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In the early 1980's, some Jewish and Christian biblicists promoted the idea that Jewish scholars should develop an academic discipline that would become the Jewish equivalent of Biblical Theology. Since the late 1980's, a small number of Jewish scholars responded to the idea in very different ways. Those responding positively may become the vanguard of scholars who will shape the discipline of Jewish Biblical Theology should it emerge. This article points to serious intellectual, terminological, and practical problems with the whole undertaking and seeks to illustrate what they are, why they exist, and to propose how they may be overcome. It also attempts to clarify elements in the ethos of American biblical studies that have influenced the new interest in Jewish Biblical Theology.