The New Testament : the history of the investigation of its problems /
Werner Georg Kummel; translated by S. McLean Gilmour and Howard C. Kee.
- 2nd ed.
- London : SCM, [c1972]
- 510 p. ; 23 cm.
- (New Testament Library) .
Translation from the German Das Neue Testament: Geschiche der Erforschung seiner Probleme. Notes and appendixes: p. 407-498.
Pt. 1: The prehistory Ancient and medieval The period of the Reformation Pt. 2: The decisive stimuli Textual criticism English Deism and its early consequences Pt. 3: The beginnings of the major disciplines of New Testament research J.S. Semler and J.D. Michaelis The literary problems The history of primitive Christianity and its world of thought Biblical theology Exegesis and the laying of its hermeneutical foundation Pt. 4: The consistently historical approach to the New Testament David Friedrich Strauss and Ferdinand Christian Baur The dispute with Strauss and Baur in light of a basic solution of the problem of sources The correction of Baur's picture of history Individual problems The questioning of the consistently historical view of the New Testament Pt. 5: The history-of-religions school of New Testament interpretation The pioneers of the history-of-religions school and their opponents Consistent eschatology The history-of-religions school The radical historical criticism The opposition to the view of the New Testament advanced by the school of the history-of-religions and radical historical criticism Pt. 6: The historico-theological view of the New Testament The literary problems The new history-of-religions approach The new emphasis on theological interpretation
"There can be nothing but praise for the treatment of the subject from the turn of the seventeenth to the eighteenth century up to the present day. Kummel finds the decisive stimuli of New Testament research as we now understand it in Textual Criticism and, interestingly enough, in English Deism. He goes on to trace scientific study from Semler and Michaelis up to the consistently historical approach inaugurated by D.B. Strauss and F.C. Baur. The other major developments are grouped under the main headings of 'The History of Religion School' and the 'HistoricoTheological View'. On this broad canvas the detail is superbly organized. Perhaps the outstanding feature of the book is the large amount of illustrative material taken from the writings of the principal scholars whose views are adumbrated and criticized. Behind the selection of material lie great skill and perception. To draw attention to the rich vein of source material is in no way to depreciate Kummel's own contribution which sets in context and gives significance to the excerpts. He makes the reader aware of what precisely are the problems of interpretation, how and why they arise when they do, how they are dealt with by this scholar and that, what is the strength and the weakness of each approach and hypothesis. Running commentary and illustrative material are both enhanced by over five hundred comprehensive notes, full indices, and bibliography. Here is an instrument of study for which we have long been looking and can only receive with gratitude"--Marcus Ward in The Heythrop Journal