Introduction to the New Testament

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The introduction to the New Testament is a theological technical term for the representation of the origin, collection and transmission of the writings of the New Testament . The origin of these individually treated writings belongs to the Special Introduction to the New Testament. The general introduction comprises the collection ( canon history ) and the transmission ( text history ) of the New Testament. Such an introduction is presented in book form, but also in the form of courses.
The scientific occupation with the so-called “introductory questions” is often referred to as introductory science ; this expresses that it is a separate scientific discipline . Individual introductory questions are also dealt with in a different context, e.g. For example, some Bible translations explain how each scripture was created before the translation begins. The term introduction is to be distinguished from an introduction that guides the use of methods of reading and researching the New Testament.

Carson / Moo: Introduction to the New Testament, 2010 (book cover); with over 900 pages one of the most extensive introductions.

Concept history

The questions discussed in the introduction to the New Testament arose during the Enlightenment . In 1750 Johann David Michaelis published an introduction to the Divine Writings of the New Covenant . The German word "Introduction" came from the Latin term "introductio". With this work Michaelis became the "founder of German introductory science". He also pursued an apologetic concern. The broad term “introduction” was retained in the following period; it became commonplace in the special meaning still used today.

Heinrich Julius Holtzmann chose a detailed title in 1885: Textbook of the historical-critical introduction to the New Testament. The type of book and content orientation are mentioned here. The form of the introduction was taken up by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn for the Old Testament; From 1780 his multi-volume introduction to the Old Testament appeared . He is considered to be the "founder of the Old Testament introductory science". Such an introduction could also appear for the entire Bible in a shorter form and more generally understandable, such as that by Adolf Schlatter in 1889.

Special and general introduction

The special introduction to the New Testament (abbreviation: NT) examines the origins of the individual New Testament writings: It is about the questions of author, addressee (s) and time of writing. These questions are dealt with separately in each New Testament scripture, with some of these scriptures also being viewed as a group, especially the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul . This special introduction forms the main part of an introduction to the NT. By defining and restricting to the exact list of the 27 books of the New Testament, an introduction is closely linked to the problems of the canon , i.e. to the question of how the special ecclesiastical position of these 27 books can be justified.

The two parts of the General Introduction, the origin of the New Testament canon and the history and criticism of the New Testament text , each make up only about a tenth of the total length of an NT introduction. Sometimes no separate chapters are devoted to the history of canons and texts.

Instead of the superordinate division into general and special introductions, sometimes a three-way division is made (by dividing the general introduction into canon and text history), dispensing with the pair of terms general / special.

Conservative and Liberal Introductions

There are great differences in theological research in answering these introductory questions. The answers can essentially be assigned to two currents: The liberal current considers about half of the 13 Pauline letters to be spurious insofar as they do not go back to Paul and, moreover, are said to have been written after his death. The conservative current, on the other hand, leads these letters back to Paul throughout, whereby the so-called pastoral letters in particular are often attributed to a “ secretary ” of Paul. The examination of the authenticity of Paul's letters enables a quick assignment of a theologian or an introduction to one of the two currents, between which there are also further differences, especially in the area of ​​the special introduction.

Conservative introductions

By 1900, two-volume was Introduction to the New Testament by Theodor Zahn influential. It reached three editions and in 1994 a reprint.

Later works are in Zahn's tradition:

  • Wilhelm Michaelis : Introduction to the New Testament . Bern 1961 (3rd edition)
  • Erich Mauerhofer : Introduction to the writings of the New Testament . VTR, Nuremberg and RVB, Hamburg, 2004 (3rd edition)

In the English-speaking world, the New Testament Introduction by Donald Guthrie (London) was widely used from the 1960s . An American introduction was even translated into German:

  • Donald A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo: Introduction to the New Testament. Brunnen, Gießen 2010 (2nd edition 2005).

Orthodox theologians come to conservative conclusions, especially when assessing the author's questions. Konstantin Nikolakopoulos gives an insight in his book The New Testament in the Orthodox Church. Basic Questions for an Introduction to the New Testament (2nd edition 2014). The introduction by the Catholic Luke Timothy Johnson tends to be conservative; it is entitled The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation (3rd edition 2010).

Liberal introductions

The introduction to the New Testament , first published by Paul Feine in 1913 , experienced many editions, first edited by himself, then supervised by Johannes Behm , and finally by Werner Georg Kümmel up to the 21st edition in 1983. Generations of Protestant theology students in particular learned from this textbook.

The Catholic “counterpart” was the introduction by Alfred Wikenhauser , first published in 1953 , which was originally rather conservative and gradually approached liberal positions, especially after the Second Vatican Council and in the revisions by Josef Schmid , most recently in 1973.

