This document provides an overview of different approaches to studying and interpreting the New Testament. It discusses examining the world behind the text by studying the historical and cultural context, the text itself through methods like textual criticism and source criticism, and the world within the text using genre analysis and intertextuality. It also addresses the role of the reader and reader-response approaches that consider ideological and identity-related factors. The diagram maps these various dimensions of encountering and approaching the NT.

1. ENCOUNTERING THE NT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
THE WORLD
BEHIND THE
TEXT
THE WORLD
IN FRONT OF
THE TEXT
THE WORLD
WITHIN THE TEXT
Author
Centred
Text Centred
Reader
Centred
THE WORLD BEHIND THE
TEXT
Author Centred
• Background
Studies
• Textual Criticism
• Source Criticism
• Form Criticism
• Redaction
Criticism THE WORLD BEHIND THE
TEXT
Author Centred
• Background
Studies

2. Now in Jerusalem by the
Sheep Gate there is a pool,
called in Hebrew Beth-zatha,
which has five porticoes. In
these lay many invalids—blind,
lame, and paralyzed.
John 5:2
THE WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
When he had said this, he spat
on the ground and made mud
with the saliva and spread the
mud on the man’s eyes, saying
to him, “Go, wash in the pool
of Siloam” (which means Sent).
Then he went and washed and
came back able to see.
John 9:6-7
THE WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
PRIENE INSCRIPTION
It seemed good to the Greeks of Asia, in the opinion
of the high priest Apollonius of Menophilus Azanitus:
Since providence, which has ordered all things and is
deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect
order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with
virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him
as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that
he might end war and arrange all things, and since
he, Caesar, by his appearance excelled even our
anticipations, surpassing all previous benefactors, and
not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing
what he has done, and since the birthday of the god
Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for
the world that came by reason of him, which Asia
resolved in Smyrna.
THE WORLD BEHIND THE
TEXT
• Background
Studies
• Textual Criticism
What did the author actually write?

3. Papyrus: P52
Discovered: Egypt 1920
Date: 120-140AD?
Front Text: John 18:31-33
Reverse Text: John 18:37-38
Uncial: Codex
Vaticanus
Discovered: Vatican
Library
Date: 325-350AD?
Text: Almost
complete OT and NT
THE WORLD IN FRONT OF THE TEXT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
Miniscule: M485
Location: British
Library
Date: 12th Century AD
Text: Four Gospels

4. • Pastor
• Theologian/Apologist
• Pietist
• Commentator
JOHN 5:1-6
KJV:
After this there was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now
there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate
a pool, which is called in Hebrew,
Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these
lay a great multitude of sick people, blind,
lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving
of the water. 4 For an angel went down at
a certain time into the pool and stirred up
the water; then whoever stepped in first,
after the stirring of the water, was made
well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now
a certain man was there who had an
infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus
saw him lying there, and knew that he
already had been in that condition a long
time, He said to him, “Do you want to be
made well?”
ESV:
After this there was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now
there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate
a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda,
which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In
these lay a multitude of invalids—blind,
lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was
there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight
years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying
there and knew that he had already been
there a long time, he said to him, “Do you
want to be healed?” • Pastor
• Theologian/Apologist
• Pietist
• Commentator
• Human

5. Where does the
Gospel of Mark
end?
See also;
John 8: Woman in Adultery,
Acts 8:37: Baptismal
1 Jn 5:7Confession
“[How] Can we hope to get back to anything like the
original [biblical] text, the text that the authors
actually wrote? It is an enormous problem. In fact, it
is such an enormous problem that a number of
textual critics have started to claim that we may as
well suspend any discussion of the “original” text,
because it is inaccessible to us.” ( Bart Ehrman
‘Misquoting Jesus’ p. 58)
"The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that
nothing we believe to be true, and nothing we are
commanded to do, is in any way jeopardized by the
variants.” D.A. Crayon The KJV Version Debate
THE WORLD BEHIND THE
TEXT
Author Centred
• Background
Studies
• Textual Criticism
• Source Criticism
Luke 1:1–4 (ESV)
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a
narrative of the things that have been accomplished
among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have
delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also,
having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning
the things you have been taught.

