I just compiled a list of New Testament Introductions that I think people might be using for introductory courses on the NT. I’m interested in what introduction to NT is most popular and what introductions are being used at various schools. I’ll probably put a poll together on the site soon, but feel free to comment on what textbook you use or have used whether as a student or professor. Also, tell us about the course’s setting (i.e., undergrad, seminary, graduate etc.). There are probably a few books missing from my list, so just let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the list. Some introductions weren’t included because either they are out of print, very dated, or not suitable for a course textbook.
NB: My undergraduate NT course used Koester’s introduction. I didn’t take NT 501/502 at Candler, but I do know that some of the texts used were the introductions by Luke Johnson, Bart Ehrman, and Carl Holladay.
- Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson, Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001)
- David L. Barr, New Testament Story: An Introduction (4th ed.; Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2008)
- Kenneth Berding and Matt Williams, What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About: A Survey of Their Writings (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008)
- Raymond Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (AYBRL; New Haven: Yale University, 1997)
- Gary M. Burge, Lynn H. Cohick, and Gene L. Green, The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament within Its Cultural Contexts (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009).
- Delbert Burkett, An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
- D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament (2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005)
- David deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods and Ministry Formation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004)
- John Drane, Introducing the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001)
- Bart Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament (2d ed.; New York: Oxford University, 2008)
- Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (4th ed.; New York: Oxford University, 2007)
- Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey (2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005)
- Robert H. Gundry, A Survey of the New Testament (4th ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003)
- Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (Rev. ed.; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1990)
- Stephen L. Harris, The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction (3d ed.; Mayfield, 1998)
- Carl Holladay, A Critical Introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005)
- Luke Timothy Johnson and Todd C. Penner, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002)
- Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. 1: History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age (2d ed.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995) and Introduction to the New Testament, Vol. 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity (2d ed.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2000)
- Andreas J. Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2009)
- Werner Georg Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament (Rev ed.; trans. H. C. Kee; Nashville: Abingdon, 1975)
- I. Howard Marshall, Stephen Travis, and Ian Paul, Exploring the New Testament, Vol. 2: A Guide to the Letters and Revelation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005) [For volume one, see Wenham and Walton below]
- Ralph P. Martin, New Testament Foundations, Vol. 1: The Four Gospels (Rev. ed.; Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2000) and New Testament Foundations, Vol. 2: The Acts, The Letters, The Apocalypse (Rev. ed.; Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2000)
- Lee Martin McDonald and Stanley E. Porter, Early Christianity and its Sacred Literature (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000)
- Bruce M. Metzger, New Testament: Its Background, Growth and Content (3d ed.; Nashville, Abingdon, 2003)
- Pheme Perkins, Reading the New Testament: An Introduction (2d ed.; New York: Paulist, 1988)
- Russell Pregeant, Encounter with the New Testament: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009)
- Udo Schnelle, The History and Theology of the New Testament Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998)
- Gerd Theissen, Fortress Introduction to the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003)
- David Wenham and Steve Walton, Exploring the New Testament, Vol. 1: A Guide to the Gospels and Acts (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005) [For volume two, see Marshall, Travis, and Paul above]
Impressive list. Some I’ve never heard of. I used Carson and Moo back in school.
Still want to get Brown’s.
Thanks for the input, TC. What was the school–undergrad, seminary etc.?
We used Raymond Brown when I was at Duke. In Richard Hays’ NT intro course.
Book selection varied by professor at Concordia Seminary, but I would say Carson/Moo/Morris was probably the most commonly used one. Guthrie and Brown were also books I personally didn’t use, but remember seeing in class lists.
I’ve not been to school but I’ve got The NT in Antiquity as well as Theissen’s intro. I like The NT in Antiquity much better for obvious reasons, but I have another good one that you might consider including:
Lee Martin McDonald and Stanley E. Porter, Early Christianity and Its Sacred Literature (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000)
Is Bruce Metzger’s intro not on there because you believe it’s dated or not suitable for a course textbook or both?
Thanks, Nick. I added both McDonald/Porter and Metzger. I just forgot about Metzger’s book somehow; I didn’t exclude it for any reason, although it is slightly different than most other NT introductions in that it doesn’t look at the NT books individually in depth.
Missing are David Barr’s New Testament Story: An Introduction, John Drane’s Introducing the New Testament, Russell Pregeant’s Engaging the New Testament: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, and Stephen Harris’ The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction, all of which were used at my undergraduate institution. In my case, Gundry was used in my first-year survey course, and I read Barr on the side. In later work I used Brown and Johnson, which I supplemented with Ralph Martin’s 2-vol. New Testament Foundations.
We used Barr (see Esteban’s comment) when I was an undergraduate student at Messiah College. At Fuller, of the two NT intro classes I took, one used Brown, the other used Achtemeier/Green/Thompson (the prof was one of the authors).
Thanks for the list!
Thanks Estaban. Harris is already on the list, but I appreciate the others and will add them. I used to own Martin’s NT Foundations but eventually donated to someone, nevertheless, I’ll add those as well if they’re still in print.
Pat, thanks as always.
Predictably, we used Gundry for survey class and Carson/Moo for higher level NT classes. Are there any on this list you particularly recommend as a balance to the aforementioned books? (I definitely can’t afford all of them right now)
Thanks Mike, that’s Talbot you’re talking about, right? Kümmel is dated, but pretty cheap used and is still very useful. Koester (2 vols) would be another option, but more expensive. Brown might also work well for you because it is thorough.
