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Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets: Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament
The first comprehensive analysis of non-canonical influences—Jewish, non-Jewish, and early Christian—on the formation of the New Testament writings.
In Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament, Gregory R. Lanier presents in one volume an overarching compendium and analysis of over five hundred relevant instances of non-Old-Testament influence on the New Testament across three categories—Jewish, non-Jewish (mostly Greco-Roman), and early Christian (pre-canonical).
The abundance of non-canonical influences on the New Testament testifies to the breadth of apostolic cultural engagement and the scope and pace of information exchange in the early Christian circles. This comprehensive work will allow scholars and students to give closer attention to the sheer complexity of the crisscrossing lines of direct and indirect influences on the New Testament Scriptures.
In Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament, Gregory R. Lanier presents in one volume an overarching compendium and analysis of over five hundred relevant instances of non-Old-Testament influence on the New Testament across three categories—Jewish, non-Jewish (mostly Greco-Roman), and early Christian (pre-canonical).
The abundance of non-canonical influences on the New Testament testifies to the breadth of apostolic cultural engagement and the scope and pace of information exchange in the early Christian circles. This comprehensive work will allow scholars and students to give closer attention to the sheer complexity of the crisscrossing lines of direct and indirect influences on the New Testament Scriptures.
- GenresChristianityTheology
1088 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2024
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About the author
Gregory R. Lanier
20 books10 followersGregory R. Lanier (Ph.D. University of Cambridge) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando). He specializes in early Christology, Synoptic Gospels, Greek OT (Septuagint), and textual criticism. He also serves part-time as an associate pastor at River Oaks Church (Lake Mary, FL). He lives in Orlando with his wife and three children.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 3, 2024
Brilliant work, WOW.
Magisterial is a more appropriate adj, actually.
Even just the charts showing overlap between noncanonical influences with scriptural/canonized NT writings would make this an astounding work in its own right.
Dr. Lanier’s scope is vast - but he connects the dots in a way that is easy to understand. Lots of Hebrew, Syriac, some Aramaic, Greek, and Latin for the sources but enough translation that anyone can understand what the point is. Never interrupts or is overwhelming.
He points out current debates or the “weeds” of certain conclusions or hermeneutical preferences, and then moves on to the meat of the comparative works. So refreshing that he never gets side tracked. EX, various perspectives on the use of “monogenes.”
It’s an academic work but read more like a novel to me. It excited me as I saw how the Biblical authors used the tropes and literary structures, wisdom and culture of the day as the NT developed. He truly avoids paralellomania and parallelophobia (and points out where one could go overboard either way.)
Supremely impressed with Dr. Lanier’s efforts and hoping he may do something similar for the OT eventually. Fabulous stuff here!!
Magisterial is a more appropriate adj, actually.
Even just the charts showing overlap between noncanonical influences with scriptural/canonized NT writings would make this an astounding work in its own right.
Dr. Lanier’s scope is vast - but he connects the dots in a way that is easy to understand. Lots of Hebrew, Syriac, some Aramaic, Greek, and Latin for the sources but enough translation that anyone can understand what the point is. Never interrupts or is overwhelming.
He points out current debates or the “weeds” of certain conclusions or hermeneutical preferences, and then moves on to the meat of the comparative works. So refreshing that he never gets side tracked. EX, various perspectives on the use of “monogenes.”
It’s an academic work but read more like a novel to me. It excited me as I saw how the Biblical authors used the tropes and literary structures, wisdom and culture of the day as the NT developed. He truly avoids paralellomania and parallelophobia (and points out where one could go overboard either way.)
Supremely impressed with Dr. Lanier’s efforts and hoping he may do something similar for the OT eventually. Fabulous stuff here!!
March 15, 2026
Skipped a few hundred pages (absolutely massive book), but read probably 80% of it. My goodness, this must have taken decades to write. There is so much information. While a few times I think parallelism was an issue, for the most part the connections to non-canonical literature were astounding. Both Jewish and Non-Jewish extracanonical sources shed so much light on NT passages, themes, and ideas. I will be referencing this constantly. This only solidified further in my mind the importance of venturing outside the canon into the Greco-Roman world to truly grasp and understand the NT.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews