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A Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament: A Canonical Introduction
The New Testament came together, and comes to us, not as a randomly sorted set of individual books but as a definitely shaped and ordered whole. This concise, theological introduction to the New Testament sheds light on the interpretive significance of the canon's structure and sequence and articulates how the final shape of the canon is formative for Christian discipleship. Providing an essential overview often missing from New Testament books and courses, this book will serve as an accessible supplement to any New Testament or Bible introduction textbook.
208 pages, Paperback
Published January 2, 2018
About the author
David R. Nienhuis
7 books4 followersDavid R. Nienhuis (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is Professor of New Testament studies at Seattle Pacific University.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 3, 2019
David Nienhuis wrote this New Testament introduction for the undergrad student with the purpose of providing a book that didn’t create a chasm between the academic study of the Bible and the spiritual exercise of studying the Bible in the context of the church community. He suggests that “by replacing the Christian Scripture with the scholars’ Bible, we inadvertently create an existential chasm between students’ intellectual formation and spiritual formation.” The Bible, after all, isn’t an academic book, first. Rather, “The Bible is the canon of Christian Scripture, a collection of holy writings set apart by God’s people in recognition of their Spirit-empowered capacity to mediate the transforming presence of God to the community of faith.” To read the Bible, then, can’t first be an academic exercise, but a spiritual one. “In short, reading the Bible as Scripture involves approaching it as an act of worship.”
But Nienhuis’s critique is not reserved for the academy, he is also critical of how many churches treat scripture. For him non-denominational churches, in their pursuit of all that is relevant, have relegated to scripture to bite sized nuggets focused on principles for living. Meanwhile, traditional churches, while expositing parishioners to more scripture through lectionary readings, do a poor job in providing “a detailed narrative framework for understanding how all these various texts fit together.”
Even his best students tend to be “Bible quoters, not Bible readers.” “What they are not trained to do is read a biblical book from beginning to end, to trace its narrative arc, to discern its main themes, and to wonder about how it shapes our faith lives today.”
From this foundation, Nienhuis takes us through the New Testament. One of the things that immediate strikes the reader is how these principles shape Nienhuis’s writing. He takes up questions that I’ve never seen in other introductions, such as the order of the books (if the Bible was put together as a book of worship, then it would make sense that the order had a catechetical function). Meanwhile, Nienhuis expends very little energy on questions of authorship (with the exception of the book of Hebrews).
Nienhuis has served students and the church very well in his introduction. The entire book is strong, but the introduction and gospels are particular standouts in the book. I commend the book to any reader.
But Nienhuis’s critique is not reserved for the academy, he is also critical of how many churches treat scripture. For him non-denominational churches, in their pursuit of all that is relevant, have relegated to scripture to bite sized nuggets focused on principles for living. Meanwhile, traditional churches, while expositing parishioners to more scripture through lectionary readings, do a poor job in providing “a detailed narrative framework for understanding how all these various texts fit together.”
Even his best students tend to be “Bible quoters, not Bible readers.” “What they are not trained to do is read a biblical book from beginning to end, to trace its narrative arc, to discern its main themes, and to wonder about how it shapes our faith lives today.”
From this foundation, Nienhuis takes us through the New Testament. One of the things that immediate strikes the reader is how these principles shape Nienhuis’s writing. He takes up questions that I’ve never seen in other introductions, such as the order of the books (if the Bible was put together as a book of worship, then it would make sense that the order had a catechetical function). Meanwhile, Nienhuis expends very little energy on questions of authorship (with the exception of the book of Hebrews).
Nienhuis has served students and the church very well in his introduction. The entire book is strong, but the introduction and gospels are particular standouts in the book. I commend the book to any reader.
May 15, 2022
This book is for the Goldilocks reader--for those who want something not too academic and not too fluffy, but welcoming and challenging enough to feel "just right". I was really impressed with the engaging introduction. It made me excited to reread these familiar books with new insight. I found that chapter helped me to hone in on important thematic ideas, gave me familiarity with genre, form, and historical context, and provided me with really intriguing focus questions to guide my reading. I used this as a resource to help me prepare to teach through the entire Bible this year with freshmen. I loved the way this book highlighted significant patterns and helped me feel prepared for each new unit of study as I taught.
March 31, 2024
Really great thoughtful guide to reading the NT canonically. I have some important differences here and there but as a whole, the book delivers what it promises—a starting point to get readers thinking canonically rather than atomistically. I’m not aware of anything else quite like it
February 21, 2019
A really good little short book exploring various themes that help students read the NT. The chapters on the Gospels were very good!