In the past few decades further introductions have appeared that can also be assigned to the liberal trend:

  • Willi Marxsen : Introduction to the New Testament. An introduction to your problems. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1978 (4th edition)
  • Philipp Vielhauer : History of early Christian literature. Introduction to the New Testament, the Apocrypha, and the Apostolic Fathers. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 1978 (also deals with extra-biblical writings).
  • Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2017 (9th edition).
  • Ingo Broer : Introduction to the New Testament. 2 volumes, Würzburg 1998/2001.
  • Petr Pokorný , Ulrich Heckel: Introduction to the New Testament. Tuebingen 2007.

"Introduction" to the New Testament

The “introduction” must be distinguished from the “introduction”. Helmut Koester emphasized in the preface of his Introduction to the New Testament in the context of religious history and cultural history of the Hellenistic and Roman period that his work not a line was. Such a guide provides an introduction to the world of that time, that is considered the political and religious environment; this subject is sometimes called "Contemporary New Testament History". Often a literary introduction is also included; H. Methodological questions for the interpretation of texts of that time. A recent example of such an introduction is The New Testament and Its World. An introduction by Peter Pilhofer . The contemporary history of that time is presented here in chronological order and, linked to this, the origins of the individual writings of the New Testament are classified. The boundaries between the subjects of a management and those of a one line are therefore to draw not quite sharp, but there are different priorities and concerns even with thematic overlaps.

The workbook on the New Testament by Hans Conzelmann and Andreas Lindemann (Tübingen, since 1975), which is often recommended as an introduction, does not include the term “introduction” in the title. As a workbook, it aims to guide students in using the methods. Similar to a special introduction, it also treats the 27 NT scriptures, but more in the sense of an introduction and instruction, while an introduction as a textbook primarily provides information.

See also

literature

  • Donald A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo: Introduction to the New Testament. Brunnen, Gießen 2010 (2nd edition 2005).
  • Martin Ebner , Stefan Schreiber (Ed.): Introduction to the New Testament (= Kohlhammer study books Theology. 6). 2nd, revised and updated edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-023093-4 .
  • Werner Georg Kümmel : Introduction to the New Testament. Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg 1983 (21st edition).
  • Werner Georg Kümmel: Introductory Science II. New Testament. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE), Vol. 9, 1982, pp. 469-482.
  • Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament (= UTB. 1830). 9th, revised edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen et al. 2017, ISBN 978-3-8252-4812-3 .
  • Georg Strecker : New Testament (NT). In: Georg Strecker (ed.): Theology in the 20th century. Status and tasks. Tübingen 1983, pp. 61-145.
  • Hans-Jürgen Zobel : Introductory Science I. Old Testament. In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE), Vol. 9, 1982, pp. 460-469.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Udo Schnelle : Introduction to the New Testament . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005 (5th edition), p. 16.
  2. ↑ Kümmel, in: TRE 9, p. 471.
  3. ↑ Zobel in TRE 9, p. 460, says that the term introduction hardly coincides with the subject matter dealt with in it, but is retained as a terminus technicus due to its longstanding use.
  4. ^ Zobel, in: TRE 9, p. 464.
  5. ↑ Adolf Schlatter: Introduction to the Bible . Stuttgart 1889.
  6. ^ Zobel in TRE 9, p. 461; where he thinks that the general introduction appears “like a kind of opening credits or as a ... appendix”.
  7. ↑ Kümmel in TRE 9, p. 479, sees this as "the fundamental methodological problem" of introductory science.
  8. ↑ So the formulation of the headings of these two parts in Kümmel: Introduction, 1980.
  9. ↑ In his NT introduction, Udo Schnelle restricts himself to a discussion of the individual NT scriptures.
  10. ↑ For example with Kümmel: Introduction to the New Testament .
  11. ↑ Originally from Deichert, Leipzig; Reprinted by R. Brockhaus, Wuppertal.
  12. ^ At Verlag Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg.
  13. ↑ That was the 6th edition. Published by Herder, Freiburg / Breisgau.
  14. ^ So Georg Strecker : New Testament (NT). In: Georg Strecker (ed.): Theology in the 20th century. Status and tasks. Tübingen 1983, pp. 61–145, p. 84 there. Strecker treats the introduction and introduction in separate chapters, pp. 71–92.
  15. ^ Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1980, ISBN 3-11-002452-7 .
  16. ^ Verlag Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2010 (UTB 3363).
  17. ↑ z. B. von Georg Strecker: New Testament, 1983, p. 72.