New Testament scholarship since the Enlightenment is not quite like the histories tend to present it. It has not been the unfolding triumph of objective ''critical'' or ''historical'' thinkers over less progressive and dogmatically biased ''theological'' interests. Rather, in the same respective eras that ''critical'' thinkers like F.C. Bauer and R. Bultmann mapped out approaches to NT theology, responsible scholars from J.C.K. Hofmann to O. Cullmann have responded with viable programs of their own. This volume brings the ascendant Baur-Wrede-Bultmann line of analysis into dialogue with what may be called the salvation historical perspective, thus uncovering a line of inquiry that was significant in the past and may prove promising in the future.