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The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians
Finally: an introduction that captures the excitement of the early Christians, helping today's readers to think like a first-century believer while reading the text responsibly for today.
The New Testament in Its World is your passageway from the twenty-first century to the era of Jesus and the first Christians. A highly-readable, one-volume introduction placing the entire New Testament and early Christianity in its original context, it is the only such work by distinguished scholar and author N. T. (Tom) Wright.
An ideal guide for students, The New Testament in Its World addresses the many difficult questions faced by those studying early Christianity. Both large and small, these questions include:
What is the purpose of the New Testament?
What was the first-century understanding of the kingdom?
What is the real meaning of the resurrection in its original context?
What really were the Gospels?
Who was Paul and why are his letters so controversial?
As twenty-first-century people, how do we recover the excitement of what it was like to live as Christians in the first or second centuries?
In short, The New Testament in Its World brings together decades of ground-breaking research, writing, and teaching into one volume that will open readers' eyes to the larger world of the New Testament. It presents the New Testament books as historical, literary, and social phenomena located in the world of Second Temple Judaism, amidst Greco-Roman politics and culture, and within early Christianity.
Written for both classroom and personal use, the benefits of The New Testament in Its World include:
A distillation of the life work of N. T. Wright on the New Testament with input from Michael Bird
Historical context that situates Jesus and the early church within the history, culture, and religion of Second Temple Judaism and the Greco-Roman world
Major sections on the historical Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and Paul's chronology and theology
Surveys of each New Testament book that discuss their significance, critical topics like authorship and date, and that provide commentary on contents along with implications for the Christian life
Up-to-date discussions of textual criticism and the canonization of the New Testament
A concluding chapter dedicated to living the story of the New Testament
Available Video and Workbook companion resources to enhance learning and experience the world of the New Testament
Illustrated with visually rich pictures, maps, charts, diagrams, and artwork; plentiful sidebars provide additional explanations and insights
The New Testament in Its World is your passageway from the twenty-first century to the era of Jesus and the first Christians. A highly-readable, one-volume introduction placing the entire New Testament and early Christianity in its original context, it is the only such work by distinguished scholar and author N. T. (Tom) Wright.
An ideal guide for students, The New Testament in Its World addresses the many difficult questions faced by those studying early Christianity. Both large and small, these questions include:
What is the purpose of the New Testament?
What was the first-century understanding of the kingdom?
What is the real meaning of the resurrection in its original context?
What really were the Gospels?
Who was Paul and why are his letters so controversial?
As twenty-first-century people, how do we recover the excitement of what it was like to live as Christians in the first or second centuries?
In short, The New Testament in Its World brings together decades of ground-breaking research, writing, and teaching into one volume that will open readers' eyes to the larger world of the New Testament. It presents the New Testament books as historical, literary, and social phenomena located in the world of Second Temple Judaism, amidst Greco-Roman politics and culture, and within early Christianity.
Written for both classroom and personal use, the benefits of The New Testament in Its World include:
A distillation of the life work of N. T. Wright on the New Testament with input from Michael Bird
Historical context that situates Jesus and the early church within the history, culture, and religion of Second Temple Judaism and the Greco-Roman world
Major sections on the historical Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and Paul's chronology and theology
Surveys of each New Testament book that discuss their significance, critical topics like authorship and date, and that provide commentary on contents along with implications for the Christian life
Up-to-date discussions of textual criticism and the canonization of the New Testament
A concluding chapter dedicated to living the story of the New Testament
Available Video and Workbook companion resources to enhance learning and experience the world of the New Testament
Illustrated with visually rich pictures, maps, charts, diagrams, and artwork; plentiful sidebars provide additional explanations and insights
992 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2019
693 people are currently reading
5043 people want to read
About the author
N.T. Wright
460 books2,866 followersN. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England (2003-2010) and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline NBC, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air, and he has taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill, and Oxford universities. Wright is the award-winning author of Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, The Last Word, The Challenge of Jesus, The Meaning of Jesus (coauthored with Marcus Borg), as well as the much heralded series Christian Origins and the Question of God.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
He also publishes under Tom Wright.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 111 reviews
February 13, 2020
Very clear and helpful on the historical background of the NT world. Also very helpful in summarizing scholarly debates and perspectives on a variety of issues surrounding authorship and dating of each NT book.
