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Book Review
New Testament Theology
Many Witnesses, One Gospel
I. Howard Marshall
InterVarsity Press 2004 765p
Review by Ray Hoekzema
From the bibliography alone, it is immediately evident that Marshall has
done his homework. Of the 45 authors he quotes, 30 of them have written
books with almost identical titles, ten by highly competent New
Testament Scholars of widely differing theological persuasion appearing
in the last few years. Yet, Marshall felt the need for one more. In all
fairness, he does use a somewhat different approach and comes at the
theological content from another angle.
Answering his own question - ‘How do we do New Testament theology?’- the author favours the historical and developmental framework as the main guide to the journey; and grouping the individual New Testament authors or writings historically. He does not want to simply summarise the teaching of the various New Testament authors, he wants to get beneath the surface – in essence trying to grasp the understanding of God and his relationship to the world reflected in the various documents. And to attempt some comparison of the outlooks of the writers in order to ascertain how far there is such an entity as the theology of the New Testament, and if so, what this entity might be.
In bringing out the focus of the New Testament, he calls on W.C. van Unnik’s explanation of the relationship between the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. He saw the Gospel as the record of the good news proclaimed by Jesus in word and deed, and he then characterized Acts as “the confirmation of the Gospel”, a record telling the story of the mission in such a way as to show how, when the gospel was proclaimed by the missionaries, it was seen to be truly the gospel in that it brought salvation to those who responded to it. The New Testament thus tells the story of the mission and lays special emphasis on expounding the message proclaimed by the missionaries. Recognition of this will alert us to a more dynamic view of the church as the agent of mission instead of the static view that we sometimes have.
Marshall, concerned with the Theological story and the distinctive themes of the individual writings as well as stopping to assess the view of the gradually unifying thread, developed a system of describing and analyzing the theologies of the New Testament books and their authors, offering the main points as a conclusion to most of the books.
This is not your average commentary but a lucid and comprehensive assessment of the issues and themes of New Testament Theology backed up by considerable indices of both subject and Scripture. It is a particularly valuable addition to the library of teachers, students, and expositors; and will equally enrich informed readers.
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