The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation

Rating:
Summary: Good overall, but not without weaknesses
Review: Anyone who is able to successfully pen a book of this proportion comandeers respect by default from the watching world. Writing a 700 page book is no small feat; writing a 700 page book on such a nebulous topic as the writings of the New Testament is no smaller. Writing a 700 page book on the writings of the New Testament singlehandedly? Wow!

And Johnson does it well. Overall, the book is well structured, well written, and quite informative. After a somewhat lengthy introduction, Johnson treats each book individually and addresses primarily literary concerns. However, try as I might, I simply cannot overlook two very important weaknesses of this book, at least as I perceive them.

The first concern regards scholarship. Johnson has proven himself to be a more than competent scholar in the area of New Testament studies through this and other works. However, about 300 pages into the book, I glanced at the bottom of the page and noticed something very important missing: footnotes. There is not a single footnote in the entire book. This sort of writing may be appropriate for some fields of scholarship, but biblical studies is certainly not one of them! In an ever-tenuous field of study in which a multiplicity of opinions never ceases to abound, it is next to unthinkable to not reference the work of other scholars, both past and present. To Johnson's credit, he does include extensive bibliographies at the end of each chapter, but this is no replacement for interacting with scholarship within the text itself.

The second concern regards format, and this may be related in a very real way to the lack of interaction with other scholarship. While Johnson opens this volume with an introduction in which he purports to propose a "new" model for balancing the religious, literary, historical, and theological dimensions of the New Testament writings in the interpretive process, this endeavor is gradually abandoned over the course of the book in favor of a running commentary of sorts. As a reader, I felt as though the originality - and thus the quality - of the work digressed as the book progressed.

These concerns aside, however, this is indeed a very thorough introduction to the writings of the New Testament, and would serve quite well as a classroom text as long as it is not expected that the reader will be introduced to or encounter other scholarship via this book alone.

Rating:
Summary: Good overall, but not without weaknesses
Review: Anyone who is able to successfully pen a book of this proportion comandeers respect by default from the watching world. Writing a 700 page book is no small feat; writing a 700 page book on such a nebulous topic as the writings of the New Testament is no smaller. Writing a 700 page book on the writings of the New Testament singlehandedly? Wow!

And Johnson does it well. Overall, the book is well structured, well written, and quite informative. After a somewhat lengthy introduction, Johnson treats each book individually and addresses primarily literary concerns. However, try as I might, I simply cannot overlook two very important weaknesses of this book, at least as I perceive them.

The first concern regards scholarship. Johnson has proven himself to be a more than competent scholar in the area of New Testament studies through this and other works. However, about 300 pages into the book, I glanced at the bottom of the page and noticed something very important missing: footnotes. There is not a single footnote in the entire book. This sort of writing may be appropriate for some fields of scholarship, but biblical studies is certainly not one of them! In an ever-tenuous field of study in which a multiplicity of opinions never ceases to abound, it is next to unthinkable to not reference the work of other scholars, both past and present. To Johnson's credit, he does include extensive bibliographies at the end of each chapter, but this is no replacement for interacting with scholarship within the text itself.

The second concern regards format, and this may be related in a very real way to the lack of interaction with other scholarship. While Johnson opens this volume with an introduction in which he purports to propose a "new" model for balancing the religious, literary, historical, and theological dimensions of the New Testament writings in the interpretive process, this endeavor is gradually abandoned over the course of the book in favor of a running commentary of sorts. As a reader, I felt as though the originality - and thus the quality - of the work digressed as the book progressed.

