Biblical Theology
Biblical Theology is the a discipline of theology (in distinction from systematic theology, practical theology, apologetics, etc.) which studies the Bible as a whole to help interpret and understand individual portions of it. That is, Biblical Theology attempts to put individual texts in their historical context since what came before them is the foundation on which they are laid and what comes after is what they anticipate. Biblical Theology is sometimes called the "History of Special Revelation" since it deals with the unfolding and expanding nature of revelation as history progresses through the Bible.
The motivation for this branch of theology comes from such passages as Luke 14.27: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, (Jesus) explained to (the disciples) what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." The assumption of this text seems to be that the Old Testament anticipated the Messiah and that Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. Thus, Biblical Theologians suggest that, in order to understand the intended meaning of a Biblical text, one must understand what the text points toward or back to. For instance, when reading about the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, Biblical Theologians follow the trajectory the Bible lays out for that system (namely, pointing to Jesus as the true sacrifice), and likewise, when a New Testament text refers back to the Old Testament (for example, Jesus being the son of David and heir of his covenant), they try to understand that text against its proper, specified background.
External links
- Biblical Theology Briefings - essays and articles by various scholars on Biblical Theology
- BiblicalTheology.org - writings of Geerhardus Vos, who is sometimes called "the father of Reformed Biblical Theology"
- Kerux: The Journal of Northwest Theological Seminary - has been printing biblical-theological material in the Calvinistic tradition since 1986