Funny thing, though: Michael Bird has gone on record a number of times saying that the New Perspective on Paul is generally "correct in what it affirms, but often wrong in what it denies." (For example, see this interview.) However, despite Bird's herculean effort at condensing Wright's corpus into a single volume, he does not escape this inscrutable flaw of making all kinds of puzzling denials. This, I presume, is one source of Wright's negative press in some circles.
Perhaps in an attempt to distinguish himself from the (admittedly oft unexamined) theological tradition, Wright comes out with stark denials of clear and widely accepted Christian tradition. In reading what Wright asserts, there is typically not much to get upset about. He does fabulously at helping us to think our way through a text in its context. But in making his denials, he paints a gratuitous target on his back...only to subvert his own denial a few sentences or paragraphs later.
Case in point:
"The whole point of the sacrificial system was never, after all, about animals being killed by way of vicarious punishment. That notion has crept into Christian understandings of 'sacrifice' by an illegitimate transfer of ideas from Paul's law-court imagery. The point was not to punish people's sins so that they could enter God's presence, but to cleanse every trace of sin and death from the people and the sanctuary so that God could come to dwell with them. The sacrificial blood acted as the cleansing, purifying agent so that the stain of death, and the sin which leads to it, would not compel God to absent himself. In the same way, the point here is not to enable people to come into God's presence (though from our point of view that appears part of it) but to enable the living God to dwell in us and with us" (p. 723, italics added).
Such paragraphs are littered all throughout the book. Wright gets maximum shock value from denying some widely (and historically) held belief. He then proposes a nuanced yet helpful way of viewing the issue. Then he hands us back the traditional perspective, if not on a silver platter, at least on a rubber placemat. In other words, his dichotomies (between what he denies and what he affirms) are not nearly as starkly antithetical as he himself appears to suggest.
So I find that, if I don't get too worked up about the stringent denials of things I hold dear, Wright can be rather stimulating and insightful. Take those denials out of context, and he sounds extreme. In context, however, the denials more often than not simply overstate a fair point.
I profited much from this important work, and you just might as well.
Funny thing, though: Michael Bird has gone on record a number of times saying that the New Perspective on Paul is generally "correct in what it affirms, but often wrong in what it denies." (For example, see this interview.) However, despite Bird's herculean effort at condensing Wright's corpus into a single volume, he does not escape this inscrutable flaw of making all kinds of puzzling denials. This, I presume, is one source of Wright's negative press in some circles.
Perhaps in an attempt to distinguish himself from the (admittedly oft unexamined) theological tradition, Wright comes out with stark denials of clear and widely accepted Christian tradition. In reading what Wright asserts, there is typically not much to get upset about. He does fabulously at helping us to think our way through a text in its context. But in making his denials, he paints a gratuitous target on his back...only to subvert his own denial a few sentences or paragraphs later.
Case in point:
"The whole point of the sacrificial system was never, after all, about animals being killed by way of vicarious punishment. That notion has crept into Christian understandings of 'sacrifice' by an illegitimate transfer of ideas from Paul's law-court imagery. The point was not to punish people's sins so that they could enter God's presence, but to cleanse every trace of sin and death from the people and the sanctuary so that God could come to dwell with them. The sacrificial blood acted as the cleansing, purifying agent so that the stain of death, and the sin which leads to it, would not compel God to absent himself. In the same way, the point here is not to enable people to come into God's presence (though from our point of view that appears part of it) but to enable the living God to dwell in us and with us" (p. 723, italics added).
Such paragraphs are littered all throughout the book. Wright gets maximum shock value from denying some widely (and historically) held belief. He then proposes a nuanced yet helpful way of viewing the issue. Then he hands us back the traditional perspective, if not on a silver platter, at least on a rubber placemat. In other words, his dichotomies (between what he denies and what he affirms) are not nearly as starkly antithetical as he himself appears to suggest.
