An Introduction to the New Testament (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)

I have very recently started to get interested in trying to learn and understand more of the bible, in particular about the New Testament and Jesus. I wanted a book that would cover the background, content, and main issues of contention for each of books in the New Testaments, and do so in an easy to read but thorough way. I fortunately came across and purchased this one. It is excellent. The breadth and depth of the analysis is awesome, as is the magnificent way Raymond Brown handles the material.Raymond Brown is one of the great New Testament scholars, and this work is a fitting testament to his brilliance and reputation. This is a big book with 878 pages. It is an extraordinarily comprehensive, clear, insightful and authorative introduction to the New Testament. The book opens with a general introduction, followed by a detailed section covering a whole host of preliminaries for reading the New Testament (5 chapters). It then has a detailed introduction to the Gospels as a whole before looking at each Gospel in turn. Each Gospel is covered in-depth. You get a general analysis of the main message, the source’s and compositional features, who wrote it (authorship), the locale or community involved, the date of writing, issues and problems for reflection, and the chapter ends with a bibliography for further reading sources. This approach really works very well, covering both historical and spiritual aspects of the Gospel. It’s really opened up my understanding and appreciation of what I’m reading when I read a Gospel.The Introduction to the New Testament then has a detailed section giving an overview of Paul, his life and his letters / epistles (covering 3 chapters) before looking at each letter / epistle in a very good degree of detail. For the letters and epistles it gives the background, general analysis of the message, an in-depth look at one of the main aspects of the letter, who it was written to (to where?) and when?, an in-depth look at another key aspect of the letter, issues and problems for reflection, and then ends with a bibliography of possible further reading. Having covered all Paul’s many letters / epistles the book then looks at the other letters and epistles in the New Testament plus Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse). Whilst I have benefitted greatly from the content of this these chapters overall, I must say that I have really benefitted from the additional background and insight this section gives to Paul, his letters and epistles. It has really added such valuable meaning and understanding to each of the letters / epistles.Such is the quality and quantity of this book, this review cannot do it justice. All I can say is that if you have a Bible and want to add immeasurably to the insight and understanding to what you are reading, then you should seriously consider getting this Raymond Brown Introduction to the New Testament. Of all the books on Jesus, and the New Testament I have, this really is the one that’s made a difference, and one I wouldn’t want to be without. I continually reread or refer to it before reading a particular Gospel, letter or epistle. I unreservedly highly recommend it!

`An Introduction to the New Testament' by leading NT scholar and writer, Raymond E. Brown may be the best possible introduction to its subject for the lay reader and for pastoral readers. I am relatively sure the book is also used as a text in college level courses on the New Testament, if only for the wealth of bibliography on each aspect of its subject.I give this glowing praise with some reservations, since I have been bitten before by praising a book on a subject on which I have not read many different works; however, by now I have read numerous books on both New and Old Testament subjects, on both introductory and `scholarly' levels, and this experience assures me that this is a superior book for its audience.As you read this volume, you may be surprised to discover that the author is a Catholic, since there is not one wit of `bias' which would diminish the work for our Protestant kin. Rather, the author brings in notions from Catholic practice for which the Protestant, even the deeply scripture - imbued Lutheran tradition, has no easy concept. My favorite is the notion expressed by the Latin (of course) phrase sensus plenior, or `fuller sense' of a reading of scripture. This is totally consistent with Herr Luther's dictum that a scriptural reading has but one meaning. It just means that one wants to find the broadest sense of the text, taking all things into account.Another of the author's positions which warm's my heart (and assures me the author is intellectually sound) is his opinion that the politically correct terms for what we all commonly call the `Old Testament' are no more accurate than this ancient term which some feel is disrespectful to our Jewish cousins. All common alternatives such as `Hebrew' scriptures are actually less accurate than the adjective which says these came before the Christian scriptures.The greatest service I can do for you, kind reader, is to point out that the proper audience for this book may be much wider than the title may suggest. I would offer it as a NT complement to James Kugel's `How to Read the Bible', which deals only with the Old Testament (as Professor Kugel is a Hebrew scholar). It is also an excellent replacement for such heavy tomes as `The Oxford Bible Commentary', which I have never found exceptionally helpful in getting into an unfamiliar book of the Bible.A dramatic illustration of how good this book is compared to some other works is to compare it to the recent Lutheran introduction, `Opening the Book of Faith' on four ways to read the Bible. Brown gives ten (10) different ways the Bible has been studied, and that doesn't even include the Lutheran text's `lectio divina' and `theological' readings. The former is a classic devotional reading and the latter is the approach promoted by Lutheran theologians.If I have any reservations at all about the book for serious students, it is the fact that it was published twelve years ago, and probably written up to two years before that, which means the bibliography may already be slightly dated. However, I still found the bibliography exceptionally good, even with its limiting itself to works in English, proper for a book written for the lay reader or beginning student.I was tickled to find, at the very end, a bit of a polemic against the works of the Jesus Seminar in an overview of works on the historical Jesus. He shares the dim opinion of this enterprise held by Catholic colleague Luke Timothy Johnson. This is the only place in the book where Brown strays one iota from an even handed approach to Biblical scholarship.If you are first starting out in serious Bible reading, this book is a Godsend!

This book is the ultimate masterpiece for both students, laymen, clergy and scholars who are looking of a general introduction to the NT. The approach is non denominational, scientific and complete, and its author warns the reader every time he's expressing his own opinions, which happens just a few times. It really reads well too. Buy it, and buy it now. Then read it, study it, and read it again. Thank you.

Ehrlich sehr lesenswert.

Very useful

I find that this book simply and easily covers the material of St. Paul and is very helpful in understanding his thought and the culture of the time. A good read!

Excellent introduction to the NT, Fr. Brown is an fine scholar with many texts to his credit. Suitable for undergrad level, and non-specialists.