New Testament Theology

`The necessary and up-to-date documentation of the book has also been provided by the editor and to him the scholarly community owes a huge debt of gratitude for his energetic devotion to a difficult, but immensely valuable, task. ... The style is vigorous, vivid and compelling: quotable sentences abound. ... Honesty, integrity, and respect for the worth of the New Testament documents are everywhere evident. Our hearty thanks go to the editor for making it available. I commend it to students and scholars, but especially to preachers: here is theology that burns with passion and will revive any preacher's confidence in his task and in his message.' Expository Times
'The necessary and up-to-date documentation of the book has ... been provided by the editor and to him the scholarly community owes a huge debt of gratitude for his energetic devotion to a difficult, but immensely valuable, task. The style is vigorous, vivid and compelling: quotable sentences abound. Honesty, integrity, and respect for the worth of the New Testament documents are everywhere evident. Our hearty thanks go to the editor for making it available. I commend it to students and scholars, but especially to preachers: here is theology that burns with passion and will revive any preacher's confidence in his task and in his message.' Dr David Hill, The Expository Times
an astonishing act of skill and piety ... L.D. Hurst ... has drawn upon relevant earlier writings of George Caird's, welding the material into a thoroughly intelligible whole. * Times Literary Supplement *
There can be few major works of biblical scholarship that are as beautifully organized or succinctly expressed as this, a magnificent compendium of the thological message(s) of the New Testament ... a definitive, even encyclopaedic, statement that will repay much careful study. Brilliantly conceived, rigorously logical yet elegantly written, and expertly accomplished, this NT Theology is a magisterial achievement. Every theological library should have a copy. * J.E. Bardwell, St Stephen's House, Oxford, Theological Book Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, June 1995 *
It is something of a miracle, and much to the credit of his former research student, Professor L. D. Hurst, who was appointed Caird's literary executor, that a coherent book of nearly 500 pages has now emerged. * C.F.D. Moule, Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1, April 1995 *
Using Caird's unpublished and previously published materials, Hurst has skillfully completed the deceased author's half-finished manuscript, which presents the reader with a vastly erudite, deeply personal, intriguing, and generally credible interpretation of NT theology. All NT students can profit from its insights. * Casimir Bernas, Holy Trinity Abbey, Huntsville, UT 84317, Religious Studies Review, Volume 321, Number 2/ April 1995 *
At last it has been completed and edited in a masterly way ... It is impossible to tell where Caird ends and Hurst begins, except that the editor has provided thoroughly updated footnotes and bibliography ... This book is constantly refreshing and thought-provoking, shedding light on many familiar biblical passages. It will certainly rank among the major NT Theologies. * ANVIL *
Hurst has matched Caird's style almost perfectly. Moreover, there are no evident disjunctions of thought; Hurst has presented the thinking of his teacher with a facility that would make any professor envious...there is much to commend here...This volume is characterized by the kind of comprehensive knowledge, balanced judgment, and critical reverence that one associated with G. B. Caird. It is eminently useful as a guide along the ways in which the various NT writers deal with key theological issues...C. Has provided a most insightful story that is an absolute 'must' for anyone doing serious work in NT theology
A first-rate contribution to our understanding of the New Testament by one of its outstanding teachers and scholars of the second half of our century ... Although this is a long book, Caird's writing is succinct ... but larded with references ... there is so much detail here and many surprising interpretations that no reader will be comfortable with all Caird's judgements, but it is a work of such richness that everyone will gain something from it and most students will be challenged to reconsider long-held opinions. All readers, and especially Caird's former students, owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor Hurst for bringing us a controversial but always rewarding reading of the New Testament that could still have been lying somewhere in the vaults. * The Heythrop Journal *
The work clearly represents a mature mind, one that had grappled with hard questions of biblical backgrounds, language and imagery and hermeneutics, and was constantly engaged in the task of exegesis. Caird and Hurst have prepard well the ground for others. Either way, they have made an important contribution to the task of understanding the New Testament. They are to be commended for daring to employ new methods and for seeking more than anything else to allow the NT authors to be heard on their own terms. * Philip Towner, Regent College, Vancouver, Scottish Journal of Theology *
A welcome addition to studies in biblical theology ... He was an imposing figure - a rigorous and original thinker, and a man of great faith ... This volume draws together the major strands of his thought into one comprehensive work ... He clearly demonstrates that while the New Testament texts were not written to be sung in unison, they can surely be sung in harmony (24). This is a book to be read and savored. * Pro Ecclesia *