So I find that, if I don't get too worked up about the stringent denials of things I hold dear, Wright can be rather stimulating and insightful. Take those denials out of context, and he sounds extreme. In context, however, the denials more often than not simply overstate a fair point.
I profited much from this important work, and you just might as well.
January 24, 2020
Amazing! What a gift this book is to the church and to Christ-followers. If you want to study the Bible in context, this is the resource to help you.
February 2, 2020
This is contextual theology at its very finest. N.T. Wright is one of the most acclaimed, and prolific New Testament scholars alive today, and his written work is far reaching, and remarkably dense. In this book, Wright, with help of fellow New Testament scholar Michael Bird, has produced a condensed version of his entire literary corpus in a single volume.
Presented in the format of a New Testament introduction, this volume begins with preliminary questions concerning the nature of the New Testament, then quickly moves on to explore the historical context in which it was written. After this superb historical survey, the authors then broadly examine both the history, and theology of each book of the New Testament.
Wright is one of the preeminent historians of the second temple period, and the historical Jesus. His facility to discern, and convey the grand picture of Christian Theology, and narrative is perhaps the best that I have encountered. When zeroing in on more micro-level textual interpretations, Wright does sometimes adopt novel solutions. Though, this critique is less applicable to this work, given its scope. Readers may not always agree with the conclusions of Wright, and Bird, but I have little doubt that they will be educated by their work.
Presented in the format of a New Testament introduction, this volume begins with preliminary questions concerning the nature of the New Testament, then quickly moves on to explore the historical context in which it was written. After this superb historical survey, the authors then broadly examine both the history, and theology of each book of the New Testament.
Wright is one of the preeminent historians of the second temple period, and the historical Jesus. His facility to discern, and convey the grand picture of Christian Theology, and narrative is perhaps the best that I have encountered. When zeroing in on more micro-level textual interpretations, Wright does sometimes adopt novel solutions. Though, this critique is less applicable to this work, given its scope. Readers may not always agree with the conclusions of Wright, and Bird, but I have little doubt that they will be educated by their work.
April 3, 2020
Wow.
Genuinely brilliant.
Even the slightly annoying 'emails from the edge' gradually made sense.
Beautifully produced, written in a way that draws you in, and wonderfully fair and irenic to various views.
Recommended.
Genuinely brilliant.
Even the slightly annoying 'emails from the edge' gradually made sense.
Beautifully produced, written in a way that draws you in, and wonderfully fair and irenic to various views.
Recommended.
June 13, 2024
This is a hefty volume. I chose to listen to the Audible version, which was well done. You’ll find not only the standard background to each of the NT books, but a wealth of cultural information, theology, and pastoral insights. I appreciated that the authors ordinarily represented multiple sides to controversial issues, and did so objectively. I suspect this will be a widely used NT introduction for many years to come.
October 16, 2020
This is a solid introduction to the New Testament. Wright and Bird write from a more conservative theological perspective, so they tend to favor earlier dating of New Testament books than more liberal scholars might as well as supporting Pauline authorship for some books others may reject (such as the pastorals).
I can see myself returning to this book frequently. Large portions of it are essentially summaries of Wright’s longer works. Thus, it serves as a distilled version of Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God and Paul and the Faithfulness of God. I suppose the section then on the Gospels may be a preview of a future volume from Wright.
I did not read the introductions to each New Testament book, but as I said, I will be returning to this frequently as a reference work. The best parts of the book are the aforementioned sections when Wright and Bird present theology of the gospel and of Paul as a whole. I also appreciated the background and the chapters on textual criticism and the formation of the New Testament.
Overall, a solid work.
I can see myself returning to this book frequently. Large portions of it are essentially summaries of Wright’s longer works. Thus, it serves as a distilled version of Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God and Paul and the Faithfulness of God. I suppose the section then on the Gospels may be a preview of a future volume from Wright.
I did not read the introductions to each New Testament book, but as I said, I will be returning to this frequently as a reference work. The best parts of the book are the aforementioned sections when Wright and Bird present theology of the gospel and of Paul as a whole. I also appreciated the background and the chapters on textual criticism and the formation of the New Testament.
