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Handbook on Acts and Paul's Letters: (An Accessible Bible Study Resource with Summaries of Each Major Section of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)
Leading biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner provides an easy-to-navigate resource for studying and understanding the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Letters. This accessibly written volume summarizes the content of each major section of the biblical text to help readers quickly grasp the sense of particular passages.
This is the first volume in the Handbooks on the New Testament series, which is modeled after Baker Academic's successful Old Testament handbook series. Series volumes are neither introductions nor commentaries, as they focus primarily on the content of the biblical books without getting bogged down in historical-critical questions or detailed verse-by-verse exegesis. The series will contain three volumes that span the entirety of the New Testament, with future volumes covering the Gospels and Hebrews through Revelation. Written with classroom utility and pastoral application in mind, these books will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople alike.
This is the first volume in the Handbooks on the New Testament series, which is modeled after Baker Academic's successful Old Testament handbook series. Series volumes are neither introductions nor commentaries, as they focus primarily on the content of the biblical books without getting bogged down in historical-critical questions or detailed verse-by-verse exegesis. The series will contain three volumes that span the entirety of the New Testament, with future volumes covering the Gospels and Hebrews through Revelation. Written with classroom utility and pastoral application in mind, these books will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople alike.
480 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2019
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38 people want to read
About the author
Thomas R. Schreiner
111 books203 followersThomas R. Schreiner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including New Testament Theology; Magnifying God in Christ; Apostle of God's Glory in Christ; and Romans in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 10, 2021
There's a place for technical commentaries. But this handbook really helps get your focus on the text. This new NT handbook series is great for those being introduced to the text as well as those preaching through a text (without getting tripped up on technical details).
Interviews about the book here:
https://equip.sbts.edu/article/author...
https://equip.sbts.edu/publications/m...
Book reviews here:
https://cbs.mbts.edu/2020/05/12/book-...
https://www.booksataglance.com/book-r...
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/th...
Interviews about the book here:
https://equip.sbts.edu/article/author...
https://equip.sbts.edu/publications/m...
Book reviews here:
https://cbs.mbts.edu/2020/05/12/book-...
https://www.booksataglance.com/book-r...
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/th...
May 1, 2020
Some commentaries are too dense as they go line-by-line into Scripture interpretation. These are often used by teachers and preachers in their preparation for Bible classes. Others especially the popular one-volume handbooks are too brief, and are useful mainly for a quick overview. This handbook sandwiches between these two ends and gives readers a balanced summary on the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles. The publisher avoids calling this a commentary or an introduction. A handbook is more descriptive name for this, so readers would be poised to see semblance of an introductory text as well as a commentary rolled into one. It looks like an introductory text in terms of its preamble; its outlining; its commentary on broad segments of Scripture; its lack of footnotes and endnotes; and its concise headers to show readers where the author is going. It looks like a conventional commentary in its occasional usage of original language; its many Scriptural cross-references; the abbreviations; and a pretty impressive bibliography. One would easily see that the author tries to maintain a balanced approach to make this handbook more accessible for the layperson and also sufficient to provide a convenient springboard for further research. The handbook is targeted primarily at "lay people, students, pastors, and professors," a pretty general scope I might say.
Each chapter begins with an introduction of the Bible book concerned, followed by title guides to help us read the letter like a big story. The lack of scholarly citations keep distraction to the minimal, though I must confess that I am more comfortable if some references are included, not just for convenience but also for further clarification. Points of applications are not delayed till the end of the chapter but incorporated throughout the book. The best way to use this book is to read it with an open Bible. Not only does it provide a quick reference to what the author is saying, it gives us a chance to look at the text ourselves to compare and contrast what the author says and what the Bible says. Perhaps, we might even be the third voice in the interaction.
As I read the book, I was wonderful it there are conflicts with regard to the original intent of Paul and Theophilus, vs how we are reading the text for our own understanding. Truth is, there will always be a theological bias. In that sense, it is important to remember that this book is more about Schreiner's interpretation of these 14 books of the New Testament. No matter how we spin it, any commentary or handbook will always have a bias toward a certain theological perspective. Having said that, I see Schreiner diligently keeping any bias to a minimum. For example, in the introduction, the author lists several theological landscape instead of putting forth any one view dogmatically. In places where he does not cite any references, he reminds readers that there are more than one perspective. Overall, I am happy to say that there is more exegetical work done to make this book a lightweight inductive Bible study material. The readable language makes up for the lack of colourful illustrations and pictures. It reads like a unified big story and this is particularly helpful for preaching purposes. As a preacher, I appreciate the broad summaries and subtitles in each chapter. Preachers can take either the outlines or the subtitles within each chapter to design a preaching series of the books concerned. Thus, the book is a helpful preaching resource in this regard.
Thomas Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has previously taught at Bethel Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University.
Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
Each chapter begins with an introduction of the Bible book concerned, followed by title guides to help us read the letter like a big story. The lack of scholarly citations keep distraction to the minimal, though I must confess that I am more comfortable if some references are included, not just for convenience but also for further clarification. Points of applications are not delayed till the end of the chapter but incorporated throughout the book. The best way to use this book is to read it with an open Bible. Not only does it provide a quick reference to what the author is saying, it gives us a chance to look at the text ourselves to compare and contrast what the author says and what the Bible says. Perhaps, we might even be the third voice in the interaction.