January 27, 2020
Many introductory bible books are exhaustive. They contain excellent historical backgrounds along with literary observations that allow for the reader to understand the shape of the text as well as the modern debates that inform NT scholarship. The problem with these books is that in order to do this well, you will necessarily have to write a large, substantial book (D.A. Carson's An Introduction to the New Testament is 784 pages for example). This too often ends up with introductory bible readers spending more time reading a book about the bible, when they need to be learning to read the bible themselves.
Another problem with typical introductory new testament books is that they give privilege to the conclusions of modern scholarship over the Bible's actual final form. We learn that since Mark was composed first, we should read Mark first rather than Matthew and that Luke and Acts should be studied together rather than having John's gospel shoved alongside them. They teach us that if we are to understand and interpret the bible correctly, we need the information from those academically trained in modern biblical studies. The result is that biblical interpretation is taken out of the hands of the church and into the hands of the academy.
On top of the issues with modern new testament books, there is also the problem of biblical literacy in our churches. Most Protestant churches are filled with plenty of people who can quote the bible, but very few people who know how to read the bible, understand the main themes, and apply those themes to our lives today. What often ends up happening is that Christians who come from this background are unable to apply scripture to their lives unless they can point to a specific bible verse which references the exact problem they are having. Which, considering how different modern life is from ancient life, will not cover all situations.
It is in the midst of these concerns that David Neinhuis decided to write A Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament. The book takes us through the entire New Testament, in canonical form, and looks at each 4 different ways: 1) Canonical Transition 2) The shape of the section 3) What the book teaches us about God's work in Christ Jesus 4) What the book teaches us about the spiritual formation of Christian disciples.
The book has a strong emphasis on reading the bible as received canon. Where it takes place in our canon matters. It matters that Matthew is the first book of the New Testament because it forms as a bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament better than any other gospel. It is significant that John follows Luke rather than Acts immediately following Luke. Without the interjection of John, we would have a natural narrative transition, but some the last time we would have heard about Peter was that he had betrayed Christ. John's gospel alone contains Christ's restoration of Peter, which is important considering the significant role he will play in Acts.
The book is chock full of insights such as these, and it also serves as a good introduction to the differences between various types of letters and gospels. It explains why we need 4 different gospels, and how our picture of who Christ is and what discipleship looks like would be much narrower if any one of them were missing. Matthew gives us Jesus as the Son of God who came to fulfill God's covenant with Israel; Mark shows us Jesus as God's suffering servant, the one who gave his life for many; Luke shows that Jesus is the savior of the world, with a salvation that is broader than only for the Jews; John gives us Jesus as the key that unlocks the meaning and purpose of all things in heaven and on earth.
This book provides a good, short overview of the New Testament. I am not knowledgeable enough to know anywhere that he goes astray in his presentations of material, and every chapter I learned something new that I did not know before. The most controversial part of the book will probably be his depiction of Pauline thought, as I believe he is influenced by the New Perspective on Paul. The truth of his perspective I will have to leave to others, more qualified than I, to sort out. The book is also mean to be used as a textbook, and not read straight through like I did. As such, there are questions at the end of each chapter which would be more helpful to use if you read each of the biblical sections while you were reading and discussing this chapter. I did not do that, but if you were using this as a textbook, then the questions would probably be more helpful.
Another problem with typical introductory new testament books is that they give privilege to the conclusions of modern scholarship over the Bible's actual final form. We learn that since Mark was composed first, we should read Mark first rather than Matthew and that Luke and Acts should be studied together rather than having John's gospel shoved alongside them. They teach us that if we are to understand and interpret the bible correctly, we need the information from those academically trained in modern biblical studies. The result is that biblical interpretation is taken out of the hands of the church and into the hands of the academy.
On top of the issues with modern new testament books, there is also the problem of biblical literacy in our churches. Most Protestant churches are filled with plenty of people who can quote the bible, but very few people who know how to read the bible, understand the main themes, and apply those themes to our lives today. What often ends up happening is that Christians who come from this background are unable to apply scripture to their lives unless they can point to a specific bible verse which references the exact problem they are having. Which, considering how different modern life is from ancient life, will not cover all situations.
It is in the midst of these concerns that David Neinhuis decided to write A Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament. The book takes us through the entire New Testament, in canonical form, and looks at each 4 different ways: 1) Canonical Transition 2) The shape of the section 3) What the book teaches us about God's work in Christ Jesus 4) What the book teaches us about the spiritual formation of Christian disciples.
The book has a strong emphasis on reading the bible as received canon. Where it takes place in our canon matters. It matters that Matthew is the first book of the New Testament because it forms as a bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament better than any other gospel. It is significant that John follows Luke rather than Acts immediately following Luke. Without the interjection of John, we would have a natural narrative transition, but some the last time we would have heard about Peter was that he had betrayed Christ. John's gospel alone contains Christ's restoration of Peter, which is important considering the significant role he will play in Acts.