Overall, a solid work.
December 15, 2019
I was tempted to give this four stars as it does drag at points, but the beginning and end alone are worth the price of admission. Interestingly enough they often don't come down on classic "NT Intro" questions like date, authorship, etc. Wright in particular's (and Bird is pretty great as well) sermonic prose is convicting, especially considering his academic and popular audience.
"The world will probably raise its cynical eyebrows: can these things really be true? Yes, answers the church; and they come about as people worship the God in whose image they are made, as they follow the Lord who bore their sins and rose from the dead, as they are indwelt by his spirit and thereby given new life, a new way of life, a new zest for life."
"The world will probably raise its cynical eyebrows: can these things really be true? Yes, answers the church; and they come about as people worship the God in whose image they are made, as they follow the Lord who bore their sins and rose from the dead, as they are indwelt by his spirit and thereby given new life, a new way of life, a new zest for life."
August 4, 2020
The contents speak for themselves, but I want to give a huge THANK YOU to the editors of this book!
Circumstances required that I get the kindle book rather than a physical copy, and I was ready to dance around the city when I realized that every single insert is at the END of a paragraph! NOT A SINGLE ONE interrupts a paragraph or line of thought. This is such a rarity, and I am incredibly thankful for the amount of thoughtfulness that went in to making this book readable and enjoyable. If you know, you know. THANK YOU!!!!
Circumstances required that I get the kindle book rather than a physical copy, and I was ready to dance around the city when I realized that every single insert is at the END of a paragraph! NOT A SINGLE ONE interrupts a paragraph or line of thought. This is such a rarity, and I am incredibly thankful for the amount of thoughtfulness that went in to making this book readable and enjoyable. If you know, you know. THANK YOU!!!!
December 19, 2019
Wonderful! I read through this so quickly because I was encompassed by it. Great format of teaching how a first century person would have understood a first century book like the New Testament. The writing is beautiful and the authors raise up a beautiful picture of faith, hope, and love for today’s church that is still being shaped by the raised Son of God in the New Testament.
March 21, 2022
Not necessarily the most immediately engaging in flow due to the fact that it read a bit more like a text book than other of Wright's material, but the scope & content were A+. A fantastic intro to his thought, & a book I'd recommend to any thinking Christian. I just finished reading it for the 2nd time, & I'm considering buying this as a gift for my step-father.
June 9, 2021
This is a hard one to review because there is much good mixed with plenty that is just unhelpful. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone without some caveats. The parts of the book which give geographic and historical insights are very interesting and helpful. The parts which (on audio) feature Wright expounding in the larger narrative of scripture are also very helpful and edifying.
But, BUT, I really got tired of Byrd’s continual liberal academic leaning on authorship (redactors seem to be assumed to have written quite a bit of scripture) and other areas of theology. He’s just so wishy-washy. To the trained eye, there’s a difference between nuance and liberalism. After this volume I’m way less trusting of his approach to scripture. And let’s be honest, most people don’t have time to read super widely, and with so many good works of theology and information of scripture, why would I ever recommend anything he has written to the general public? Why waste their time? So if you have time/bandwidth to sort through this, then I’d say you’ll enjoy what I mentioned above. But if you do the audio, you might as well skip all the Byrd portions as they are just retreads off what Wright has already said more eloquently.
One more caveat. I did not closely listen to the Pauline lectures from Wright, and because of how careful one must be when studying Wright on Pauline theology it’s just worth noting I didn’t camp out there. It’s another case of some very interesting and insightful notes in second and first century Jewish culture which he may simply press too far theologically. You see some of this in his notes in other places. Just be cautious. It’s like reading MacArthur in that he is so confident in his assertions, yet he takes his deductions just too far in places. At least that’s my take. Others may disagree.
So that’s a ramble, but in conclusion, if you don’t read a lot and don’t have a ton of bandwidth, skip this one. If you do and you have a commitment to discernment, then you’ll find some insight and several nuggets (mostly from Wright).
