Volume 4 lacks the edition statement "1st North American ed." and instead has the edition statement: Fortress Press edition.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

v. 1. The New Testament and the people of God. Christian Origins and the New Testament -- The Task -- What to Do with the Wicked Tenants -- The Questions -- The History of Early Christianity -- 'New Testament Theology' -- Literary Criticism -- The Task Restated -- Tools for the Task -- Knowledge: Problems and Varieties -- Towards Critical Realism -- Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge -- Literature, Story and the Articulation of Worldviews -- On Reading -- 'Is There Anybody There?' -- Reading and Critical Realism -- On Literature -- The Nature of Stories -- The Analysis of Stories: Narrative Structure -- The Analysis of Stories: The Wicked Tenants -- Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories -- History and the First Century -- The Impossibility of 'Mere History' -- This Does Not Mean 'No Facts' -- Critical Realism and the Threat of the Disappearing Object -- The Causes of the Misconception -- Wanted: New Categories -- Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification -- The Requirements of a Good Hypothesis -- Problems in Verification -- From Event to Meaning -- Event and Intention -- History and Narrative -- History and Meaning -- Historical Study of First-Century Religious Movements -- Judaism in the First Century -- Christianity in the First Century -- Theology, Authority and the New Testament -- Introduction: From Literature and History to Theology -- Worldview and Theology -- On Worldviews -- On Theology -- On Christian Theology -- Worldviews, Theology and Biblical Studies -- Theology, Narrative and Authority -- First-Century Judaism within the Greco-Roman World.

v. 2. Jesus and the victory of God. Jesus then and now -- Heavy traffic on Wredebahn: the 'new quest' renewed? -- Back to the future: the 'third quest' -- Prodigals and paradigms -- The praxis of a prophet -- Stories of the kingdom (1): announcement -- Stories of the kingdom (2): invitation, welcome, challenge and summons -- Stories of the kingdom (3): judgment and vindication -- Symbol and controversy -- The questions of the kingdom -- Jesus and Israel: the meaning of Messiahship -- The reasons for Jesus' crucifixion -- The return of the king -- Results.

v. 3. The resurrection of the Son of God. The target and the arrows -- Shadows, souls and where they go: life beyond death in ancient paganism -- Time to wake up (1): death and beyond in the Old Testament -- Time to wake up (2): hope beyond death in post-biblical Judaism -- Resurrection in Paul (outside the Corinthian correspondence) -- Resurrection in Corinth (1): introduction -- Resurrection in Corinth (2): the key passages -- When Paul saw Jesus -- Hope refocused (1): gospel traditions outside the Easter narratives -- Hope refocused (2): other New Testament writings -- Hope refocused (3): non-canonical early Christian texts -- Hope in person: Jesus as Messiah and Lord -- General issues in the Easter stories -- Fear and trembling: Mark -- Earthquakes and angels: Matthew -- Burning hearts and broken bread: Luke -- New day, new tasks: John -- Easter and history -- The risen Jesus as the Son of God.

v. 4. Paul and the faithfulness of God. Part I. Paul and his world. Return of the runaway? -- Like birds overhead : the faithfulness of the God of Israel -- Athene and her owl : the wisdom of the Greeks -- A cock for Asclepius : 'religion' and 'culture' in Paul's world -- The eagle has landed : Rome and the challenge of empire -- Part II. The mindset of the apostle. A bird in the hand? : the symbolic praxis of Paul's world -- The plot, the plan and the storied worldview -- Five signposts to the apostolic mindset -- Part III. Paul's theology. The one God of Israel, freshly revealed -- The people of God, freshly reworked -- God's future for the world, freshly imagined -- Part IV. Paul in history. The lion and the eagle : Paul in Caesar's empire -- A different sacrifice : Paul and 'religion' -- The foolishness of God : Paul among the philosophers -- To know the place for the first time : Paul and his Jewish context -- Sign of the new creation : Paul's aims and achievements.