Strack-Billerbeck, Orthodoxy and a Jewish New Testament

Abstract

On the basis of the evidence of publications dating from the eighteenth century, this paper argues that the orthodox doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Bible caused extreme views in the language of the Old Testament which could not be transferred to the “heathen” language of the New Testament. The resulting void was filled by focusing on the Jewish (read “Hebrew”) thought of the New Testament. The work of Christian Schoettgen, available to the author in Vienna, is used in conjunction with the Critica sacra by Johann Gottlob Carpzov to develop the argument for the thesis. Some conclusions are drawn.