More Areas of Investigation that need Attention

I have devoted a great deal of my professional life to the Gospels and Jesus studies. In the evangelical academy, one other huge area of study is Paul. Often it seems as if Jesus and Paul are the only subjects who get any attention in our circles. So my assessment of another major area which needs attention would be the rest of the NT: Hebrews, the general epistles, and Revelation.

This is for two primary reasons:

First, if we as evangelicals are people of the Bible, we ought to be people of the entire Bible. So to neglect various sections of scripture is very problematic for us. I'd love to see students take up particular books in this section of the NT for major study, and I'd love to see more study done on these books in the local church. (To that end, I am teaching on Hebrews in my own Bible study class at my church.)

Second, a very important area of study presently is early Christianity, that is, Christianity in the first few centuries after the completion of the canon. Many of the books in this "latter third" of the NT were written later in the first century, so they provide a very important bridge between Jesus, Paul, and the Church in these centuries. Studying theological development in these books would be fascinating, as it would show what the Church was thinking as it understood Jesus' life and ministry and Paul's teaching and then applied it to the developing situation.


"For if Jesus had given them rest ('katapausis' - which He did through resurrection from the dead) ... then there therefore remains valid (as 'Law' - 'apoleipetai') for the People of God (the Christian Church) their keeping of the Sabbath Day (sabbatismos): For He that entered into His Own Rest (Jesus Christ in resurrection from the dead 'finishing'), He indeed rested from His Own Works as God from His Own."

Prof Burer,
I hope that some of you teaching at DTS can help young preachers learn to preach from the Gospels and not just Paul. In my experience, some DTS grads preach mainly from Paul and avoid the Gospels due to certain difficulties in applying the material to the church (I'm guessing). We recently had a sermon series on First Peter and found that people knew nothing about that book compared to more frequently visited works such as Romans and 1 Corinthians.

May your efforts to get preaching to be more broadly based bear much fruit!

Barry

What you describe is certainly confirmed by anecdotal evidence. That's part of the reason I want to focus on the Gospels. Let's give Jesus equal time with Paul!

I wholeheartedly agree. I am focusing on Revelations in my Sunday school.

That is a great choice. I pray that the Lord can guide your class to greater faith in him through your study!

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