Reading the New Testament: An Introduction [Paperback]

Pheme Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1988

A complete revision of the first edition, expanded to include additional chapters on individual books of the New Testament; outlines of every book in the New Testament; information from archaeology and social history that has come to light in the past decade; new maps and illustrative material, and revised bibliography. Can be used as a companion text to the Paulist Bible Study Program.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press; Rev Enl Su edition (March 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809129396
• ISBN-13: 978-0809129393
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, effective and serious teaching for laymen, October 22, 2006

By 

Aquinatis (Paris) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Reading the New Testament: An Introduction (Paperback)

The author is a Catholic American professor of theology.
Her book is geared at the masses, it is accessible to the non-intellectual readers. It begins with some some chapters introducing some generalities and background information related to the New Testament (NT), but much shorter than in some other books, yet she succeeds in conveying what is the important with less space. There are also a few general chapters related to Jesus, Paul... and related context throughout the book.

The rest is devoted to NT books. In each of these chapters she presents the context of the books, their outline and explains their content. Her points are generally not "speculative" but correspond to established scholarly (not fundamentalist yet conservative) views. In general she is quite straightforward and the explanations and answers are more concise than in other books. She does not follow the NT order (as in most books), but roughly rather the chronological order of the date of writing of the NT books, and the flow of her book then makes a lot of sense, a smart choice! Surprisingly, she does not bow down to political correctness (e.g. about Judaism) and courageously does not explain away the politically incorrect NT passages as later apologetic additions (as Bart Ehrman does in his books), I enjoyed that!

While this book is comparable in format to Boadt's Reading the Old Testament : an Introduction, it does not contain this long and boring retelling of the biblical accounts one has to go through in Boadt's book. Instead Perkins give some outlines, and in general is more to the point. She also more consistent in that she does not give the arguments with which the scholars come to their conclusions (that would mean a much bigger book....) whereas Boadt was inconsistent here (sometimes no argument, sometimes partially...) However she warns when scholars do not agree or are not sure about certain conclusions. Not to say that there is no logic and argumentation in her book, but it fits well in the flow of her explanations and exegesis.

There is a very good, well structured and annotated bibliography at the end, however the latest books date from 1986.

Hence I think this book will be great for the laymen who want a serious, reliable book that provide them quickly with good answers and the minimum required knowledge without undue complications and unnecessary thinking. If you are looking for a non-scholarly book on the NT on which you can rely upon in the most efficient and quick manner, Perkins' must be the best one. It is definitely worth its very low price.

If you have time and prefer to read a pricey book with a lot of blabla and a slow pace, then Bart Ehrman (definitely less conservative, more liberal)'s The New Testament. A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings would be a more suitable book; it also puts the NT books well into context with non-canonical books (beware that Ehrman refused that the debate he had with William Craig, and completely lost, be published so as not to give more "air" to Craig's points! which says enough about Ehrman academic open-mindedness and truth-seeking not to speak of intellectual honesty...) If you instead are looking for a more advanced, scholarly book, with the latest scholarly references, then this is not the book for you, I recommend instead Udo Schnelle's The History and Theology of the NT (the latest German edition, Einleitung in das NT, is even more up-to-date).

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, February 20, 2001

By 

M. Daniel Price (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading the New Testament: An Introduction (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some strong elements, but overall a second-tier NT intro, August 26, 2008

By 

J. Harrison (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the New Testament: An Introduction (Paperback)

Perkins leaves no stone unturned, covering the gammut of issues that one would expect to find in a scholarly NT introduction. However, her treatment of the issues is not thorough enough even for an introductory text. While this book certainly lays an adequate foundation, there are other NT introductions that offer more complete scholarship without sacrificing readability. If you are only looking to read one NT intro, I would recommend "The Writings of the New Testament" by Luke Timothy Johnson instead. I would recommend this book only if you are interested in comparing several NT intros.