Logos Staff
At the beginning of The New Testament in Its World, authors N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird ask this question: “How does God’s great drama work, and what part are we called to play in it?”1
Wright and Bird answer their own question:
You’ll only discover that as you study the book on the one hand, and, on the other hand, learn to worship God with your mind as well as your heart.
As we do this, a strange thing happens. Paul says in Colossians 3:10 that the gospel of Jesus will renew us in knowledge according to the Creator’s image. When we worship the true God, with that worship shaped by the story of Jesus seen as the fulfillment of Israel’s Scriptures, we find that we are being made into image-bearers, called to reflect God’s love and purposes into the world.2
The New Testament in Its World sets out to help you worship with your mind and heart. That’s why it’s ideal for personal study, classroom settings, and church leadership curriculum. Within its 944 pages, you can find decades of groundbreaking research, writing, and teaching laid out in front of you.
Throughout the book, Wright and Bird guide readers toward understanding the New Testament as history, literature, and theology simultaneously. They show how keeping those three categories together—while looking at Scripture through the perspective of first-century Christians—helps us discover key biblical insights we might otherwise miss.
It’s easy to see why this work is described as “the epitome of faith seeking understanding.”3 Or why Craig Keener of Asbury Theological Seminary calls it “the New Testament introduction of all New Testament introductions.”
One Logos user said it well: “The leading New Testament scholar in the world with a lifetime’s work in one volume? Yes please!”
A study guide is included free . . . and that’s just one way to fully experience the book. You can also learn from N. T. Wright and Michael Bird through in-studio and on-location video lectures filmed around the world. They’ll take you through how to read the New Testament, the world of Jesus and the early Church, deep studies on both Jesus and the apostle Paul, lectures on every book of the New Testament, and how to live the story of the New Testament today.
Plus, there’s a workbook available to support learning and application, with questions that make you think.
What scholars are saying
With inimitable verve and piquancy, two of this generation’s scholarly juggernauts give us a New Testament introduction that unapologetically sets up shop at the all-too-untraveled crossroads of history and theology.
— Nicholas Perrin, president, Trinity International University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
From beginning to end, Tom Wright and Mike Bird relentlessly orient the study of the New Testament to questions of faith, transformation, worship, and mission. Not only does the book assemble Tom’s massive scholarship in one volume but [it] also integrates it with the concern of his ministry as Bishop of Durham, to serve the Church. If you are invested in the development of theological students, pastors, and congregations, you should get this book. In fact, no matter what your view, you will find much to benefit you, from discussions of primary texts to practical examples.
—Elizabeth S. Shivery, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
The big, bold theological interpretation of the New Testament that N. T. Wright has been building piece by piece in monographs and commentaries over the years now appears here in an accessible, single-value New Testament introduction.
—Dr. Matthew Novenson, senior lecturer in New Testament and Christian Origins, University of Edinburgh
Discover the world of the New Testament using Logos
I highly recommend the Logos version of The New Testament in Its World. Logos provides the much-needed tools for helping you understand the story of God in the first century and for thinking through the wise and honest ways in which that story can be preached, studied, and lived today. I encourage you to order this book today.
—N. T. Wright
The Logos version is searchable so you can quickly find what you’re looking for. It takes your resources and makes them accessible and easily navigated, so your study is simple, yet you don’t miss insights.
- Research key words in more depth—without pulling book after book from your shelves.
- See Scripture and The New Testament in Its World in side-by-side scrolling.
- Look up a topic and see everywhere it’s discussed in your built-in digital library.
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Learn more with this giant of New Testament scholarship—get a digital bundle of the book New Testament in its world, video lectures, and workbooks. Download the bundle today.
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan SPCK, 2019), 42.
- Wright and Bird, 42.
- Esau McCauley, assistant professor of New Testament, Wheaton College
Timothy Muehlhoff
