Reading the New Testament: An Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Haven't read it yet
Review: but I wanted to comment on a review. This book appears to be a text book for Biblical study. The "Top 100 Reviewer" who was upset about the use of abbreviations for the titles of books of the Bible seems never to have read commentaries before, where this is always the case. A commentary does not read like a regular book. Perhaps the reviewer will realize that his review was colored by the fact that he just didn't realize what type of book he was reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Horrid Book
Review: I just finished using this book for a New Testament class, and I hated this book with a passion. It's not that the author isn't qualified to write a book on New Testament studies, as she graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D in divinity studies. What makes this book an ungodly nightmare is the writing style.

I recognize that a book dealing with the Bible is going to have numerous references to various chapters and verses in the Bible. Again, that is not the problem. Her style is just so unfriendly. She seems to repeat herself endlessly and the organization of the text seems to meander as well. The absolute worst part of the book is Pheme's ability to annoy the reader by abbreviating books of the Bible. For example, the Letter to the Hebrews is shortened to "Heb", and then used that way throughout the book. You get the idea. This goes beyond annoying. I don't understand why she felt she had to do this. We're not talking about big words here. What's the difference between using "Mark" and "Mk"? Two letters?!? I was ready to run in front of a bus after slogging through these abbreviations.

Like all of my reviews, I usually have a good thing to say about a book, even one as bad as this. Perkins does included a nice outline of each biblical text she is writing about. This helped me in numerous ways. Of course, if she had written a good book in the first place, she wouldn't have needed to include these outlines.

Overall, a real stinker. Avoid at all costs, unless it's assigned reading. In that case, hold your nose and dive right in. A Harvard grad ought to know better then to churn out pap like this.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: This is a first class text book for an "Introduction to the New Testament" course. It is not intended for a casual read. My students have benefited from this book for more than seven years now and every time that I go through it, I appreciate the tone, the presentation, and the study aids more.

Rating:
Summary: Haven't read it yet
Review: This is a first class text book for an "Introduction to the New Testament" course. It is not intended for a casual read. My students have benefited from this book for more than seven years now and every time that I go through it, I appreciate the tone, the presentation, and the study aids more.