This article discusses the renewal of theological interpretation of Scripture. The article first mentions the strength of objections to theological interpretation in the 19th century, the time when the paradigm of historical criticism was established. This is followed by a consideration of the problem of conceptualizing revelation within the Old Testament, as done by Preuss in the 20th century.

What was the state of historical criticism in Germany at the beginning of the 1980s? Piper surveys the developments in the historical-critical method of interpretation of the New Testament as it developed in Germany.