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Childs, Brevard S Biblical Theology in Crisis return to religion-online Biblical Theology in Crisis by Brevard S. Childs A Presbyterian, Brevard Childs received his B.D. from Princeton in 1950, and his D. Theology at the University of Basel in 1955. Since 1958 he has been Professor of Old Testament at Yale University Divinity School. The following was published by The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1970. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock. A description of the "Biblical Theological Movement" following World War II, suggestions for a new approach in doing Biblical Theology, and illustrations of methods for this approach. Preface A summary of the unusual shape of the "Biblical Theology Movement" after World War II in its distinctive American presentation and its response to German Biblical studies. Part 1: Remembering a Past Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Movement Following the Second World War there emerged in America a particular way of doing theology in relation to Biblical studies that has been characterized as the Biblical Theology Movement. Although American Biblical theologians made much use of British and European writers, the shape of this theology received a specific American stamp which justifies its designation as a movement. Chapter 2: Major Elements of the Consensus There was the widest possible agreement among the Biblical theologians in regard to revelation in history. There was an equally wide spectrum of differing interpretations respecting the nature of history, revelation, and their relationship. Biblical scholars to provided full evidence to buttress the distinction in thought categories between the Greek and the Hebrew. A special feature of the American form of doing Biblical Theology was its great interest in the study of the background of the Bible. Chapter 3: Unresolved Problems Positions that Biblical theologians had apparently destroyed in their battle with the older liberal scholars were revived in a slightly altered form, to be then championed by a younger generation file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&id=551.htm (1 of 3) [2/2/03 8:36:39 PM] Biblical Theology in Crisis in revolt against the Biblical theologians. Chapter 4: The Cracking of the Walls The Biblical Theology Movement underwent a period of slow dissolution beginning in the late fifties. The breakdown resulted from pressure from inside and outside the movement that brought it to a virtual end as a major force in American theology in the early sixties. Part 2: Seeking a Future Chapter 5: The Need for a New Biblical Theology During the Biblical Theology Movement many pastors found the current emphases of great aid. To one group whose Biblical training had seemed totally irrelevant to the Christian ministry, the movement provided ways of making the Bible a central focus to its ministry. To another group that came from a Bible-oriented tradition, the movement often served to buttress and update this heritage. Chapter 6: The Shape of a New Biblical Theology A form of Biblical Theology is purposed that takes as its primary task the disciplined theological reflection of the Bible in the context of the canon. The crisis in the discipline has come about by a failure to clarify the major task of Biblical Theology. As a result, Biblical scholars exert most of their energy on historical, literary, and philological problems which, while valid in themselves, have not provided the scholarly Biblical research of the sort the church sorely needs. Chapter 7: Biblical Theology’s Role in Decision-Making The scriptures provide the normative tradition that the church confesses to contain the revealed will of God for his people. There is no system that leads one infallibly from the Biblical warrant to the appropriate decision. The revelation of the will of God to the prophets and apostles did not function this way, nor does the Bible have this role. Rather the church, individually and corporately, studies the Bible in prayer and expectation, often in agony and confusion, awaiting God’s guidance through his Word. Chapter 8: Recovering an Exegetical Tradition The historicocritical method is an inadequate method for studying the Bible as the Scriptures of the church because it does not work from the needed context. This is not to say for a moment that the critical method is incompatible with Christian faith -- we regard the Fundamentalist position as indefensible -- but rather that the critical method, when operating from its own chosen context, is incapable of either raising or answering the full range of questions which the church is constrained to direct to its Scripture. file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&id=551.htm (2 of 3) [2/2/03 8:36:39 PM] Biblical Theology in Crisis Part 3: Testing a Method Chapter 9: Psalm 8 in the Context of the Christian Canon The challenge of the Christian interpreter in our day is to