Biblical theology

Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define.

Although most speak of biblical theology as a particular method or emphasis within biblical studies, some scholars have also used the term in reference to its distinctive content. In this understanding, biblical theology is limited to a collation and restatement of biblical data, without the logical analysis and dialectical correlation between texts that systematic theology emphasizes.

Although the distinction existed prior, the beginning of biblical theology as a significant and separate discipline can be traced to J. P. Gabler’s 1787 address upon his inauguration as professor at the University of Altdorf, when he used the term and called for a separate discipline apart from the dogmatic emphasis of the confessions.

Today, the discipline of biblical theology is often associated with viewpoints that also adhere to a belief in biblical inerrancy and biblical inspiration. While it does engage with the work of philosophy and cultural and personal experience, it gives the Bible priority over each of these other lines of thought. Within this framework, biblical theology has been mostly carried out as either New Testament theology or Old Testament theology.

The work of Gregory Beale, Kevin Vanhoozer, Geerhardus Vos (Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments), Herman Nicolaas Ridderbos (The Coming of the Kingdom), Meredith Kline (Kingdom Prologue) Graeme Goldsworthy (According to Plan, Gospel and Kingdom), and Vaughan Roberts (God's Big Picture) have helped popularize this approach to the Bible. They summarize the message of the Bible as being about "God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing" (in Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom, Paternoster, 1981).

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