In the past couple of decades the study of scripture is being reframed so that unashamedly theological reading of biblical texts is not only permissible but encouraged. Some of our most able interpreters of scripture are rising above the biases and limits of the often myopic historical/critical method and producing fresh, engaging, unabashedly theological explications of biblical texts. Joel Green is one of those scholars who take seriously the theological intent of scripture. Green is now general editor of a projected series from Abingdon whereby the questions we put to biblical texts, and the questions the biblical texts put to the contemporary church, are being reframed. In this reframing, historical, philological, and redactic questions are being bracketed in favor of theological and ecclesiological concerns of scripture.
Wisely, Green launches this series with a wonderful book of his own that poses the fundamental theological question, Why Salvation? (Abingdon Press, 2014) Green answers in a variety of ways. What is there about us humans that requires saving? How can it be said that salvation is another name for the whole person, work, and intent of the God of Israel and the church? How is Jesus Christ not only the fullness of God’s salvific intent but also the sort of salvation we had not expected? How can we say with conviction that salvation is the end of history, the purpose toward which God is moving all of Creation in Jesus Christ?
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