The book is chock full of insights such as these, and it also serves as a good introduction to the differences between various types of letters and gospels. It explains why we need 4 different gospels, and how our picture of who Christ is and what discipleship looks like would be much narrower if any one of them were missing. Matthew gives us Jesus as the Son of God who came to fulfill God's covenant with Israel; Mark shows us Jesus as God's suffering servant, the one who gave his life for many; Luke shows that Jesus is the savior of the world, with a salvation that is broader than only for the Jews; John gives us Jesus as the key that unlocks the meaning and purpose of all things in heaven and on earth.
This book provides a good, short overview of the New Testament. I am not knowledgeable enough to know anywhere that he goes astray in his presentations of material, and every chapter I learned something new that I did not know before. The most controversial part of the book will probably be his depiction of Pauline thought, as I believe he is influenced by the New Perspective on Paul. The truth of his perspective I will have to leave to others, more qualified than I, to sort out. The book is also mean to be used as a textbook, and not read straight through like I did. As such, there are questions at the end of each chapter which would be more helpful to use if you read each of the biblical sections while you were reading and discussing this chapter. I did not do that, but if you were using this as a textbook, then the questions would probably be more helpful.
October 1, 2018
It was the “Canonical” portion of the title which intrigued me about Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament: A Canonical Introduction. My formal biblical studies at the graduate level was marvelous, but with only a few exceptions, the bulk of research seemed to be dissecting the biblical text into individual beads without ever putting the necklace back together again. Apparently, David R. Nienhuis of Seattle Pacific University had something of the same concern. There is much in this volume with which I resonate, …
I like the approach Nienhuis takes to the structure of the New Testament itself, pointing out that there are four gospels (the number four representing the created order), seven (divine number three (3) + created order four (4) = seven (7) for God and creation in right relationship, completion, perfection, letters from Paul to seven (7) specific churches, seven (7) general or “Catholic” letters open to any churches who can get a copy, and (7) seven churches mentioned in the opening chapters of Revelation (p. 12). Again, I like the conceptual, thematic structures for each book. For example, outlining Matthew as an alternating structure of narrative-sermon-narrative-sermon (p. 24) or the simple structure of Acts which many of us use: Opening Remarks/Ascension followed by three sections: witness to Jerusalem, witness to Judea, witness to the ends of the earth (p. 91).
I also like Nienhuis’ literary sensitivity to the use of words. Details such as the fact that Luke uses words built off the root for “fill” fourteen (14) times in the first two chapters of the gospel (p. 56) or that the dinner table is the most common scene for transformation in Luke with 13 of the 19 meals recounted in Luke being unique to this gospel (p. 64) were the types of insights I value. Even in his short treatment of Paul’s letters, he noticed a near-inclusio (I call them bookends for my congregation) where Paul defines his mission in Romans 1:5 (part of his opening salutation) as receiving grace and apostleship (an undeserved opportunity, but commanded by God) to lead all the Gentiles to the obedience of the faith. The bookend on the other side of the letter comes in his concluding remarks (Romans 16:26) where Christ has been revealed by the commandment of God, revealed to all nations (“nations” often used to refer to the Gentiles in the Old Testament), and leading to the obedience of faith (p. 118).
Extremely valuable, as well, are Nienhuis’ conjectures on the ordering of the canon. He has delightful speculation about the two cases where Paul’s letters were not ordered by length (p. 117), why the Letter to the Hebrews is often designated as Pauline (similar opening and its self-designation as an exhortation, pp. 129-130), and why the canonical form places the Catholic (or General) Letters in the order of James, Peter, John, and Jude (Galatians 2:9 lists the early church leaders in the same order for the first three and Jude becomes the bookend conclusion as the brother of James, p. 136). And, while I enjoyed his discussion of Revelation, I felt like he lost something of the tight structural threads he was sewing in his discussion of the gospels.
Since I am always looking for an accessible introduction to the Bible (or separately, as Old Testament and New Testament), A Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament: A Canonical Introduction is a welcome addition to my library. Yet, if I were using it as a textbook, I would need to supplement it with more considerations of text criticism (of which Nienhuis makes use), source criticism (of which Nienhuis’ discussion is completely aware), form criticism (which Nienhuis finds peripheral to his canonical approach), and redaction criticism (which is a different level than Nienhuis’ perspective on the whole rather than its parts). Still, I’m sure this book will serve its purpose, both in classrooms and churches.
