Beyond the conversation today over whether New Testament students should focus their limited on primary sources or secondary literature (pursuing a sound balance), one also might ask: what kinds of moral agents love ancient texts in a way helpful for contemporary conversations?

Critical awareness and dexterity are integral to responsible interpretation.

Yet, also important, is arranging the furniture with enough primary sources that the text you have invited to speak can resonate in familiar environs.

For Paul? OT/HB, Apocalyptic texts, Stoics, etc.

A warm take: historical primary sources and contemporary critical secondary literature are arguably read widely enough.

But often seriously neglected is the history of reception/history of theological interpretation, yet routinely caricatured and dismissed; that helps no one.