hear the full range of notes within all of Scripture, to wrestle with the theological implication of this Biblical witness, and above all, to come to grips with the agony of our age before a living God who still speaks through the prophets and apostles. Chapter 10: Moses’ Slaying in the theology of the Two Testaments Our text does not provide one clear answer to the complex problem of using violence for the sake of justice. But it does raise a whole set of issues that are inherent in such action. By uncovering the ambiguities in the act of violence, the reader is forced to confront rather than evade those basic factors which constitute the moral decision. Chapter 11: Proverbs, Chapter 7, and a Biblical Approach to Sex In Proverbs 7, man is called to seek wisdom and eschew folly in his approach to sex. Wisdom literature approach to sex shows a positive role of sexual love in the full dimensions of human love completely apart from any utilitarian function that it might serve. To some extent the New Testament assumes the Old Testament approach to be normative. In the Pauline discussion of the problems of marriage in I Cor., ch. 7, the general tone of Paul’s advice is roughly akin to the stance of Proverbs in emphasizing marriage as an antidote to the misuse of sex. Chapter 12: The God of Israel and the Church The use of Old Testament quotations referring to God by the New Testament writers shows an unbroken sense of continuity between the God of Israel and the God worshipped by Christians. The New Testament writers, even during the process of developing their Christologies, see no tension between the Old Testament understanding of God and their own understanding of Jesus Christ, but explicitly make use of the Old Testament to formulate their Christian confessions. 15 file:///D:/rb/relsearchd.dll-action=showitem&id=551.htm (3 of 3) [2/2/03 8:36:39 PM] Religion-Online religion-online.org Full texts by recognized religious scholars More than 1,500 articles and chapters. Topics include Old and New Testament, Theology, Ethics, History and Sociology of Religions, Comparative Religion, Religious Communication, Pastoral Care, Counselling, Homiletics, Worship, Missions and Religious Education. site map (click on any subject) RELIGION & THE SITE THE BIBLE THEOLOGY SOCIETY About Religion Online Authority of the Bible Theology Church and Society Copyright and Use Old Testament Ethics Sociology of A Note to Professors New Testament Missions Religion Comparative Religion Social Issues Bible Commentary Religion and Culture History of Religious Thought RELIGION & THE LOCAL COMMUNICATION CHURCH SEARCH BROWSE Communication Theory The Local Search Religion Online Books Communication in the Local Congregation Index By Author Church Pastoral Care and Recommended Sites Index By Communication and Public Policy Counseling Category Media Education Homiletics: The Art of Preaching Religious Education A member of the Science and Theology Web Ring [ Previous | Next | Random Site | List Sites ] file:///D:/rb/index.htm [2/2/03 8:36:41 PM] Biblical Theology in Crisis return to religion-online Biblical Theology in Crisis by Brevard S. Childs A Presbyterian, Brevard Childs received his B.D. from Princeton in 1950, and his D. Theology at the University of Basel in 1955. Since 1958 he has been Professor of Old Testament at Yale University Divinity School. The following was published by The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1970. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock. Preface It is evident to most people who are engaged professionally in the teaching of theology that the discipline has recently passed through one phase and entered into another. Many lay people are also conscious of a shift in the winds. However, the exact nature of this change is not fully clear, and most of the reflections on the nature of the change remain impressionistic and often visceral. The layman senses the new emphasis on the secular side of Christian responsibility, and the focus of attention on contemporary social issues. The professional theologian speaks of the end of the theological consensus, often identified with "neo-orthodoxy," and the opening up of new theological fronts. He is also aware that the interest seems to have shifted away from Biblical studies to social action. But, above all, he is keenly aware of the fluid state of theological studies. My purpose in writing this book is to attempt to understand one phase in the changing situation, specifically that which is related to Biblical studies. It is generally recognized that interest in the Bible has been characteristic of the period following the Second World War. I believe that one can go beyond this statement and even speak of a "Biblical Theology Movement." My initial concern is to describe this movement. Then I attempt to trace its rise, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and suggest why something new is emerging in its place.
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