These concerns aside, however, this is indeed a very thorough introduction to the writings of the New Testament, and would serve quite well as a classroom text as long as it is not expected that the reader will be introduced to or encounter other scholarship via this book alone.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reference - go back again and again
Review: I bought this for a course on the Gospels and have gone back to this book every time I go to study another part of the New Testament. Johnson covers the NT extremely well and gives insights into the text and the context that is helpful to students, preachers and teachers. This updated version includes significant current NT scholarship. It is very well written, making the reading enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reference - go back again and again
Review: I bought this for a course on the Gospels and have gone back to this book every time I go to study another part of the New Testament. Johnson covers the NT extremely well and gives insights into the text and the context that is helpful to students, preachers and teachers. This updated version includes significant current NT scholarship. It is very well written, making the reading enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: An Interpretation
Review: I'm not sure I'd call it indespensible, however, Johnson's interpretation is solid and he wrestles well with the text rather. He never seems to be "reaching" in his analysis. It isn't written in classic commentary style and, as such, is quite readable and accessable. Scholarly, but not just for scholars. If you are looking for good scholarship on the historical issues, I would recommend "An Introduction to the New Testament" by Carson, Moo, and Morris as a good companion text to this.

Rating:
Summary: A "reader friendly" commentary on the New Testament text
Review: The Writings Of The New Testament: An Interpretation By Luke Timothy Johnson (Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia) is an erudite, scholarly, yet thoroughly "reader friendly" commentary on the New Testament text, in relation to history of the ancient world, Christian beliefs, and a page-by-page analysis of the scripture itself. An accompanying CD-ROM provides ready access to cross-referenced text. The Writings Of The New Testament is highly recommended as an exhaustive study enhanced with extensive bibliographical annotation and thought-provoking questions.

Rating:
Summary: There are much better books on the market
Review: This book has both a "special introduction" section (covering date/authorship,etc of each book) and a VERY brief general commentary on whole sections at a time in each book. For example, the commentary for the entire Gospel of Mark is only 10 1/2 pages.

I would definitly recomend getting a book with a better special introduction (Carson,Morris,Moo - "Intro to the NT") and a seperate book for a commentary (Expositor's Bible Commentary is the best!!!).

EBC has a better special introduction and a MUCH MUCH better and more detailed commentary written by more competant scholars.

If money is an issue, buy Carson's Intro to NT instead of this book. -- You will save some money and get a better quality Intro to NT. Granted, you won't have the brief commentary, but I don't think you'll miss much in this commentary. If you want a commentary, go with EBC!!! EBC is hands down the best NT commentary you can get for the price ....

If you want a more detailed and thorough Commentary of each NT book than EBC gives, you'll have to pay WAY more money, and still in some areas will not get the quality of info that EBC gives you.

I have to give this book 3 stars, because I don't see anything wrong with the writing. This book is much more elementry than Carson's. So for a brand new Bible student, this may be better suited.....But I would still recommend Carson's!!!

Eric

Rating:
Summary: There are much better books on the market
Review: This book has both a "special introduction" section (covering date/authorship,etc of each book) and a VERY brief general commentary on whole sections at a time in each book. For example, the commentary for the entire Gospel of Mark is only 10 1/2 pages.

I would definitly recomend getting a book with a better special introduction (Carson,Morris,Moo - "Intro to the NT") and a seperate book for a commentary (Expositor's Bible Commentary is the best!!!).

EBC has a better special introduction and a MUCH MUCH better and more detailed commentary written by more competant scholars.

If money is an issue, buy Carson's Intro to NT instead of this book. -- You will save some money and get a better quality Intro to NT. Granted, you won't have the brief commentary, but I don't think you'll miss much in this commentary. If you want a commentary, go with EBC!!! EBC is hands down the best NT commentary you can get for the price ....

If you want a more detailed and thorough Commentary of each NT book than EBC gives, you'll have to pay WAY more money, and still in some areas will not get the quality of info that EBC gives you.

I have to give this book 3 stars, because I don't see anything wrong with the writing. This book is much more elementry than Carson's. So for a brand new Bible student, this may be better suited.....But I would still recommend Carson's!!!

Eric

Rating:
Summary: Provocative reading.
Review: This is unquestionably one of the best commentaries on the NT that I've read. The thinking is deep, the approach to Scripture challenging and provocative but reverent, and the writing is clear. Referencing is thorough. Anyone who studies the NT and anyone who teaches it should consider this an indispensible resource.