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51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Intro by Three Competent Scholars, May 16, 2000
This work is a standard textbook used in Seminaries and Christian colleges. Carson, Moo, and Morris each have a solid reputation for New Testament studies and this work shows just that. The authors are careful to cover all the necessary details, communicating how one can confidently approach New Testament studies. For instance, each chapter pertaining to a book of the New Testament covers the background, history, authorship, literary structure, criticisms of the book by various scholars, and the dating of the Biblical text. All this is discussed as well as the content of the Biblical book at hand. Moreover, the authors are not afraid to reveal the criticisms that have been cast at certain New Testament texts and include the pro's and con's of these criticisms. Therefore, the authors are very honest in their assessment of the texts/criticisms. In addition, this book covers the canonization of the Biblical texts and how each book went through the process of decision (in its historical context) that was made by the early Church Fathers. Further explanation is given for those books that were in question thus presenting a very interesting background for why we read the particular Biblical text that we do today. If you are wanting a book that is thorough in its analysis of the New Testament and very detailed regarding the content of the New Testament books, then this is the book for you.
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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New edition released!, July 9, 2005
Carson and Moo have thoroughly reworked this book, removing or revising Morris' contributions and adding much new material for the second edition. Some sections are rearranged, and there are a few entirely new sections. I read the original book straight through a few years ago, and I haven't found anything else that does quite as good a job of staying on top of the current scholarship while defending generally conservative evangelical views on the authorship, date, setting, purpose, and other backgrounds sorts of issues on each NT book. I expect the updated edition to be equally thorough and more up-to-date on recent trends in NT scholarship.
Particularly of note is the section on the New Perspective on Paul, which Morris and Carson have both been on the forefront of interacting with (from a more traditional perspective in both cases, though both have been willing to acknowledge that we have learned something from the NPP). They call this section brief in the introduction, but it's 11 pages, a fair amount of space compared to how much room they give to most topics. They have also provided a lengthy addition covering the history of interpretation of the NT, from the early Christians to contemporary biblical scholarship. They've also expanded of added more on the content of each book, something reviewers complained about in the first edition, and there's also a little bit on the social science approaches to NT studies, something that wasn't very far along in the original book. All in all, the new edition sounds as if it should be excellent.
They've removed the dust jacket and replaced it with a visually appealing cover on the book itself, and they've increased the margin size significantly, both of which suit its primary use as a seminary textbook. They list the intended audience as seminary students in the first and second years, but a studious enough person can read it for profit without the additional seminary background. I read the entire first edition without any seminary training at all. It's certainly not the level of detail a scholar would want for an exhaustive treatment of every issue, but the bibliographies and footnotes can provide further reading to get exactly that, and it would be ill-suited for students if it tried to do too much.
This has been the standard evangelical NT introduction for quite a while, and as of the revision its place will be secured for quite a while.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Introduction, May 24, 2000
I have found this an indispensable work. Its conservative / evangelical framework gives great glory to the unity and message of the New Testament. Discussions of authorship, canonisation, audience etc etc are generally clear and readable by the lay Christian (though admittedly dry - it is not a novel by no means). Highly recommended as an antidote to much of the liberal concepts so common today.
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