But, BUT, I really got tired of Byrd’s continual liberal academic leaning on authorship (redactors seem to be assumed to have written quite a bit of scripture) and other areas of theology. He’s just so wishy-washy. To the trained eye, there’s a difference between nuance and liberalism. After this volume I’m way less trusting of his approach to scripture. And let’s be honest, most people don’t have time to read super widely, and with so many good works of theology and information of scripture, why would I ever recommend anything he has written to the general public? Why waste their time? So if you have time/bandwidth to sort through this, then I’d say you’ll enjoy what I mentioned above. But if you do the audio, you might as well skip all the Byrd portions as they are just retreads off what Wright has already said more eloquently.
One more caveat. I did not closely listen to the Pauline lectures from Wright, and because of how careful one must be when studying Wright on Pauline theology it’s just worth noting I didn’t camp out there. It’s another case of some very interesting and insightful notes in second and first century Jewish culture which he may simply press too far theologically. You see some of this in his notes in other places. Just be cautious. It’s like reading MacArthur in that he is so confident in his assertions, yet he takes his deductions just too far in places. At least that’s my take. Others may disagree.
So that’s a ramble, but in conclusion, if you don’t read a lot and don’t have a ton of bandwidth, skip this one. If you do and you have a commitment to discernment, then you’ll find some insight and several nuggets (mostly from Wright).
February 19, 2021
I was only able listen to half of it in Audible so far, but I absolutely loved it. It sets the stage perfectly to understand the New Testament in its world both from a Jewish and Gentile perspective
April 12, 2023
A behemoth, but a splendid into to the NT.
June 14, 2021
You know that moment in “Return of the King” when Frodo has completed his task (even though he failed) and is standing outside of Mt Doom, and says “It’s done” with relief and hope in his voice, that’s how I felt finishing this book.
December 25, 2020
Fun and worth the read, disagreed in several sections but that’s to be expected with a book of this size. Will reference again in the future for sure.
April 12, 2023
What a great overview of the new testament.
December 8, 2025
Read this book for my New Testament class in seminary. It's a CHONKER with tons of maps, pictures, graphs, etc but man it really digs into the NT!! An intro and background on every book of the NT, along with summaries of debates that go along with each chapter. I learned so much! I actually would get overwhelmed with how chunky the chapters were (big book, tiny font) that I ended up finding it on Spotify and that was life changing!
December 13, 2024
I read and studied this throughout the entire year, and I enjoyed it so much!
The structure is amazing, and it really digs deep into the culture, development, content, dating, authorship, genre, and purpose of the New Testament in full.
I would highly recommend this for any Christian looking to deepen their understanding of the New Testament and read it from the perspective that it should be read; not simply with Western eyes.
The structure is amazing, and it really digs deep into the culture, development, content, dating, authorship, genre, and purpose of the New Testament in full.
I would highly recommend this for any Christian looking to deepen their understanding of the New Testament and read it from the perspective that it should be read; not simply with Western eyes.
February 11, 2020
About two months ago, I set aside approximately 30-45 minutes a day to read this introduction to the New Testament by N. T. Wright, with assistance from Michael Bird. It took me a little over two months to finish. Personally, I have not been much of a fan of Wright, not because I don't like what he does; but because I had not read or studied much of his material. He came to prominence during the 25 year period when I was involved in bi-vocational ministry, and just did not have (or take) the time to keep up with a lot of the new authors and materials that was being published. But I read a review of this book, and discovered that it was more of a compiling of some of Wright's work; and it offered a starting point for me to get a great overview of Wright's theological and textual work.
I thoroughly enjoyed the work, realizing that there were place's where the material was so far above my head; that I would have to go back re-read, and slowly digest the points that he was making. Lots of the material real struck a nerve with some things that I had been thinking (like the presence of God in the second temple), and other things made me scratch my head wondering "where in the world did he come up with that" or "why would he believe that" I loved the pictures that were place throughout the text, the emails between the student and the teacher (discussing the problems in New Testament studies), the "further reading" suggestions at the end of each chapter, the outline of the chapters at the beginning, all the information boxes inserted in the pages (explaining some point, or explaining its history, etc.), and the Bibliography. All of those just demonstrated to me how much more that I have to learn. One thing that I really did not like, was the window in the dust cover (mine tore before I was halfway through the book).
