6. The Debate over New Testament Theology

The question about New Testament theology is probably the most important in the treatment of Raisanen's hermeneutics. This chapter addresses the following questions: How does Heikki Rӓisӓnen's theory on the emergence of early Christianity relate to the numerous monographs that have been published in recent years? How should one write New Testament theology? For a long time, during the twentieth century, New Testament theology was a somewhat neglected field of study. The main problem in the theory of biblical theology, in the Western tradition, has always been the relation between history and theology. Lutheran Stendahl writes in the twentieth-century German tradition. He develops a two-stage approach (Zweistufenprogramm) to biblical hermeneutics and thus belongs, in the Rӓisӓnen's opinion, with scholars who make a clear distinction between historical biblical theology and later dogmatic theology or at least some kind of contemporary interpretation.Keywords: biblical theology; early Christianity; Heikki Rӓisӓnen's hermeneutics; Lutheran Stendahl; New Testament theology