Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments: Three Lectures With an Appendix on Eschatology and History

Rating:
Summary: A Classic, but Outdated
Review: This is a classic expression of kerygmatic theology and realized eschatology. Dodd attempts to cull from the early apostolic preaching as related in Acts the key points of the Gospel. From there, he examines the 4 Gospels and the Pauline Literature, noting the developments and modifications which the kerygma underwent. In my opinion, Dodd has a one-sided, and therefore inadequate, concept of the kingdom. This leads him to deem as inauthentic any canonical literature which does not accord with his realized eschatology. More recent studies, though, have basically settled on a synthesis of Dodd and Schweitzer, opting to explain the apostolic view of the kingdom in terms of inaugurated eschatology. Dodd is also rather affected by the critical scholarship of his day and the optimistic positivism so rampant then. But today, there are few sureties in the field of New Testament studies. Nevetheless, this book is essential to an understanding of critical scholarship and the apostolic preaching.