Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period [Paperback]

Mr. Richard N. Longenecker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi texts, and new Targums has left biblical scholars increasingly interested in the relationship between the New Testament and first-century Judaism. This critically acclaimed study by Richard Longenecker sheds fresh light on this relationship by exploring the methods the earliest Christians used to interpret the Old Testament. By comparing the first Christian writings with Jewish documents from the same period, Longenecker helps to discern some of the key differences between Christianity and Judaism. This second edition of Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period brings Longenecker's valued work up to date with current research in this important field of study.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

RICHARD LONGENECKER is Ramsay Armitage Professor of New Testament at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. He is author of Paul: Apostle of Liberty, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period, and Galatians in the Word Biblical Commentary. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; Revised edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802843018
• ISBN-13: 978-0802843012
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The OT in the NT, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Paperback)

The use of OT in the NT is of major importance in studying the hermeneutical practice of the biblical authors. Longenecker systematically presents the foundational and relevant information necessary for all the NT students.It covers the Jewish background like Midrash, Pesher, and allegory etc. It also includes how Jesus, Paul, and the early Christians preachings uses the OT. Particluarly helpful to me is the session on Paul in which Longenecker listed Paul's quotation of the OT and then traces his exegetical techniques back to the Hebrew roots. I consider these basics for any work on NT exegesis which takes seriously the continutiy between the NT and the OT.

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smacks Down Paine Fanatics, September 1, 2004

By 

James Patrick Holding (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Paperback)

If you've had enough of critics shoving the ignorant rantings of Thomas Paine, Robert Ingersoll, Jim Lippard, Dennis McKinsey, and so on in your face on the topic of the New Testament's use of the Old, then you can scramble their brains once and for all with this detailed thunderclap provided by Richard Longenecker. The aforementioned skeptics complain violently about how the NT authors supposedly misused and twisted the OT for their own purposes. Longenecker shows that such complaining is simply anachronistic -- the NT writers were interpreting and explicating within an established paradigm and methodology consistent with Jewish hermeneutics of the period, as evidenced in the works of the rabbis, Philo, and the Qumranites.

This hermenuetic did not sit simply with the literal reading of the text, but assumed a fuller sense that could be unlocked by events of the day. The twin principles of corporate solidarity and typological correspondence are a key here, and while Western, wooden minds will scoff nevertheless, the charge that the NT writers manipulated the texts for their own purposes is thereby destroyed.

The simple-minded literalism of the Paines will take a beating from the details provided in Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic book on biblical exegesis, April 11, 2010

By 

Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Paperback)

Everyone interested in biblical studies should have a copy of this book.

By the time of Second Temple Judaism, scriptures, whether written or oral, were regarded as having been divinely inspired. "Jewish exegesis of the first century can generally be clasified under four headings: literalist, midrashic, pesher, and allegorical" (p 28), with midrashic exegesis more usual than literalist.

Also worth noting about Judaism around the time of Christ is the fact that the Jews were likely "bi and probably tri-lingual" (p 64) in Palestine. Although there were various kinds of Judaism, all Jews were expected to recite the Shema, which declared the monotheism of Judaism, every day.

Early Christianity sought out correspondences in history. Pesher interpretation is also common. The "'Servant Song' while never accepted by Judaism to be applicable to the Messiah, could very well have been fixed quite early in Christian thought, stemming from Jesus' own reinterpretation of the passage" (p 102).

Paul mentions some one hundred Old Testament passages. Although Paul usually follows the original meaning of the texts, in some instances he find new historical or eschatological fulfilments.

Of course, all the gospels are drenched in Old Testament references. Notable especially is the new use of typology.

A classic reference book.