Monday, December 04, 2006

Ben Witherington's 12 desideratum on NT Theology

Michael Bird, a NT scholar, has posted Ben Witherington's 12 desideratum (something to be desired) on NT Theology on his blog. Here are a few that are interesting and helpful:

(3) If you are an Evangelical, then it is imperative that you interact with non-Evangelical treatments of the text and listen to the church fathers.

(4) As J. Bengel said: apply the whole of yourself to the text.

(5) The text should not be watered down or dumbed down, but one should ratchet up one's attention and degree of devotion to the text.

(7) Western theologians who live in an individualist society should try to understand the collective and honour-shame mindset of the majority world.

(10) Theologizing needs to be done across denominational lines.

(11) Doing NT Theology requires humility not hubris.

(12) The time is ripe for us to redraw boundaries and rethink our differences. "Perhaps all Evangelicals need to spend more time sitting at hte same table, sharing communion, serving one another, serving together in missions, listening to one another, loving one another, and leaving behind triumphalism based on our ecclesiological and theological differences".

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