To be perfectly honest, the likely reason I gave this book 4 stars, was my own intellectual shortcomings. My undergraduate work was done at a small Bible college in North Alabama that was very conservative, and it seemed to me that Wright tried to straddle the fence between the conservative and liberal views. One of my graduate school professors told me (concerning questions of authorship, date, and text), just study what you are given, and preach that. I'm not saying that Wright is wrong about the views concerning those subjects, just that they are beyond things that I have ever given a whole lot of study. My point of emphasis has always been the exegesis and exposition of the text, and not the theology of the book or text. I am trying to overcome that weakness.
I would recommend this book to any serious student of the Scripture, but I don't know that reading it all the way through is the best use of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the work, realizing that there were place's where the material was so far above my head; that I would have to go back re-read, and slowly digest the points that he was making. Lots of the material real struck a nerve with some things that I had been thinking (like the presence of God in the second temple), and other things made me scratch my head wondering "where in the world did he come up with that" or "why would he believe that" I loved the pictures that were place throughout the text, the emails between the student and the teacher (discussing the problems in New Testament studies), the "further reading" suggestions at the end of each chapter, the outline of the chapters at the beginning, all the information boxes inserted in the pages (explaining some point, or explaining its history, etc.), and the Bibliography. All of those just demonstrated to me how much more that I have to learn. One thing that I really did not like, was the window in the dust cover (mine tore before I was halfway through the book).
To be perfectly honest, the likely reason I gave this book 4 stars, was my own intellectual shortcomings. My undergraduate work was done at a small Bible college in North Alabama that was very conservative, and it seemed to me that Wright tried to straddle the fence between the conservative and liberal views. One of my graduate school professors told me (concerning questions of authorship, date, and text), just study what you are given, and preach that. I'm not saying that Wright is wrong about the views concerning those subjects, just that they are beyond things that I have ever given a whole lot of study. My point of emphasis has always been the exegesis and exposition of the text, and not the theology of the book or text. I am trying to overcome that weakness.
I would recommend this book to any serious student of the Scripture, but I don't know that reading it all the way through is the best use of it.
December 27, 2022
Wright/Bird provide a helpful historical commentary on the New Testament. The structure is fairly straightforward, going book by book briefly addressing relevant historical connections to the text. My favorite aspect of the book was the long direct quotes from ancient sources peppered throughout that helped create context. I suspect it will be to these I will return most frequently. I also appreciated the email segments just because they addressed difficult topics to which the world of the New Testament could provide clarity.
I haven’t read Bird prior to this, but for sure the book very much has Wright’s voice and theology, focusing on Kingdom, hope, Jesus “setting the world to rights” and so on. This isn’t bad at all (though as with most books I don’t agree with all his conclusions) but I do feel like having read his other stuff was helpful at times in tracking with what he was saying.
A reality of all of Wright’s works that I’ve read, especially his commentaries, is the rhetoric of “not that, but this.” I don’t see anything necessarily wrong with utilizing this approach to make a point (“you’ve heard it said, but I say” should be familiar to Christians) but in Wright’s case there is often a return to and even an affirmation (albeit in a roundabout way) of the very thing he was seemingly deconstructing at first. I can’t help but wonder if this deconstructionist “bent” isn’t as helpful as he thinks in making at least a few of his points. I wonder if every so often he would be better off simply saying “it’s both” even if it’s less exciting.
That being said, I always enjoy and benefit from reading Wright. He has a knack for being thoughtful and thorough while still retaining a clear view toward the Good News of Jesus. Anyone looking for a single volume look at the New Testament, book by book, through a historical lens would find this helpful I think.
I haven’t read Bird prior to this, but for sure the book very much has Wright’s voice and theology, focusing on Kingdom, hope, Jesus “setting the world to rights” and so on. This isn’t bad at all (though as with most books I don’t agree with all his conclusions) but I do feel like having read his other stuff was helpful at times in tracking with what he was saying.
