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A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Exegesis: Taking the Fear out of Critical Method

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As one who has taught New Testament courses for over 20 years now, I am so grateful to Rich Erickson for writing this book. This is the guide that all of us, teachers and students, have been waiting for someone to write. I have no doubt it will become the standard guide to New Testament interpretation and exegesis for years to come. It is amazingly comprehensive and very thorough BUT at the same time it is written in a conversational style that is engaging and communicates clearly and simply with its reader. Thanks Rich for writing a book that I will use in my classes and recommend over and over again to all my friends and students.

Rich Erickson has provided beginning students of Exegetical Method a more digestible way of understanding how to unlock what was divinely inspired in the New Testament. His book invites a beginning exegete into this complex method of study yet through his step by step process takes the fear out of learning the techniques required to thouroughly exegete passages of scripture. His creative writing style not only is humorous at times but some of his analogies help the beginner remember valuable techniques of exegesis. He also masterfully takes the beginning exegete from feelings of trepidation to feelings that exegeting scripture is a journey that requires each of us to relax and continue on. It is not simply something we do once and put the books away after a class is over, it is something we do for a life time if we want to grasp the divine-human intention of scripture.

Rich Erickson's book does a fantastic job of bringing the task of biblical exegesis within the grasp of even beginning biblical scholars. The tools and skills of biblical exegesis are presented in a thorough manner with many encouragements and suggestions along the way to bite off only what you can chew. Exegesis is an exciting, lifelong journey he says! Don't be discouraged by what you CAN'T do, celebrate what you CAN and be amazed at the insights you gain!

easy to read, breaks things down step by step, gets you solidly into the Bible so you don't have to depend on commentaries, humorous (and who couldn't use more of that in life), and, most importantly for a person like me who perceives a call to teach the Bible but is plagued by doubt and insecurity: encouraging! Some gems I have actually copied onto index cards to keep me going! Plus, he cites Ken Bailey, coolest Bible scholar ever.

This is the most well-written and functional textbook I read in my first year of seminary. It has become a prized resource that I continue to go back to. It is both scholarly and readable, which is quite an accomplishment.
It certainly delivers on its subtitle, "Taking the Fear Out of the Critical Method." I clearly remember occasions when the text actually reminded me not to be afraid, to take a deep breath and keep reading; it always calmed me down and re-focused my attention on the task. Somehow the text seemed to anticipate when I needed to hear that!
The book is infused with an engaging sense of humor which is thought-provoking as well as funny. It made the textbook more of a person-to-person experience, rather than a book-to-person experience.
Thank you, Rich, for this valuable gem!

Rich Erickson is one of those wonderfully creative writers whose work might easily have given Michael Crichton a run for his money had he chosen to invest his life in that world. Thank God he didn't! Instead of choosing fiction, Rich has chosen to invest his life in truth, to help ministry students learn how to read and interpret the Word of God. As a disciple, he understands what's at stake in mastering this discipline. As a pastor, he knows how deep the fear can go in the heart of the beginner. As a teacher, he knows how challenging it can be to overcome these fears long enough to learn something unavoidably, irrevocably "foreign." Hammered out in the classroom over decades, A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Exegesis may be the best tool available to help students learn how to take off their fears long enough to put on the Word.

I have not yet read the book in its entirety; however, it seems to be laid out very clearly and efficiently for study.

This is an excellent text. Written with the passionate convictions that little "is more important to the health... of the Church than a firm grasp of [Scripture's] message," and "that every local [church] needs someone dedicated to studying and to communicating [that] message," this is invaluable for the individual called to Christian ministry.

Through a very readable text, light-hearted humor, and English translations of the Greek, the author relates numerous means by which the beginning exegete can delve into the original context of a passage, and thereby gain a much greater understanding of its life-changing relevance within the present.
A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Exegesis: Taking the Fear Out of Critical Method