Kerygma

Kerygma (from the ancient Greek word κῆρυγμα kêrugma) is a Greek word used in the New Testament for "preaching" (see Luke 4:18-19, Romans 10:14, Matthew 3:1). It is related to the Greek verb κηρύσσω kērússō, literally meaning "to cry or proclaim as a herald" and being used in the sense of "to proclaim, announce, preach". Merriam-Webster defines it as "the apostolic proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ". Among Bible scholars, the term has come to mean the core of the early church's oral tradition about Jesus.

"Kerygmatic" is sometimes used to express the message of Jesus' whole ministry, as "a proclamation addressed not to the theoretical reason, but to the hearer as a self"; as opposed to the didactic use of Scripture that seeks understanding in the light of what is taught. The meaning of the crucifixion is central to this concept.

During the mid-twentieth century, when the literary genre of the NT gospels was under debate, scholars like C. H. Dodd and Rudolf Bultmann suggested that the gospels were of a genre unique in the ancient world. They called this genre kerygma and described it as a later development of preaching, having taken a literary form. Scholarship since that time has problematized Bultmann's theory, but in Biblical and theological discussions, the term kerygma has come to denote the irreducible essence of Christian apostolic preaching.

The ancient Christian kerygma as summarized by Dodd from Peter's speeches in the New Testament Book of Acts was:

The New Testament is a collection of early Christian writings taken to be holy scripture. It includes many of the same proclamations as the oral tradition that preceded it.

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