ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will attempt to develop an approach to the New Testament, which takes seriously the three demands for a hermeneutical theory drawn from the previous investigations. Accordingly, first the proposed approach to the New Testament must see the Word of God as present in the human language of the New Testament as verbum extern um. Secondly, the interpretation must be based on the existentialist interpretation. Thirdly, the hermeneutical theory needs to recognise language as the bearer of meaning and thus it must include a theological perception of the world into the hermeneutical process and into the horizon of the interpreter in order to avoid Bultmann's theocentric personalism. This will avoid Bultmann's assumption of an 'innocent' or 'neutral' language, into which the New Testament could be translated without loss of meaning. These three presuppositions will be contained in the approach to the New Testament which I am proposing.
