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| New Testament scholarship | |
|---|---|
| Name | New Testament scholarship |
| Period | Second Temple Judaism; Early Christianity; Patristic era; Reformation; Enlightenment; 19th century; 20th century; 21st century |
| Region | Palestine; Alexandria; Rome; Constantinople; Antioch; Oxford; Cambridge; Göttingen; Berlin; Princeton; Chicago |
| Major figures | Philo of Alexandria; Josephus; Irenaeus; Origen; Eusebius of Caesarea; Tertullian; Augustine of Hippo; Desiderius Erasmus; Martin Luther; Baruch Spinoza; Friedrich Schleiermacher; David Friedrich Strauß; Ferdinand Christian Baur; Adolf von Harnack; Rudolf Bultmann; Albert Schweitzer; B.H. Streeter; J. Rendel Harris; F. C. Burkitt; Bruce Metzger; E. P. Sanders; John Dominic Crossan; N. T. Wright; Bart D. Ehrman |
| Languages | Koine Greek; Biblical Hebrew; Aramaic; Latin; Coptic; Syriac |
| Notable works | Novum Testamentum Graece; Textus Receptus; Nag Hammadi library; Dead Sea Scrolls; Gospel of Thomas; Gospel of Mary; Didache; Apostolic Fathers |
New Testament scholarship is the academic study of the writings associated with early Christianity, their textual transmission, historical contexts, and theological meanings. It intersects with research on Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic philosophy, Roman Empire, Patristics, and manuscripts discovered at Qumran, Oxyrhynchus, and Nag Hammadi. Scholars use philology, archaeology, and history to reconstruct composition, authorship, and reception in communities such as Antioch and Alexandria.
Early examinations arose in antiquity through figures like Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea who debated canon and heresy, citing texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and letters collected by Church Fathers. Medieval scholarship saw commentators in Constantinople and Rome transmitting Vulgate traditions until humanists like Desiderius Erasmus produced critical editions such as the Textus Receptus. The Enlightenment and 19th century brought historicist critics including Baruch Spinoza, Friedrich Schleiermacher, David Friedrich Strauß, and Ferdinand Christian Baur who applied literary and historical methods developed at University of Göttingen and University of Berlin. Twentieth-century scholars—Rudolf Bultmann, Adolf von Harnack, Albert Schweitzer—shifted emphases to form criticism, existential interpretation, and tradition history; later figures like Bruce Metzger, E. P. Sanders, John Dominic Crossan, N. T. Wright, and Bart D. Ehrman further diversified the field.
Methodological strands include source criticism as practiced in reconstructing sources like the hypothetical Q source and the Synoptic Problem, form criticism originating with Hermann Gunkel and developed in Germany, redaction criticism associated with Kurt Aland and others, and narrative criticism influenced by Rudolf Bultmann and Gordon D. Fee. Social-scientific methods draw on models from sociology and anthropology applied to communities such as those in Corinth and Ephesus, while literary approaches engage with rhetoric and intertextuality in relation to Hebrew Bible citations and Septuagint usage. Reception history traces interpretation through figures like Augustine of Hippo and movements including Protestant Reformation and Eastern Orthodox Church traditions.
Textual criticism centers on manuscript traditions exemplified by the Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus and editorial projects such as the Novum Testamentum Graece and Textus Receptus. Discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and Nag Hammadi library reshaped views on textual plurality and early Christian diversity. Methodologies involve stemmatics, comparative collation, and conjectural emendation applied to witnesses in Koine Greek, Coptic, Syriac, and Latin traditions. Major institutions like the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster and libraries such as the British Library and Vatican Library house crucial codices.
Research on the historical Jesus draws on sources including the Gospel of Mark, Gospel of John, Pauline epistles, and noncanonical writings like the Gospel of Thomas while engaging with historiographical methods from Josephus and Tacitus. Debates pivot around criteria of authenticity developed by scholars such as Rudolf Bultmann, John P. Meier, E. P. Sanders, N. T. Wright, and Richard Bauckham. Studies of early Christian communities examine networks across Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome, and Alexandria and interactions with Pharisees, Sadducees, and Roman governors under imperial structures like those of Tiberius and Claudius.
Questions of Pauline authorship versus pseudepigraphy involve names like Paul the Apostle, Peter, James the Just, and disputed letters (e.g., Pastoral epistles). Dating debates center on chronological frameworks such as early Christianity in the first century CE and later reception in the fourth century CE under emperors like Constantine I. The canon formation process features councils and collections referenced by Eusebius of Caesarea, disputed lists like the Muratorian Fragment, and the impact of editions by Jerome and the Vulgate on Western reception.
Theological exegesis treats themes such as Christology debated by Arius and defended at the Council of Nicaea, soteriology articulated by Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius, and eschatology in writings connected to Revelation (John). Doctrinal developments unfold through ecumenical councils—First Council of Nicaea, Council of Chalcedon—and theological movements including Patristics, Scholasticism, Lutheranism, and Neo-orthodoxy. Contemporary systematic engagements cite figures like Karl Barth and Paul Tillich while biblical theology dialogues with historians such as Adolf von Harnack and B. B. Warfield.
Current debates address historicity and myth theory advanced by Albert Schweitzer and contested by scholars like Bart D. Ehrman and N. T. Wright; textual plurality and canon reception studied by Elaine Pagels and Dale C. Allison Jr.; and ethical readings related to gender and sexuality engaged by Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Public reception spans academic institutions such as Princeton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, and media discussions involving popular authors and journalists. Digital humanities projects at places like Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts apply imaging and databasing to manuscripts, influencing pedagogy and ongoing research.