6. Matthew 24:4–8 (ESV)
4 And Jesus answered
them, “See that no one
leads you astray. 5 For
many will come in my
name, saying, ‘I am the
Christ,’ and they will lead
many astray. 6 And you
will hear of wars and
rumors of wars. See that
you are not alarmed, for
this must take place, but
the end is not yet. 7 For
nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and
there will be famines and
earthquakes in various
places. 8 All these are but
the beginning of the birth
pains.
•Similarity in Wording
Mark 13:5–8 (ESV)
5 And Jesus began to say
to them, “See that no one
leads you astray. 6 Many
will come in my name,
saying, ‘I am he!’ and they
will lead many astray. 7
And when you hear of
wars and rumors of wars,
do not be alarmed. This
must take place, but the
end is not yet. 8 For nation
will rise against nation,
and kingdom against
kingdom. There will be
earthquakes in various
places; there will be
famines. These are but
the beginning of the birth
pains.
Luke 21:8–11 (ESV)
8 And he said, “See that you
are not led astray. For many
will come in my name, saying,
‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at
hand!’ Do not go after them. 9
And when you hear of wars
and tumults, do not be
terrified, for these things must
first take place, but the end
will not be at once.” 10 Then
he said to them, “Nation will
rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. 11
There will be great
earthquakes, and in various
places famines and
pestilences. And there will be
terrors and great signs from
heaven.
•Similarity in Wording Synoptic Problem?
•Similarity in Wording
•Similarity in Order 0

7. Two Source Hypothesis
THE WORLD BEHIND THE
TEXT
Author Centred
• Background
Studies
• Textual Criticism
• Source Criticism
• Form Criticism
1. Logia
2. Pronouncement
3. Parables
4. Speeches
5. Miracles Stories
6. Legends
Form Criticism- This
approach to biblical study
emphasises the way individual
stories may have been
selected, shaped, and even
created by the process of
transmission.
One sabbath he was going through
the grainfields; and as they made
their way his disciples began to
pluck heads of grain. The
Pharisees said to him, “Look, why
are they doing what is not lawful on
the sabbath?” And he said to them,
“Have you never read what David
did when he and his companions
were hungry and in need of food?
He entered the house of God,
when Abiathar was high priest, and
ate the bread of the Presence,
which it is not lawful for any but the
priests to eat, and he gave some to
his companions.” Then he said to
them, “The sabbath was made for
humankind, and not humankind for
the sabbath; so the Son of Man is
lord even of the sabbath.”
Mark 2:23-28
THE WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT

8. One sabbath he was going through
the grainfields; and as they made
their way his disciples began to
pluck heads of grain. The
Pharisees said to him, “Look, why
are they doing what is not lawful on
the sabbath?” And he said to them,
“Have you never read what David
did when he and his companions
were hungry and in need of food?
He entered the house of God,
when Abiathar was high priest, and
ate the bread of the Presence,
which it is not lawful for any but the
priests to eat, and he gave some to
his companions.” Then he said to
them, “The sabbath was made for
humankind, and not humankind for
the sabbath; so the Son of Man is
lord even of the sabbath.”
Mark 2:23-28
THE WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
APPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
Form: Pronouncement Story
Structure:
Setting
Challenge
Biblical quotation
Final saying
Possible context: Dispute
between early Christians and
Jewish synagogue over
Sabbath observance
THE WORLD
WITHIN THE TEXT
Text Centred
• Genre
• Intratextuality
• Intertextuality
• Markan Sandwich
What is the genre of the
synoptic gospels?
Richard A. Burridge, What Are The Gospels?, page 218
(emphasis his):
Thus, there is a high degree of correlation between the
generic features of Graeco-Roman βίοι and those of the
synoptic gospels; in fact, they exhibit more of the features
than are shown by works at the edges of the genre, such as
those of Isocrates, Xenophon, and Philostratus. This is surely
a sufficient number of shared features for the genre of the
synoptic gospels to be clear: while they may well form their
own subgenre because of their shared content, the synoptic
gospels belong within the overal genre of βίοι.

9. Mark 15:22–34 (ESV)
22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha
(which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him
wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they
crucified him and divided his garments among them,
casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25
And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And
the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King
of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers,
one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who
passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in
three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the
cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes
mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he
cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross that we may see and
believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled
him. 33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And
at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,
lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?”
Psalm 22:1 (ESV)
1 My God, my God,
why have you
forsaken me? Why are
you so far from saving
me, from the words of
my groaning?
Psalm 22:7 (ESV)
7 All who see me mock
me; they make
mouths at me; they
wag their heads;
Psalm 22:18 (ESV)
18 they divide my
garments among
them, and for my
clothing they cast lots.
Reader
• Reader-Response Centred
• Devotional
• Ideological
Factors
• Liberation/
Politics/Identity
THE WORLD
IN FRONT OF
THE TEXT

10. THE WORLD
BEHIND THE
TEXT
THE WORLD
IN FRONT OF
THE TEXT
THE WORLD
WITHIN THE TEXT