History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age

Introduction to the New Testament #1

by Helmut Koester, Helmut Köster

While the first American edition of this book, published more than a decade ago, was a revised translation ofthe German book, Einführung in das Neue Testament, this second edition of the first volume of the Introduction to the New Testament is no longer dependent upon a previously published German work. The author hopes that for the student of the New Testament it is a useful introduction into the many complex aspects of the political, cultural, and religious developments that characterized the world in which early Christianity arose and by which the New Testament and other early Christian writings were shaped.

Genres: History, Christianity, Church History, New Testament

Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

English pen name for author Helmut Köster

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid introductory text for graduate level studies. Highly, highly detailed. Richly provides historical context for the writings of the New Testament, but does so without binding itself to the New Testament - that is, it doesn't start with Matthew and give you bits and pieces of context to help make sense of Matthew. Rather, this book is an introduction to the history and culture of antiquity in the Hellenistic world. If you've ever wondered how the Ptolemaic dynasty managed its economy or contributed to poetry, or what kinds of fruit came from Persia but were popularized in Rome, this is your book.

By refusing to predetermine excessively which details are "relevant" to the New Testament, the text instead opens the mind of the student to consider how to relate the historical context to the early Christian writings, and in this sense of relevant to early Christian studies in general (not just New Testament). Given the (lack of) background in Classics for many students of early Christianity, this can help fill a big gap and serve as a reference text.

All that said, it is dated; by virtue of when it was published it cannot take into account the explosion of scholarship in the last couple decades nor the more recent forms of criticism.

[Ned · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb here says it is non-technical and while true that still requires a great deal of initial definition of terms. A good thing in that it taught me some things. This has a 'structuralist' approach in that it builds on verifiable data while you get all the reasons for inclusion of this or that piece and thereby how it effects the view of this or that model etc.
But if one looks for answers here you're not likely to find them. Koester can verify historically that the first non-Jewish Christians for example were probably found in Antioch. That the first kind of Christian gatherings for worship were (also) probably dinner feasts. And this for a long time until probably Polycarp's time when people started going to places he had visited to view letters of his and other Christian writings. Before this very little is known with any certainty. So disappointing that way.
As a read it is pure academic sifting and re-sifting of data. Sadly not a detective's crime novel. More like an expert forensic autopsy report. But I'm of the opinion that the more numerous the perspectives we can grasp the clearer our eventual understanding.