This useful, concise introduction to the worlds around the New Testament focuses on seven key moments in the centuries before and after Jesus. It enlightens readers about the beginnings of the Christian movement, showing how religious, political, and economic factors were interwoven in the fabric of the New Testament world. Leading New Testament scholar Warren Carter has a record of providing student-friendly texts. This introduction offers a "big picture" focus and is logically and memorably organized around seven events, which Carter uses as launching pads to discuss larger cultural dynamics and sociohistorical realities that were in some way significant for followers of Jesus and the New Testament. Photos and maps are included.
The New Testament writings reflect a sense of wrestling to understand what the world-shattering events of Jesus's life, death, resurrection, and ascension mean in the rough-and-tumble of daily life in a conflicted world. In this book, a senior New Testament scholar investigates seven critical areas of tension--historical, moral, political, material, social, perceptual, and temporal--that shape the "big ideas" discussed and debated in the New Testament. This lively investigation explores the challenges that influenced the New Testament writings and how the writers responded to those tensions. The author shows that out of this upheaval came a remarkable set of creative, dynamic writings that have shaped and challenged millions of lives as sacred Scripture. This accessibly written book offers a fresh way to learn about the world and content of the New Testament writings. It will help readers appreciate the rich diversity of New Testament thought cohering around commitment to the one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Highlighting the ideas, subplots and characters that shaped the world of Jesus and the first Christians, Anthony J. Tomasino skillfully retells the story of Judaism before Jesus, from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah to the Herods, and even up to Masada.
The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.
This lively, engaging introduction to the New Testament is critical yet faith-friendly, lavishly illustrated, and accompanied by a variety of pedagogical aids, including sidebars, maps, tables, charts, diagrams, and suggestions for further reading. The full-color interior features art from around the world that illustrates the New Testament's impact on history and culture. The first edition has been well received (over 60,000 copies sold). This new edition has been thoroughly revised in response to professor feedback and features an updated interior design. It offers expanded coverage of the New Testament world in a new chapter on Jewish backgrounds, features dozens of new works of fine art from around the world, and provides extensive new online material for students and professors available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.
In The Multilingual Jesus and the Sociolinguistic World of the New Testament, Hughson Ong provides a study of the multifarious social and linguistic dynamics that compose the speech community of ancient Palestine, which include its historical linguistic shifts under different military regimes, its geographical linguistic landscape, the social functions of the languages in its linguistic repertoire, and the specific types of social contexts where those languages were used. Using a sociolinguistic model, his study attempts to paint a portrait of the sociolinguistic situation of ancient Palestine. This book is arguably the most comprehensive treatment of the subject matter to date in terms of its survey of the secondary literature and of its analysis of the sociolinguistic environment of first-century Palestine.
Continuously in print for over 30 years, and available in many different languages, John Drane's Introducing the New Testament has long been recognized as an authoritative and accessible survey of the subject. This new edition has been fully revised and updated with fresh material on the many political contexts in which the early church flourished, along with new insights into the writing and reception of written texts in what was essentially an oral culture. Specific issues that will be of particular interest to students are highlighted in special boxed feature sections, along with an extensive glossary of technical terms and key maps and diagrams. This book is the ideal starting point for readers who wish to explore the New Testament and its world in the light of recent scholarship, and its relevance to life in the twenty-first century.
This completely revised and updated second edition of The New Testament in Antiquity skillfully develops how Jewish, Hellenistic, and Roman cultures formed the essential environment in which the New Testament authors wrote their books and letters. Understanding of the land, history, and culture of the ancient world brings remarkable new insights into how we read the New Testament itself. Throughout the book, numerous features provide windows into the first-century world. Nearly 500 full color photos, charts, maps, and drawings have been carefully selected. Additional features include sidebars that integrate the book's material with issues of interpretation, discussion questions, and bibliographies.
An accessible introduction to the New Testament, offering up-to-date historical-critical scholarship and diverse critical perspectives The New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction presents a concise account of the emergence of Jesus traditions in the broader context of ancient Mediterranean history. Incorporating established historical approaches and alternative academic analyses, this innovative textbook helps students understand the historical and political contexts of the authors and their audiences, and how different social identities and lived experiences influenced the formation of the Bible and its later interpretations. Accomplished scholar Colleen Conway emphasizes the cultural and literary context of the New Testament while drawing from historical, postcolonial, gender, feminist, and intersectional analyses of biblical texts. Throughout the book, students explore how issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and power dynamics contributed to the production of the New Testament texts and continue to inform their interpretation in the 21st century. Through twelve chronologically organized chapters, this book examines Paul's mission to the Gentiles, unity and conflict in Paul's communities, the four Gospel narratives, the Revelation to John, Hebrews, 1 Peter, the New Testament canon, early Christian writings, and more. The New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction: Provides an up-to-date introduction to historical and critical methods and central questions in the field Helps students contextualize the different writings of the New Testament as part of the Mediterranean world of the first century, for example exploring how Roman Imperial rule and social stratification affected the authors of New Testament texts Discusses how ideas about gender and race affect the meaning and application of New Testament texts Features "Contemporary Voices" sections highlighting the work of modern New Testament scholars Includes numerous pedagogical tools such as chapter review questions, key term lists, suggested readings, a timeline, maps, illustrations, photographs, a glossary, and much more Designed for undergraduate students with varying levels of biblical knowledge, The New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction is an ideal textbook for one-semester religious studies courses on the Bible, the New Testament, or early Christianity, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in history, sociology and philosophy.
Top-notch biblical scholars from around the world and from various Christian traditions offer a fulsome yet readable introduction to the Bible and its interpretation. The book concisely introduces the Old and New Testaments and related topics and examines a wide variety of historical and contemporary interpretive approaches, including African, African-American, Asian, and Latino streams. Contributors include N. T. Wright, M. Daniel Carroll R., Stephen Fowl, Joel Green, Michael Holmes, Edith Humphrey, Christopher Rowland, and K. K. Yeo, among others. Questions for reflection and discussion, an annotated bibliography, and a glossary are included.
