This collection of papers brings together the thoughts, responses, and revised thoughts of the participants in the 2004 H. H. Bingham Colloquium
in New Testament at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, '['he Colloquium, the tenth in a continuing series, was entitled "The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments.
" This was the most successful colloquium to date, in that we had an excellent set of contributors and a full to overflowing crowd of people who came to hear and interact with the participants.
To encourage such interaction, we continued the procedure begun the year before in having a planned respondent built into the program.
I believe I speak for both participants and attendees in saying that the responses (there were two sets of responses during the actual conference) added greatly to the quality of the conference itself.
The Bingham Colloquium at McMaster Divinity College provides an opportunity for selected scholars to present their perspectives on a contemporary New Testament theme of relevance to the larger community of both students and laity alike.
The 2004 Colloquium expanded that brief in that it included four papers that addressed the Old Testament and writings outside of the New Testament, besides five papers directly on the New Testament itself.
In planning the Colloquium, it became obvious that we could not discuss the Messiah in the New Testament without knowing something about what was thought about the Messiah in theological writings that preceded the New Testament.
The concern of this volume, like that of its predecessors, is to provide understanding of a topic of relevance for those interested in interpreting the New Testament in today's context.
