New Testament History: A Narrative Account

by Ben Witherington III

Essential to an understanding of the New Testament is a comprehension of the individuals, events, and social movements that shaped the setting from which Jesus and his followers emerged. Unfortunately, many accounts by historians can leave readers feeling overwhelmed and confused. New Testament History provides a worthy solution to this problem. A well-known expert on the social situation of the New Testament, Ben Witherington offers an engaging look into the world that gave birth to the Christian faith.

Genres: History, Theology, Biblical Studies, Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, Spirituality

430 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is on the doctoral faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including The Jesus Quest, The Paul Quest, and The New York Times bestseller The Brother of Jesus. He has appeared on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN.

Reviews

[Lars Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an intellectually stimulating walk through the New Testament. The author gives his view of each book in the New Testament and places them on a timeline which often runs counter to what I have learned. His view of the gospels is quite traditional, but the ordering of Paul's letters places Galatians as the earliest letter while the so-called prison letters would be written from Rome. He thinks that Paul went on to Spain and two years later went back to Rome where he was to be beheaded in Nero's campaign against the Christians. On the whole you could say that Witherington almost never believes the redaction theorists and thinks that almost all Paul's letters were written by Paul, and he gives plausible, although contestable, reasons for his views.
Theologically ben Witherington argues for the virgin conception of Jesus and the plausibility of an honest account of the resurrection. He thinks the beloved disciple was a Jerusalem Jew and not one of the twelve. He believes there was a Q, but is a bit weak as to what he really thinks about it.
The book is packed with interesting historical information in a narrative form that starts with Alexander the Great and stops with Domitian i AD 96. It follows the New Testament history chronologically with the birth of Jesus Christ, giving background information as the need arises. This makes for some reiterations.
Witherington relies on very few sources, constantly referring to the same books. Often he relies on his own earier, and impressive, production and in that respect one could see the book as a spin off from his real research. One misses a bibliography.
At times the author becomes eloquent with alliterations and other rhetorical elements which feel oddly out of place in a scientific account, but then again, he favors a rhetorical approach to the New Testament.

[Kendall Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good historical overview of the New Testament era. I really appreciated how he brought a lot of historical context into intersection with the NT documents, whether that be cultural practices, political events/dynamics, etc. This was really enlightening and helpful in understanding the historical context surrounding the NT era and documents.

The first half of the book on the life and ministry of Jesus, including the historical background of the prior several centuries was especially good.

The latter third or so of the book turned into flip-flopping between summaries of the reigns of Roman emperors and brief NT introduction to various NT writings. Much of this information was informative and helpful, but it seemed odd to me that Witherington's book seemed to turn into a NT introduction towards the end. Of course, he has good things to say on many of the issues dealt with in NT introductions, but this book did not seem to give him the space necessary to really delve into the data to back up his conclusions.

All in all, would definitely recommend this book to anyone who desires more historical/cultural background to the NT era and documents.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A best-practice teaching method we education degree students learned in the mid-nineties was to tap into students' prior knowledge schema. My schemata for the hundred years before Jesus and the hundred years following consisted of people dressed in robes walking barefoot, while Jews visited the temple. Also Roman soldiers hovered somewhere. There's really no prior knowledge reserve in my noggin' to draw from. Ben Witherington had an uphill battle.

He packs a lot of information into a paragraph and none of it is for entertaining. Why can't I just find a movie based on this stuff? Bonus if Jason Mamoa plays Jesus.

The author's lack of "prove it" power, what I call authors' use of inordinate white space proving why they're right, made the story flow much faster for me. "Faster" as in I could read a page or two per sitting, but mostly that page consisted of a few paragraphs read, reread, and reread again.

I am exhausted and am definitely not as smart as I think.

[Hazel Rainfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half of this book was excellent, the second half not so much. I found that it seemed to draw apart the years into a rather lengthy narrative at a cost of losing meaning. The text would have been better if the facts would have been spread across the narrative in a more succinct fashion.
The author tried to keep a bias at bay but was unsuccessful. That being said, the presentation of this historical narrative is still a book I would highly recommend. It should not be the end all or the only book one reads when delving into the history of the bible though, as it does present only a tiny window into the ancient world.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for understanding the background and context of the New Testament. It's very interesting and highly readable. I highly recommend it.

[Victoria Dudek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long and heavy details. Good resource thought for NT research!!!

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the first of its kind that I have read: a delightful narrative account of the first century with primary foci centering on life in Israel and Rome. Ben Witherington III does an excellent job weaving together biblical and historical sources to offer a robust picture of the historical events surrounding the writings of the NT documents. This book has a decent amount of photographs, albeit black and white. Probably my least favorite element about this book is the quantity of "deeper look" side bars that interrupted the text and at times repeated elements of the text. That side, many of them were informative but I would have preferred the author work them into the actual text. This book is one I will definitely recommend for anyone who desires to peer into a fuller picture of the historical and social context of the NT. It will substantially contribute to the way in which you read the Bible and understand it in its original setting. This book is well footnoted and may serve as an excellent starting point for one to jump into ancient extra biblical literature such as Josephus, Philo, and some of the Roman historians. As a final note, I would label Ben Witherington III as a conservative critical social, particularly in relation to his views of NT authorship. This offers a helpful perspective to consider, although some of his arguments are not fully convincing. I recommend his views relating to the authorship and dating of the NT documents be read alongside Carson and Moo's NT Introduction for a well balanced perspective.

[Brett Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I enjoyed most about Ben Witherington's New Testament History was how we wove the strands of Christian history, the establishment of the early Christian church and scriptures, roman history, jewish history, as well as other local history together into a highly readable narrative. One aspect I particularly enjoyed was the inclusion of small descriptive boxes on places, people and concepts that really assist the reader in getting into the first century AD mindset.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an engaging read, particularly the sections giving the background history to the New Testament. It's a very accessible book for understanding the New Testament in it's historical context.

[Alan Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

My professor for a class. Deep historical information.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good redaction of the historical background for the New Testament books and actors. It is an invaluable resource for those who wish to go further in their studies of Christian Scripture.

[Tim Crabtree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives good context to the political situation at Jesus's time/start of Christianity in the Roman world. A good resource to have on the shelf.