Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 14:1 (NA 2009)
Article: A Review Article New Testament Theology: Magnifying God In Christ
Author: Andrew David Naselli

DBSJ 14 (2009) p. 99

A Review Article
New Testament Theology: Magnifying God In Christ

Andrew David Naselli1

New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ by Thomas R. Schreiner. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008. 990 pp. $44.99.

About Schreiner

Schreiner is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of Scripture and Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he has served since 1997. He earned his Ph.D. in NT under Donald A. Hagner at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1983, and he served as editor of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology from 1999 to 2003. His books include Interpreting the Pauline Epistles (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990); The Law and Its Fulfillment: A Pauline Theology of Law (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993); and Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001). He also coauthored The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance and Assurance (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001) and co-edited The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will, vol. 1: Biblical and Practical Perspectives on Calvinism, vol. 2: Historical and Theological Perspectives on Calvinism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), Women in the Church: An Analysis and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), and Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2007).

The intended audience of Schreiner’s New Testament Theology (henceforth NTT) is pastors and students, not the academic community. For additional information about NTT, see my “Interview with Tom Schreiner on NT Theology” (August 1, 2008, available at http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/08/interview-with-tom-schreiner-on-nt.html).

DBSJ 14 (2009) p. 100

Approaching NT Theology

Evangelical NT theologies generally approach the topic in one of two ways:

1. An analytic approach traces themes in units of the NT, grouping corpora such as the Synoptic Gospels, John’s writings, Paul’s letters, etc. (e.g., George Ladd, Leon Morris). Sometimes the approach is primarily book by book (the theology of Matthew, the theology of Mark, etc.)

2. A synthetic or thematic approach traces themes throughout the entire NT, organizing the book by those themes and then tracing those themes throughout units of the NT (e.g., Donald Guthrie).

Frank Thielman’s recent “canonical and synthetic approach” combines both approach...