The Relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament

  Sponsors: Dana Harris and David Stark

The earliest Christian thought and literature took shape within the context of canon consciousness. This consciousness was not primarily an awareness of a canonical list(s) but rather an awareness of an authoritative tradition. This tradition shaped the Jesus movement in two ways. One is an awareness of texts already functioning authoritatively within Second Temple Judaism (i.e., Israel’s Scriptures). A second is how the movement's own canonical message (i.e., the kerygma proclaiming the Christ event) emerges within this context of the authoritative texts of Second Temple Judaism. This message then also exercises a norming function over the movement's interaction with Israel's Scriptures and decisively shapes the movement's own growing body of scriptural literature (i.e., the New Testament). A combination of older (i.e., Israel’s Scriptures) and newer (i.e., the kerygma, the New Testament) authoritative traditions then exercises a norming function with regard to (a) the assessment of which texts were canonical and (b) the relationship(s) canonical texts and testaments have to each other. Ironically, this tradition even shapes the content of emerging literature not broadly judged to be canonical (i.e., New Testament apocrypha). The combination of these traditions has influenced readers of these canonical texts in subsequent centuries to the modern period, including how readers understand the relationship between the two testaments of Christian Scripture. Therefore, this group explores how canon-consciousness manifests itself in Israel's Scriptures, the New Testament, the earliest Christian writers (i.e., apologists and earlier), and this consciousness's ongoing hermeneutical implications for modern interpreters. The 2025 session will include invited papers. To join the group’s mailing list, please register at jdavidstark.com/ibr. If you have any questions, please contact David Stark ([email protected]) or Dana Harris ([email protected]).
2025 Schedule Forthcoming