Each issue of Accessible German New Testament Scholarship (AGNTS) is a curated collection of significant contributions to New Testament scholarship from the German-speaking world. The contributions have been translated and presented here as an attempt to continue bridging the continental divide, which is at times separated by more than language but also methodological and exegetical traditions. It is our hope that this issue and future issues will continue to close that divide. More generally, we seek to make German New Testament scholarship accessible not only by making it available in English translation but also by publishing it in a form that can be read by people who do not have access to a research library.
The 2026 issue of AGNTS contains a number of features that will also characterize future issues of the journal. While the main focus of the journal will be on contemporary New Testament scholarship composed originally in German, the translation of Hans Rollmann and Werner Zager’s wonderful edition of William Wrede’s unpublished letters on the problematization of the Messianic self-understanding of Jesus signals our commitment to include some older works as well.
As with the first issue, our selection of articles for this second issue intentionally highlights our interest in featuring works by both senior and junior scholars. Thus, alongside Sandra Huebenthal’s article “‘And she was serving them’ (Mark 1.31): Exegetical Stories about Peter’s Mother-in-Law,” we have also included Barbara Beyer’s article “Ἔν τινι εἶναι as the Background to Paul’s Discourse on Being ‘in Christ.’”
Sandra Huebenthal’s article is also representative of another aim – namely, to include at least some articles that achieve the di’cult feat of advancing the scholarly conversation while also being well-suited for use in the classroom. With this in mind, we have made a special effort to make this article accessible to students, as was already the case in the German original.
Finally, the current issue concludes with Oda Wischmeyer’s review of Beverly Gaventa’s landmark commentary on Romans. As with all our reviews, our goal here was to identify an especially well-qualified scholar to review a significant book. In addition to making them maximally accessible for both German and English speakers, we hope that our publication of reviews – and previously unpublished articles – in both German and English will prove to be a valuable resource for students and scholars who are seeking to establish, improve, or revive their proficiency in reading German or English.