8:18–39; First Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3–14; Philippians 2:6–11; Colossians 1:15–20, and related passages. The thesis is that Paul’s thought “began with the lordship of Christ and in that light saw the relation between creation and redemption.” The NewTestament Christological Hymns: Their Historical Religious Background (Cambridge) by Jack T. Sanders deals with two of the same passages, Philippians 2 and Colossians 1, plus Ephesians 2:14–16; First Timothy 3:16; First Peter 3:18–22; Hebrews 1:3, and John 1:1–18. Sanders’s approach and conclusions are quite different from those of Gibbs; he judges the background of these early Christian hymns to be a syncretistic form of pre-Christian Judaism when there existed an emerging mythical configuration that could be attached to various redeemer figures. Wisdom, Christology, and Law in Matthew’s Gospel (Harvard) by M. Jack Suggs is a similar though less technical study.

The Literary Devices in John’s Gospel (Basel: F. Reinhardt Verlag) by David W. Wead introduces a refreshing approach to the Fourth Gospel. Wead (who teaches at Emmanuel School of Religion, a seminary of the conservative Christian Churches) forsakes the normal categories of New Testament criticism and seeks to apply some of the insights of ordinary literary criticism. The introductory chapter on the author’s point of view(s) is probably Wead’s most original contribution, though his subsequent discussions of the use of sign, double meaning, irony, and metaphor are all helpful. The work is full of exegetical insight. The Faithful Sayings in the Pastoral Letters by George W. Knight III (Presbyterian and Reformed) is the published form of a Free University of Amsterdam dissertation on the five passages in the Pastorals that contain the expression pistos ho logos (“faithful is the saying”). These sayings are regarded as quotations rather than compositions of the author, that is, creedal or liturgical expressions of the early Church’s faith and life.

Other monographs to be noted are E. Fuchs, Jesus: Wort und Tat (Jesus: Word and Deed) (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck), a further contribution to the discussion about the “New Hermeneutic” by a leading disciple of Bultmann; R. H. Fuller, The Formation of the Resurrection Narratives (Macmillan), an attempt to unravel the traditions concerning the resurrection of Jesus; L. E. Keck, A Future For the Historical Jesus (Abingdon), a discussion for the non-specialist of the place of Jesus in preaching and theology; J. M. Robinson and H. Koester, Trajectories Through Early Christianity (Fortress), an esoteric work based on the assumption that Jesus of Nazareth was “purely human”; and T. J. Weeden, Mark: Traditions in Conflict (Fortress), a highly speculative work that will be of interest to specialists. Finally, there appeared three translations that need no introduction to the scholars for whom they are intended: W. Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (Fortress); W. Schmithals, Gnosticism in Corinth (Abingdon); and J. Weiss, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Fortress).

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