Biblical Theology Is a Public Theology

One need not look beyond the first chapter of the Bible to see that biblical theology is a public theology. We might even note that God’s acts of bestowing authority on certain elements of his creation and calling them to fill the earth are public theological declarations (Gen 1:18, 22, 26, 28). In this first chapter, we also find God creating humanity itself in his image and, in doing so, inaugurating the human race as a sort of theological statement in itself. Like it or not, we engage in public theology just by being human, made in the image of God, and this witness continues today, distorted by the effects of the fall, but being restored through the gospel.