A reality of all of Wright’s works that I’ve read, especially his commentaries, is the rhetoric of “not that, but this.” I don’t see anything necessarily wrong with utilizing this approach to make a point (“you’ve heard it said, but I say” should be familiar to Christians) but in Wright’s case there is often a return to and even an affirmation (albeit in a roundabout way) of the very thing he was seemingly deconstructing at first. I can’t help but wonder if this deconstructionist “bent” isn’t as helpful as he thinks in making at least a few of his points. I wonder if every so often he would be better off simply saying “it’s both” even if it’s less exciting.
That being said, I always enjoy and benefit from reading Wright. He has a knack for being thoughtful and thorough while still retaining a clear view toward the Good News of Jesus. Anyone looking for a single volume look at the New Testament, book by book, through a historical lens would find this helpful I think.
September 2, 2024
I am not a New Testament scholar. I am just a Christian who enjoys studying the Bible. This book seems to be geared toward other New Testament scholars and not toward someone like me. I highlighted some things, I took some notes, and I looked up a lot of things, but overall this book was an overly verbose slog and I am relieved to be finished with it.
October 8, 2023
I've read a number of different "introductions to the New Testament" in my life so far. So I decided to read this one as well. And it is really first-rate. I think it excels in giving a good historical background for the political and cultural environment when the New Testament events occurred and when it was written. It is also pretty comprehensive with plenty of citations in case you want to dig in to a particular NT book or topic in more detail.
It is maybe a little strange in that it is also a good introduction to the theology of N.T. Wright (who is one of the authors). I've read several N.T. Wright books in the past and have found them interesting and thought-provoking. And, given that N.T. Wright is one of the authors of this book, it's not surprising that this introduction to the New Testament would be flavored by his theology and opinions. Honestly, every New Testament introduction out there is written from the theology and perspective of the author. So I'm not sure why this jumped out at me as odd. Maybe it was just more obvious in this book compared to other New Testament introductions I have read.
Like other New Testament introductions, this one is quite a tome (weighing in at almost 900 pages before you get to the bibliography and index). Like N.T. Wright's other books, the language can be dense and academic at times. So I'm not sure how accessible this would be for many readers. However, it is well written and beautifully illustrated with maps, photos, artwork, etc. So I highly recommend this one for Bible nerds like me and other people interested in the New Testament who are not intimidated by academic language.
It is maybe a little strange in that it is also a good introduction to the theology of N.T. Wright (who is one of the authors). I've read several N.T. Wright books in the past and have found them interesting and thought-provoking. And, given that N.T. Wright is one of the authors of this book, it's not surprising that this introduction to the New Testament would be flavored by his theology and opinions. Honestly, every New Testament introduction out there is written from the theology and perspective of the author. So I'm not sure why this jumped out at me as odd. Maybe it was just more obvious in this book compared to other New Testament introductions I have read.
Like other New Testament introductions, this one is quite a tome (weighing in at almost 900 pages before you get to the bibliography and index). Like N.T. Wright's other books, the language can be dense and academic at times. So I'm not sure how accessible this would be for many readers. However, it is well written and beautifully illustrated with maps, photos, artwork, etc. So I highly recommend this one for Bible nerds like me and other people interested in the New Testament who are not intimidated by academic language.
November 19, 2025
Four stars for being 900 pages long which really is not fair considering it’s a) a textbook lol and b) an introduction to the entire New Testament so did I really expect a short book? Anyways, I learned a lot that I did not know about the original NT audience, debates about attribution and authorship and the canonization of the documents that we now call the NT. Also the last short chapter where Tom Wright and Michael Bird bring it all home is worth the price of admission. I can’t say that I recommend the whole thing because it’s a long-term commitment, but if you are a Bible nerd this one is for you.
March 31, 2020
Reviewing right now!
September 16, 2020
Helpful in-depth overview of the New Testament in its own context
did-not-finish
August 3, 2022This is a giant book that I have been slowly working my way through. It reads like a college level Bible course book. I’m just letting it go.
April 23, 2023
Technically only read 27 of the 37 chapters because I read it for a class that didn’t include the gospels.
April 13, 2021
Magnificent!
April 10, 2021
Excellent and thorough review of the New Testament!
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