BIBLICAL THEOLOGY 1. Introductory. Biblical Theology is based on the assumption that, as far as their outward form is concerned, the religious conceptions found in the Christian Scriptures are subject to the laws that govern the formation and growth of ideas in other spheres. It consists in the study, arrangement, and presentation of the religious ideas of the Bible in their chronological and genetic relations with one another and with their historical setting.
(1) Basal Assumptions. This definition puts Biblical Theology in connection, on the one side. with the science of religion, which has for its material all the religions of the world, and on the other with a circle of so-called theological sciences centered in and growing out of the canonical books of the Bible. As far as its affilia tion with the science of religion in general is concerned, Biblical Theology is prepared to rec ognize that its subject matter has elements com mon to all the religions of the world. It is pre pared, further, to concede that the preliminary stages of that growth of thought which it deals with run parallel with the stages of growth passed through by other religions. Still further. that these parallels also prepare the way for the final stage of that development which it aims to examine. But it claims a unique character and an authoritativeness for the religion of which it traces the growth and examines the exact sig nificance. It does not consider it a part of its own function to validate this claim; it presup poses that it has been proved valid outside of its own sphere. It rejects as unscientific the pre sumption that the religion of the Bible is "one of the great religions of the world, nothing less. hut also nothing more." (Kuenen's Religion of Israel, vol. i., p. 5.) (2) With What Classified. As far as its re lation to other theological sciences, based like itself, on the canonical Scriptures is concerned. it is to be classified with those of them that deal with history. It is a history of revealed thought
in the process of revelation. It is allied to exege sis, as far as sound exegesis precedes and con ditions it. It is allied to history of doctrine in as far as this traces the growth of a systematiza tion of revealed truth after its original formation. It is allied to systematic theology in that this department correlates the facts of Biblical the ology with philosophical postulates and scientific conclusions. Biblical theology is contented with the narrower but more essential task of ascertain ing the exact circumstances under which, and the forms in which, revealed thought emerges and flows within the period of its first appearance.
(3) A Modern Science. Biblical Theology is a modern science. It had its origin in a series of efforts to lead theological discussion into the use of Scripture texts in their proper historical sense. Under the stress of controversy the words of Scripture had come to be used without due regard to their true perspective and setting. A passage in Genesis was often made to serve the same end as one in the gospel of St. John. Vari ous protests were made during the middle of the eighteenth century against this sort of usage, and out of these protests issued, in 1789, Gabler's Essay on the true distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology. The true reason for the existence of Biblical Theology was given in this essay, as well as the principle that should govern it. The programme outlined by Gabler was taken up and carried out with varying de grees of fidelity to the original idea by a line of successors; and during the century that has elapsed since the publication of this essay, Bib lical Theology has won its way into recognition as a legitimate and exceedingly valuable, even in dispensable, theological science.
According to the natural divisions of the ca•, nonica I Scriptures, Biblical Theology is generally treated under two heads: Old Testament The ology and New Testament Theology.