As I read the book, I was wonderful it there are conflicts with regard to the original intent of Paul and Theophilus, vs how we are reading the text for our own understanding. Truth is, there will always be a theological bias. In that sense, it is important to remember that this book is more about Schreiner's interpretation of these 14 books of the New Testament. No matter how we spin it, any commentary or handbook will always have a bias toward a certain theological perspective. Having said that, I see Schreiner diligently keeping any bias to a minimum. For example, in the introduction, the author lists several theological landscape instead of putting forth any one view dogmatically. In places where he does not cite any references, he reminds readers that there are more than one perspective. Overall, I am happy to say that there is more exegetical work done to make this book a lightweight inductive Bible study material. The readable language makes up for the lack of colourful illustrations and pictures. It reads like a unified big story and this is particularly helpful for preaching purposes. As a preacher, I appreciate the broad summaries and subtitles in each chapter. Preachers can take either the outlines or the subtitles within each chapter to design a preaching series of the books concerned. Thus, the book is a helpful preaching resource in this regard.
Thomas Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has previously taught at Bethel Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University.
Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
November 14, 2019
If you use modern scholarly works, you already know Thomas R. Schreiner. He has written a multitude of well-received, highly helpful books including major exegetical commentaries. Now he tackles a handbook on Acts and the Epistles of Paul. Fortunately, when we say the Epistles of Paul, Schreiner means all 13 of them! That alone was totally refreshing. Schreiner is simply more conservative than several other major scholars of our day. For that reason alone, any work he writes is worth checking out.
I would label this volume a content survey. Those can be quite tricky to produce and some such volumes have almost no value. Rather than giving an overview, they provide so little depth that they add nothing. In this case, however, Schreiner has succeeded. You can truly follow the flow of the book you’re studying and have a real understanding of what’s going on. Think big picture rather than minutia, but a real drawing out of the theme of what that book is trying to say to us.
Perhaps I liked a few of the introductions better than others. In some cases like the one on Acts, he added a few helpful charts that just brought it alive in the opening statements that discussed structure and themes. In fact, that would be my only minor fault of the book is that a few of the books of the Bible covered do not have that material with the helpful charts. In any event, I feel he totally succeeded both in the broad introduction and the overview of the content. This volume is a total winner on providing what I would want in a handbook on these New Testament books. I don’t see how you could go wrong in using it!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
I would label this volume a content survey. Those can be quite tricky to produce and some such volumes have almost no value. Rather than giving an overview, they provide so little depth that they add nothing. In this case, however, Schreiner has succeeded. You can truly follow the flow of the book you’re studying and have a real understanding of what’s going on. Think big picture rather than minutia, but a real drawing out of the theme of what that book is trying to say to us.
Perhaps I liked a few of the introductions better than others. In some cases like the one on Acts, he added a few helpful charts that just brought it alive in the opening statements that discussed structure and themes. In fact, that would be my only minor fault of the book is that a few of the books of the Bible covered do not have that material with the helpful charts. In any event, I feel he totally succeeded both in the broad introduction and the overview of the content. This volume is a total winner on providing what I would want in a handbook on these New Testament books. I don’t see how you could go wrong in using it!
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
September 27, 2023
(3.5 stars)
This is an okay handbook on the biblical books of Acts through the letters of Paul. Its strengths are that it accomplishes its goal of being a sort of succinct commentary on the books without getting bogged down in interpreting individual verses or difficult passages (though it does address them).
I've been reading this series of three books alongside my devotions and finding it helpful.
Still, there are some weaknesses in my view. Like many/most commentators Mr. Schreiner does better with individual passages than he does with an entire book. For some reason people who end up in a place to write books like this all seem to have this same weakness, or most of them anyway. Dick Lucas (British pastor and theologian) says we should be looking for what he calls "the melodic line of the text" of, for instance, Paul's letters, so that we connect the parts to the whole well. Mr. Schreiner does this sometimes, but in in my opinion this handbook would have been improved by a better connection of the parts to the whole.
This is an okay handbook on the biblical books of Acts through the letters of Paul. Its strengths are that it accomplishes its goal of being a sort of succinct commentary on the books without getting bogged down in interpreting individual verses or difficult passages (though it does address them).
I've been reading this series of three books alongside my devotions and finding it helpful.
Still, there are some weaknesses in my view. Like many/most commentators Mr. Schreiner does better with individual passages than he does with an entire book. For some reason people who end up in a place to write books like this all seem to have this same weakness, or most of them anyway. Dick Lucas (British pastor and theologian) says we should be looking for what he calls "the melodic line of the text" of, for instance, Paul's letters, so that we connect the parts to the whole well. Mr. Schreiner does this sometimes, but in in my opinion this handbook would have been improved by a better connection of the parts to the whole.
May 21, 2024
Schreiner's writing is clear and concise, and I actually agree with him on almost everything in this book. I just don't find the summaries very helpful as there isn't enough space to go in depth with almost anything so it feels like a repetition of what I just read in my Bible rather than helping me understand it better (felt the same about the Handbook on the Prophets, which I read a few years back).
I personally find it much more helpful in understanding Scripture as a whole to dive deeper into one or two books rather than such a sweeping overview.
I personally find it much more helpful in understanding Scripture as a whole to dive deeper into one or two books rather than such a sweeping overview.
July 2, 2025
Read for a seminary class on the NT. In sitting down and reading it cover to cover, Schreiner's language seemed overly antagonistic (humans are dirty, rotten sinners). But I'm guessing if you read it the way people normally read commentaries (just checking a relevant section), this would be less distracting.
March 14, 2025
Schriener puts forward an accessible and helpful insight into the context and meaning of Acts and the Pauline Epistles. He took the text in bite-sized chunks as to get a better understanding of a passage without going into word-by-word exegesis or over-the-top exploration of things.
April 17, 2020
Vintage Schreiner. Clear. Concise. Compelling.
July 14, 2022
Fantastic resource.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews