Continuity and Integration of the Bible with a Focus on the New Testament - a podcast by Jonathan Michael Jones

            Disparities of Scripture-reading and
interpretation subsist within the life of the church. On one extreme, one may
read mere portions of the Bible with preconceived notions and make grave errors
in interpreting the text. On the other extreme, however, one may pursue scholarly
excellence and yet still with preconceived notions, which lend themselves to a
negative and even false interpretation. Regarding New Testament study, it is
clear that its writings should be examined with the metanarrative of the entire
Bible in mind.

            Culturally, the New Testament was
written in a vastly different era and from an exceedingly different perspective
than modern Western civilization. Often, Bible students are guilty of studying
the New Testament in “much the same way as it would operate in our own society”
(Malina, 2001, xi). Cultural perspectives are inevitable and, therefore, give
every reader of the New Testament a hermeneutic, i.e. no uninterpreted
extrabiblical text or commentary is possible to exist. The danger is that such
interpretations are often the bedrock of shaping an entire people.
Interpretation then should be as accurate and informed as possible.

            Discrepancies found in the New
Testament are often boldly noted by critics; contrarily, those who only
understand New Testament writings based on singular passages or verses run the
risk of perpetuating and perhaps enhancing the arguments of those critics. The
paradoxical issues of the New Testament may be reconciled, however, on the
basis of its overarching thematic content and its continuity of such thematic
material in content. In this essay, I will submit the basis for both the New
Testament’s continuity and integration to conclude its persuasion by the
resilience of the text.

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