James Barr and the Future of Revelation in History in New Testament Theology

The thesis of James Barr's magisterial study The Concept of Biblical Theology is that "biblical theology is a contested concept" (Barr's emphasis). One of the reasons for this is the issue of revelation in history (RIH). The article compares Barr's outlook with the outlook of scholars who are favorable toward RIH such as Hofmann and Cullmann, toward whom Barr might be thought to be fundamentally negative. In fact Barr shares many of the RIH group's convictions. At the same time, elements of a neologistic outlook inhere in Barr's work, making it unclear how RIH will fare in future studies that may follow Barr's lead. In any case both NT theology and RIH retain importance in current discussion.