A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates
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Overview
This accessible and balanced introduction helps readers sort out key views on the most important debated issues in New Testament studies. Well-known New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta fairly presents the spectrum of viewpoints on thirteen topics and offers reflections on why scholars disagree on these matters. Written to be accessible to students and readers without advanced training in New Testament studies, this book will serve as an excellent supplementary text for New Testament introduction courses.
- Helps readers sort out key views on the most important debated issues in New Testament studies
- Presents the spectrum of viewpoints on thirteen topics
- Offers reflections on why scholars disagree on these matters
- The Synoptic Problem
- The Historical Jesus
- The Fourth Gospel and History
- Jesus and Paul
- Paul’s Theological Perspective
- Paul and the Jewish Law
- Interpreting the Book of Revelation
- Pseudonymity and the New Testament Letters
- The New Testament and the Roman Empire
- Women in Leadership in the New Testament
- Justification by Faith and Judgment according to Works
- The Old Testament in the New Testament
- The Application and Use of Scripture
Top Highlights
“‘Apocalypse is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world.’” (Page 88)
“A cursory reading of Paul’s literature would tell us that the apostle was far more interested in the Christ event (Jesus’s death and resurrection) than the life and teachings of Jesus.” (Page 45)
“Prophecy texts, contrary to popular belief, do not serve the exclusive purpose of making future predictions. Rather, prophecy involves ‘speaking words of comfort and/or challenge, on behalf of God, to the people of God in their concrete historical situation.’” (Page 90)
“A salvation-history approach tries to widen the perspective of the gospel from the individual alone to the broader ways that God has worked out his will and sought to fulfill his promises through Israel and the Messiah Jesus, and, now, through the church.” (Page 61)
“For example, while disciples and discipleship are central concerns of Jesus, the relevant Greek words (‘disciple,’ mathētēs; ‘to be a disciple,’ mathēteuō) are entirely absent from Paul’s Letters.” (Page 45)
This ‘beginner’s guide’ is marked by a wise choice of crucial, controversial topics, accurate sketches of the perspectives of the major thinkers on the topics, judicious and open-handed appreciation of all there is to be learned, and, at the same time, student-sensitive reflections on how each topic matters for life and ministry. Bravo!
—Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
Nijay Gupta is true to his title in A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies. His writing is thoroughly accessible and highly engaging, and it doesn’t presume prior knowledge of the field of New Testament studies. Gupta provides a bird’s eye view of key issues in the field—from the historical Jesus, to Paul and the law, to New Testament application today. Gupta fairly portrays scholars on different sides of an issue and provides a final reflection of his own for each chapter. For anyone wanting an entrée to New Testament studies, this is the book for you.
—Jeannine Brown, professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary, San Diego and St. Paul
This is a really helpful book. As an undergrad professor, I am often looking for a brief introduction to contested issues in New Testament studies that explains our academic debates to students in an accessible way. Dr. Gupta does this time and again in this work. He tackles issues like women in leadership, justification, and pseudonymity in a way that is charitable and clear. This will be a welcome resource to supplement New Testament introductions, which often lack the space to deal with issues in detail.
—Esau McCaulley, assistant professor of New Testament, Wheaton College
- Title: A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates
- Author: Nijay K. Gupta
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2020
- Pages: 208
- Resource Type: Introduction
- Topic: Biblical Studies