We used Carson and Moo, but you already knew that from my post.
I’m excited about Kümmel though!
I personally like Achtemeier-Green-Thompson, Brown, Carson-Moo & Metzger.
We used Achtemeier/Green/Thompson at Alliance Theological Seminary.
BTW, you may find it interesting that at Baylor one of the NT comp/prelim questions is to describe the nature of an OT intro using a whole slew of scholars . . . . I don’t remember all of them, but some were Childs, Brown, Kummel, Koester, Ehrman. . . . it was an interesting question. I didn’t get it though.
Brandon: You might also consider Delbert Burkett’s An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) for the list.
Brandon, I used Carson and Moo for undergrad.
Hi Brandon, thanks for putting up this list. For the past few months I have been looking to settle on a text for my NT 1 and 2 classes. Last year, I used deSilva’s but most students found it a bit much in terms of length and content. So I decided to use Achtemeier instead this year but will use continue deSilva’s as a reference. But the new Intro by Burge, Cohick and Green looks good as well. It was helpful to note your review in your previous post. Thanks.
I found Schnelles’s introduction quite stimulating. It’s a good balance to Carson/Moo/Morris. Though, some discussions might be particular German…
Obviously, as German I preferred the German version. :-)
I’m surprised that you refer still to Kümmel, because it’s dated and Schnelle’s work is seen as successor of Kümmel’s
I used Gundry for undergrad. Starting at DTS this fall and my NT class there requires Carson/Moo.
Rudi, old habits die hard. I only recently acquired Schnelle’s work and I haven’t looked at it thoroughly, but from what I have seen the style is a lot like Kümmel. I’ll be using it much more in the future–thanks for the recommendation.
Brandon, this is certainly a helpful post. Hopefully the blogging communtiy can lend me a hand. I am trying to choose a text for my course in the winter quarter called: The Historical Context of the Earliest Christian Documents. I need a textbook that covers each document individually and examines the key issues of each document. I will be teaching UCLA undergraduates so the textbook should be geared towards a secular setting. In addition to works from the New Testament it will cover the Didache and Ignatius, however, I am open to supplying extra readings to cover these documents. Anyone have any ideas for me?
Brandon,
Did you purposely not include the 2 volume set Exploring the New Testament by Marshall, Travis, and Paul? I have found volume 2 to be a decent introduction to Paul’s letters. However, I’m not entirely sure to what audience it is best suited. It is quite “textbooky” with many text boxes, maps, and bullet points. Additionally, the section for each letter called For Today’s _____ (fill in the letter)is a positive or negative depending on the institution using the textbook.
Kevin,
I added Exploring the New Testament. Looks interesting from what I can see at Amazon. A different group of authors for each of the two volumes.
Also, you entered the wrong link to your site, so I’ll list it here and as a result you’ll have groves of people visiting it:
http://kevinscull.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/looking-for-input-on-a-course-i-will-be-teaching-next-year/
Brandon, I have an idea for your Amazon links. You should try changing the portion that says “sitimleb-20″ to “katatabiblia-20″. I think those links will work better. Just an idea ;)
But how would you spend the 17¢ I might earn from all my links?
Brandon,
I thought that by requesting advice on such a prestigious site as yours I would receive a slew of advice concerning textbooks. Perhaps I posted my question too late and everyone has come and gone already from this thread. What book(s) might you recommend for me Brandon?
You might want to look at E. Earle Ellis’s The Making of the New Testament Documents. It’s a very interesting book and addresses a lot of the issues you talk about. It even has a sizable section on Baur, although he doesn’t treat him as generously as you’d hope.
It’s a Brill book, but just reprinted last month by SBL in paperback (although still overpriced).
Great list. My faves are Carson and Moo and Guthrie. I just received recently a review copy of The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Köstenberger, Kellum, and Quarles. Early reviews are quite good and my initial impressions are the same–looks to be a great volume.
Thanks for letting me know about that book–I’ve added it to the list. I also like how the book’s title attempts to summarize the NT with alliteration. :-)
Yes, I think it’s a most clever title!
Brandon,
The intro course which I took as an undergraduate worked through the entire Bible in a single semester… so we used an edition of Stephen Harris’ Understanding the Bible (which I wouldn’t recommend very highly). A faculty member who was aware of my growing interest in pursuing NT studies strongly recommended Koester, which was my primary exposure to NT intro texts while in college. The two-semester intro course at YDS uses Brown, which is also my favorite (at least among those which I’ve read extensively). Adela Collins, however, was very fond of Kummel and we often used it as a supplement in her seminars. There’s a lot of good stuff in there.
This spring, while I was TAing for Harry Gamble at UVA, we had a long discussion about this very subject; he’s used an edition of Ehrman’s historical introduction for the past several years, but he’s not completely pleased with it. Unfortunately, Brown is probably a little too dense for first-year undergraduates.
Despite the fact that there are seemingly countless NT intros, it’s still hard to find the right one, especially for the secular setting, right? What has Gamble not liked about Ehrman?
Exactly… I think that secular schools have an especially difficult time finding the right intro text for their undergraduates. As far is Ehrman is concerned, I think that while it’s pretty good overall, there are portions where his personal perspectives on the extant data are a little more prevalent than one might like.