Wikipedia defines Biblical Theology as: "a discipline within Christian Theology which studies the Bible from the prospective of understanding the progressive history of God revealing himself to humanity."I would say that pretty well sums it up. The basic idea is that as we look at the Bible we see God dealing with people in history and through that history we see God revealing more and more of himself as time goes by. Biblical theologians (such as myself) do not see the theology of the Bible as some predetermined thing where God has all things about himself mapped out on a time line to be revealed but that the revelation is like a tree that grows and changes a time goes by and that tree interacts with the world around it. There are great changes in the relationship that God has with humanity and it is these changes that fascinate the biblical theologian.
Several other factors are present as well. The idea that Scripture defines Scripture and there is no need for outside sources is a big central tenant for most Biblical theologians. There is also the idea of looking at the Bible without assumptions or at least removing such assumptions as much as possible. The idea is that each generation has the right to look at the Bible and see if new light can be shed on its pages with new perspective. Biblical theology is thus a constant discipline that is evolving continually. It also pay special attention to how themes develop and grow chronologically in Scripture
The Biblical Theologian is concerned with the flow and weave of the tapestry of revelation found in scripture. It tries to not get stuck on single theme or group of themes but tries to see how all Biblical themes flow together and follows this pattern or flow through the chronology of the Bible.
Next: Systematic Theology
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