The course I'll be teaching in Greece June 6-17 is called "Biblical Theology."
That's a curious expression. From a Christian point of view, we might respond by asking, "Okay, but what other kind of theology is there?" Would we teach a theology that's "unbiblical"? Hopefully not. But biblical theology (BT) isn't just theology that draws on the Bible or is in harmony with the Bible. It's something more precise than that.
BT is not the same as systematic theology (ST). ST raises logical and philosophical questions (about the nature of reality, and about God and humans and sin and salvation...) and then goes to the Bible to compile overarching, timeless truths on those topics. BT begins with and proceeds through the story of the whole Bible--Genesis to Revelation--and it seeks to uncover the plot line and progressively unfolding truths of God as they play out in the epic historical tale of Scripture.
And, from another angle, BT is not the same as Bible study. We may launch into an up-close analysis of a Bible passage (for the purpose of teaching or preaching or personal enrichment), but such study, if it is restricted to the analysis of what our passage says and nothing more, stops short of BT. By contrast, if in our Bible study we focus on a given text but also open the lens wider to its "inter-textual" dynamics (e.g., how a NT passage recalls OT events or texts; or how an OT passage anticipates a greater fulfillment that is yet to come), we've jumped into the waters of BT.
Case in point: we're reading in Genesis 12 and subsequent chapters about God's covenant with Abraham; later we see how the law of God revealed to Moses at Sinai spells out the terms of a covenant; then we come to Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 and read a prophecy of a future "new covenant" that will involve heart surgery (so to speak); and then we come to Jesus in the upper room speaking with the disciples about "the new covenant in my blood"; and then we venture in Hebrews and find that ch. 8 quotes the new covenant promise from Jeremiah 31 and applies it to Jesus--how Jesus mediates this superior covenant between God and his people.
BT grapples with the themes and plot-lines of the Bible to tease out Scripture's continuity (e.g., a divinely initiated biblical pattern of covenant promises to bless God's people) and discontinuity (e.g., God's adjusting of some of the terms of his covenant arrangements such that the new covenant is "better" and the old is "obsolete" (Heb 8:6-7, 13)) as the whole story of the Bible unfolds.
Here's a short video clip of Ray Ortlund and Sam Storms talking about what BT is. And here's another helpful interview, this one with T. Desmond Alexander.
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