Description
Leander E. Keck presents a series of essays, sermons and lectures from a long career, their subjects ranging from historicity to the importance of listening and sympathy. Echoes of the Word suggests that now is the time for introspection among Christians: facing a crisis of secularisation, he calls not merely for unity, but for a period of serious and reflective thought. Grounding his arguments in a profound understanding of both the Biblical texts and their historical context, Keck offers a deep analysis of how Christianity has been influenced by new converts down the centuries who brought their own philosophies to the table, and speaks movingly of how essential it is to love one another as Christ loved us.
About the Author
Leander E. Keck is Professor of Biblical Theology Emeritus at Yale Divinity School. He is author of numerous published works, including Who Is Jesus?, Paul and His Letters, Romans, The Church Confident, The Pauline Letters, and A Future for the Historical Jesus. He is also the general editor and senior New Testament editor of The New Interpreter’s Bible.
Contents
Preface
Part 1: The Discipline of Hearing
1. Exegesis as a Theological Discipline
2. Listening To and Listening For
Part 2: The Presence of the Prior Word
3. Challenged by the Greek Precedent
4. Energized by Jewish Beginnings
5. Paul: Problem and Promise
6. Death and Afterlife in the New Testament
Part 3: The Word as Criterion
7. The Penetrating Word
8. Scripture and Canon
9. The Gospel’s Promise of Salvation
Part 4: Word for Bearers of the Word
10. Our Identity’s Dimensions
11. A Word for Us Theologians
12. Is There Good News for Ministers Too?
13. The Fear of the Lord Is the Beginning of Knowledge
Part 5: The Word Borne
14. Summoned to Christian Unity
15. King Jesus?
16. Are You the Coming One?
17. Promise and Hope
Endorsements and Reviews
‘Repentance,’ observes Leander Keck, ‘is the discipline of turning the life Godward and holding it steadily into the wind.’ This book testifies to a life and profession of such graced discipline. Palpable on every page are the integrity of Christian faith and the scholar’s accountability to God. Echoes of the Word they may be – but their sonority outweighs the babbling of contemporary biblical exegesis and theological interpretation.
C. Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey
For more than a half a century, Lee Keck has combined first-rate NT scholarship, theological acumen, and a passion for the church. Keck’s dialogue between historical critical inquiry and the contemporary relevance of the biblical text is as important for those who feel little need to take the biblical text seriously as it is for those who refuse to recognize its limits. This collection of addresses and sermons is exemplary in demonstrating how scholarship can serve the church. I endorse it whole heartedly.
Gregory Sterling, the Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament, Yale Divinity School, Connecticut