I like the approach Nienhuis takes to the structure of the New Testament itself, pointing out that there are four gospels (the number four representing the created order), seven (divine number three (3) + created order four (4) = seven (7) for God and creation in right relationship, completion, perfection, letters from Paul to seven (7) specific churches, seven (7) general or “Catholic” letters open to any churches who can get a copy, and (7) seven churches mentioned in the opening chapters of Revelation (p. 12). Again, I like the conceptual, thematic structures for each book. For example, outlining Matthew as an alternating structure of narrative-sermon-narrative-sermon (p. 24) or the simple structure of Acts which many of us use: Opening Remarks/Ascension followed by three sections: witness to Jerusalem, witness to Judea, witness to the ends of the earth (p. 91).
I also like Nienhuis’ literary sensitivity to the use of words. Details such as the fact that Luke uses words built off the root for “fill” fourteen (14) times in the first two chapters of the gospel (p. 56) or that the dinner table is the most common scene for transformation in Luke with 13 of the 19 meals recounted in Luke being unique to this gospel (p. 64) were the types of insights I value. Even in his short treatment of Paul’s letters, he noticed a near-inclusio (I call them bookends for my congregation) where Paul defines his mission in Romans 1:5 (part of his opening salutation) as receiving grace and apostleship (an undeserved opportunity, but commanded by God) to lead all the Gentiles to the obedience of the faith. The bookend on the other side of the letter comes in his concluding remarks (Romans 16:26) where Christ has been revealed by the commandment of God, revealed to all nations (“nations” often used to refer to the Gentiles in the Old Testament), and leading to the obedience of faith (p. 118).
Extremely valuable, as well, are Nienhuis’ conjectures on the ordering of the canon. He has delightful speculation about the two cases where Paul’s letters were not ordered by length (p. 117), why the Letter to the Hebrews is often designated as Pauline (similar opening and its self-designation as an exhortation, pp. 129-130), and why the canonical form places the Catholic (or General) Letters in the order of James, Peter, John, and Jude (Galatians 2:9 lists the early church leaders in the same order for the first three and Jude becomes the bookend conclusion as the brother of James, p. 136). And, while I enjoyed his discussion of Revelation, I felt like he lost something of the tight structural threads he was sewing in his discussion of the gospels.
Since I am always looking for an accessible introduction to the Bible (or separately, as Old Testament and New Testament), A Concise Guide to Reading the New Testament: A Canonical Introduction is a welcome addition to my library. Yet, if I were using it as a textbook, I would need to supplement it with more considerations of text criticism (of which Nienhuis makes use), source criticism (of which Nienhuis’ discussion is completely aware), form criticism (which Nienhuis finds peripheral to his canonical approach), and redaction criticism (which is a different level than Nienhuis’ perspective on the whole rather than its parts). Still, I’m sure this book will serve its purpose, both in classrooms and churches.
June 6, 2018
Fascinating claim that we ought to pay attention to the ordering of the canon as meaningful, and allow that to teach us something about the biblical narrative. I'm not sure how far we can push it in terms of the canonical order being "inspired" or something, but at the very least we can agree that the ordering isn't incidental, and forces us to think about the importance each NT book brings to the canon as a whole.
Silly stuff about justification, in the NT Wright direction, and sometimes I think he punts questions of authorship over too much to modern scholarship, but the basic premise is a worthy one.
Silly stuff about justification, in the NT Wright direction, and sometimes I think he punts questions of authorship over too much to modern scholarship, but the basic premise is a worthy one.
December 28, 2018
Excellent little guide to reading the New Testament. The accessibility of this book would be helpful for layman and undergraduate bible college students. As others have noted, the introduction alone makes the book worth the price. This book also caries immense value for the seminary students who have been inundated with biblical criticism in such a way that they have a hard time enjoying and treasuring the reading of Scripture.
While I may have some theological differences with Nienhuis, those do not outweigh the value this book offers in making a deep reading of the New Testament accessible through studying the Bible canonically.
While I may have some theological differences with Nienhuis, those do not outweigh the value this book offers in making a deep reading of the New Testament accessible through studying the Bible canonically.
January 27, 2018
A Canonical Survey of the New Testament
The introduction itself makes this book worth picking up and reading. The whole book though is an excellent survey of the New Testament, particularly in how it treats each section of Scripture as a part of the canonical whole.
The introduction itself makes this book worth picking up and reading. The whole book though is an excellent survey of the New Testament, particularly in how it treats each section of Scripture as a part of the canonical whole.
April 7, 2020
A great book as an introduction to the New Testament text as far as biblical theology. Great academic insights, but also Nienhuis’ pastoral heart and love for the Gospel is shown quite extensively throughout the book which I appreciated.
January 17, 2019
Helpful NT introduction. Nienhuis examines the contribution of each book to the whole NT message and focuses on the significance of the canonical order.
June 17, 2020
While I very much appreciated his canonical approach, there were very many views I could not agree with that would preclude me from using this as a textbook.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews