Survey of the New Testament, A

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: An excellent book that sets out explains to the reader the history of the New Testament as well as carries on a dialogue with the text itself in which the book focuses on theology, major themes, and background for the reader to better understand the text. A fantastic feature of this book is that it contains many different points of view on the various subjects. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read an Orthodox survey of the New Testament.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book, but...
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot, but there were some cross-references that either went missing or were wrong. Some of the criticisms of Paul's writing ability were not well researched or not explained well. There seemed to be a bit more emphasis on the Bible as literature rather than the inspired Word of God. Some parts of the book seemed right on though. This is a good resource for understanding the political, social, and historical background surrounding Biblical issues and characters. This is like eating a really great orange, but every once in a while you get a sour section.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: The book is an excellent survey of the New Testament text. The book presents various opinions on issues presented that are relevant to the study of the New Testament such as the various types of higher criticism. The book also highlights many of the important theological themes throughout the New Testament from an orthodox evangelical prespective. I have gone through the book three times now and I have benefited from reading it every time. The book presents a historically accurate and orthodox survey of the New Testament. This has been confirmed to me by reading various books on Church history such as "The Story of Christian Theology" by Roger Olson and "Gods Peoples" by Spickard & Cragg.

Rating:
Summary: Could be better
Review: There is some pretty good stuff in this book (used it as a student in a NT Survey class), though I have my share of disagreements with the author. One of the best sections of the book has to do with the intertestamental period, as well as the political/religious/philosophic settings of Jesus time.

One major flaw with the book however, is its structure. While it is great that the author gives a nice bibliography at the end of each section, providing direction for further research, it is unfortunate at the layout of the book. When the book begins to offer quick commentaries on key passages of each NT book, the flow has no real method to it's madness. Traditional commentaries at least tell you what part of a book is being addressed before giving its thoughts. Not this book, rather, the book gives it's comments on a particular verse or chapter, and then says "read book:verse1-verse2" It can be rather confusing at times.

Hard to say how this book compares to other NT Survey books (since I've not read any), but I think it would be a good book for any student of the scriptures to have on their bookshelf, though not crucial.

Rating:
Summary: Could be better
Review: There is some pretty good stuff in this book (used it as a student in a NT Survey class), though I have my share of disagreements with the author. One of the best sections of the book has to do with the intertestamental period, as well as the political/religious/philosophic settings of Jesus time.

One major flaw with the book however, is its structure. While it is great that the author gives a nice bibliography at the end of each section, providing direction for further research, it is unfortunate at the layout of the book. When the book begins to offer quick commentaries on key passages of each NT book, the flow has no real method to it's madness. Traditional commentaries at least tell you what part of a book is being addressed before giving its thoughts. Not this book, rather, the book gives it's comments on a particular verse or chapter, and then says "read book:verse1-verse2" It can be rather confusing at times.

Hard to say how this book compares to other NT Survey books (since I've not read any), but I think it would be a good book for any student of the scriptures to have on their bookshelf, though not crucial.