For half a century Leander Keck thought, taught, and wrote about the New Testament. He first served as a Professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Emory University's Candler School of Theology before becoming Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology at Yale Divinity School. Keck's lifelong work on Jesus and Paul was a catalyst for the emerging discussions of New Testament Christology and Pauline theology in the Society of Biblical Literature and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Keck wrote a staggering number of now industry-standard articles on the New Testament. Here, they are all collected for the first time. In Why Christ Matters and Christ's First Theologian, readers will discover how Keck gave new answers to old questions even as he carefully reframed old answers into new questions. Keck's work is a treasure trove of historical, exegetical, and theological interpretation.

Preface1. The Renewal of New Testament Christology2. What, Then, Is New Testament Christology?3. The Second Coming of the Liberal Jesus?4. Jesus the Jew5. Jesus and Judaism in the New Testament6. Anthropology and Soteriology in Johannine Christology7. Christology, Soteriology, and the Praise of God in Romans8. "Jesus" in Romans9. The New Testament and Nicea