Between Two Horizons: Spanning New Testament Studies and Systematic Theology

Green and Turner have done biblical scholars a significant service by providing a stimulating set of reflections on the relation between New Testament studies and theology. The eleven essays in this volume challenge the notion that these disciplines can and ought to be separated. They argue for a responsible integration, carefully respecting the methodological integrity of critical biblical studies (though some essayists are less sanguine about the results of the historical-critical method for theology and church) and Christian theological inquiry. Between Two Horizons also introduces the new Two Horizons Commentary (THC) series that will seek to weave together theology and biblical studies. In this review I will provide a brief overview of the themes of the major essays and draw some conclusions about the volume’s overall contribution to the interface between these fields. The first essay, “New Testament Commentary and Systematic Theology” Strangers or Friends?” by the book’s editors, Green and Turner, is introductory to the entire volume. They ask, “Why another commentary series?” about the forthcoming THC project, and answer that good commentaries have become inaccessible to all but the experts and that most commentaries stay within the thought-world of the biblical authors, failing to address the theological needs of the church today. The forthcoming THC series will focus less on “behind the text” issues and more on “in the text” and “in front of the text” (the reader’s world) concerns. [Full Review]

The division between biblical studies and systematic theology has been around since J. P. Gabler. For some, this "iron curtain" is to be welcomed–not so for the contributors of this slender volume. Rather these essayists hold that the wall between biblical studies and systematic theology forces a separation of that which inherently belongs together. In a short review such as this, it is impossible to treat each of the eleven essays (in addition to an afterword) individually. It is possible, however, to bring together some of the more significant common and interdependent themes of the book, thereby giving the reader an overall sense of this collection. First, all the essays are exercises in theological hermeneutics. The question that forms the general umbrella under which the reflections take place is, "What effects should an interest in theology produce in the reading of Scripture?" (p. 1). More specifically, "our interest here is more focused toward the nature of a biblical hermeneutics appropriate to doing theology" (p. 2). In accordance with such an interest, much theological attention, both directly (M. Turner and S. Fowl) and indirectly (J. B. Green and R. Wall), is given to several subjects that occupy prominent places in contemporary hermeneutics: author, text, meaning, reader/interpreter, etc. The refusal to hand such matters entirely over to hermeneutical theorists results in a profound theological treatment of some of the more vexing problems of interpretation. [Full Review]