This is the question we’re considering this week in our doctoral seminar on biblical and theological integration. Two of us are theologians and the other four are bible scholars. Should be interesting!

(Note: we’ll have to save the difference(s) between systematic, historical, and dogmatic theology for another post!)

Here are the articles we were assigned to read for this week:

  1. D.A. Carson, “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology” in the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, pp. 89-104.
  2. D.A. Carson, “Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: The Possibility of Systematic Theology” in Scripture and Truth, D. A. Carson and J. D. Woodbridge, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), pp. 65-95.
  3. G. Hasel, “The Relationship between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology” Trinity Journal 5 (1984): 113-27;
  4. I.H. Marshall, “Climbing Ropes, Ellipses and Symphonies: The Relation between Biblical and Systematic Theology” in A Pathway into the Holy Scripture, P.E. Satterthwaite and D.F. Wright, eds. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 199–219.
  5. E.A. Martens, “Moving from Scripture to Doctrine” Bulletin for Biblical Research 15.1 (2005): 77-103.
  6. Kevin Vanhoozer, “Interpreting Scripture between the Rock of Biblical Studies and the Hard Place of Systematic Theology: The State of the Evangelical (Dis)union” in Richard Lints, ed., Renewing the Evangelical Mission (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 201-25.

Other than that, for the rest of the semester, we’re reading at least selections from the following works. The goal is to learn from examples of biblical and theological integration.

  • Richard Bauckham, Monotheism & Christology in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998).
  • Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997).
  • Graham A. Cole, The God who became Human: A biblical theology of incarnation (NSBT; Downers Grove: IVP, 1995).
  • C. John Collins, The God of Miracles: An Exegetical Examination of God’s Action in the World (Wheaton: Crossway, 2000).
  • Wesley Hill, Paul and the Trinity: Persons, Relations, and the Pauline Letters (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015).
  • R. W. L. Moberly, The Bible, Theology, and Faith: A Study of Abraham and Jesus (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000).
  • Oliver O’Donovan, The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996).
  • Francis Watson, Texts and Truth: Redefining Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
  • Steven N. Williams, The Election of Grace: A Riddle without a Resolution? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015).

What’s the best thing you’ve ever read that combines biblical and theological study?