Contents

I. The Idea of Revelation Through History -- pg. 11

The Inflation of Revelation -- pg. 11

The Ascendancy of History -- pg. 16

Nineteenth-Century Ideas of Revelation -- pg. 18

Revelation as History -- pg.26

II. Theology and the Historical-Critical Method -- pg. 33

The Legacy of Liberalism -- pg. 33

Existentialist Historiography -- pg. 37

The Babylonian Captivity of History -- pg. 42

Historical Reason and Faith -- pg. 46

III. Our Knowledge of the Historical Jesus -- pg. 53

The Historical Jesus in Retrospect -- pg. 53

Christology and Historical Skepticism -- pg. 58

The Kerygma and the Historical Jesus -- pg. 62

Directions of the New Quest -- pg. 67

IV. The Historical Event of the Resurrection -- pg. 78

The Irony of the Form-Critical Consensus -- pg. 78

The Devaluation of Easter in Neoliberalism -- pg. 91

The New Theology of the Resurrection -- pg. 91

The Historical Problem of the Resurrection -- pg. 98

V. " Heilsgeschichte" and the Old Testament -- pg. 103

The Controversy Past and Present -- pg. 103

Two Versions of Israel's History -- pg.108

Types of Old Testament Interpretation -- pg.116

VI. Hermeneutics of the World and Church -- pg. 130

From Schleiermacher to Bultmann -- pg. 130

Newer Hermeneutical Options - pg. 137

Scripture and the Tradition -- pg. 147

Dogma and Liturgy -- pg. 154

VII. Eschatology and History -- pg. 160

Types of Eschatology -- pg. 160

The Hope of History -- pg. 174

Notes -- pg.183

Indexes -- pg. 199

This volume interprets the last decode of theological research and reflection on the relation of Christian faith to history. The theological development of this period is depicted as a struggle to go beyond Barth and Bultmann in stressing the centrality of history for revelation and faith. Dr. Braaten deals with new hermeneutical approaches to achieve a theological synthesis of revelation and history. He describes the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg, which calls for a more radical interpretation of revelation along historical lines, as a pivotal point in the present situatuion. He goes on to outline current thinking on revelation, the historical-critical method, the historical Jesus, resurrection, salvation, redemption, and eschatology.