"I like to think of it as a hybrid of two genres. Like an anthology, it features dozens of readings from antiquity. But like a textbook, it has a narrative framework to help orient the reader." --- Daniel Smith
As someone who regularly teaches introductory New Testament classes, I found myself unsatisfied with the tools at my disposal. Over several semesters, I had sampled a variety of conventional New Testament textbooks, each of which had its strong points. Yet, I was discouraged by their general tendency to tell the reader what she should know about Paul, or about Mark’s Gospel, or about apocalyptic literature. Despite the many color illustrations, textbooks inevitably do a lot of telling.
This excellent work is easy to read, sensitive to the historically uninformed student, yet highly informative concerning the context of the NT. Drawing on particularly key sources, Smith also helpfully engages the reader with what is relevant to the interests that brought them to the study in the first place. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/into-the-world-of-the-new-testament-9780567657022/#sthash.g5Bhky3q.dpuf
This “here’s-what-you-need-to-know” approach worried me. I wanted my students to interact more with the New Testament texts themselves, and with other relevant sources from the ancient world. I toyed with the idea of assigning an anthology, but experience has taught me that giving students primary sources at the introductory level can capture their imaginations…and lead to fantastically decontextualized, anachronistic readings.
"This excellent work is easy to read, sensitive to the historically uninformed student, yet highly informative concerning the context of the NT. Drawing on particularly key sources, Smith also helpfully engages the reader with what is relevant to the interests that brought them to the study in the first place." --- Craig S. Keener, Asbury Theological Seminary, USA
This excellent work is easy to read, sensitive to the historically uninformed student, yet highly informative concerning the context of the NT. Drawing on particularly key sources, Smith also helpfully engages the reader with what is relevant to the interests that brought them to the study in the first place. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/into-the-world-of-the-new-testament-9780567657022/#sthash.g5Bhky3q.dpuf
It was around this time when Into the World of the New Testament (IWNT)began to take shape in my mind. I wanted students in my classes to spend most of their time interacting with the New Testament texts themselves. So, the basic course “textbook” would be a study Bible; study Bibles already include the essential data on authorship, dating, and so on. I would then write another book that would introduce students to the world in which the New Testament took shape.
I started by taking stock of my last ten years of scholarship. What had I learned about the Greco-Roman world and about early Judaism that would help my students make better sense of the earliest Christian writings? Immediately, passages from Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Maccabees, and Tacitus sprang to mind. I developed a collection of key passages, and only then did I sort them into chapter headings. With the passages serving as the foundation, I then built an overarching narrative framework to elaborate on and contextualize these quotations.
'Writing with clarity and verve, Daniel Smith takes readers on an intriguing and informative journey "Into the World of the New Testament," and back--and beyond. As a companion volume read in tandem with a Study Bible, this will be a valuable resource--heartily recommended!”' – John T. Carroll, Union Presbyterian Seminary, USA
In this way, IWNT was born. I like to think of it as a hybrid of two genres. Like an anthology, it features dozens of readings from antiquity. But like a textbook, it has a narrative framework to help orient the reader. My goal has been to take the best of each genre and to create a concise, readable book that will invite students into the world of the New Testament. If I am successful, then a student who reads a chapter of IWNT will find himself wanting to open up his study Bible and read Mark, or Philemon, or Hebrews.
With this goal in mind, I have had to be firm about what my book is not doing. IWNT does not aim to supplant a conventional textbook, with its comprehensive coverage of important modern scholarly debates. In IWNT, I try to explain ancient perceptions of Jewish sects, ancient messianic expectations, and ancient practices of crucifixion. I rely on twenty-first-century biblical scholarship in my discussion of the first-century sources, but the chapters of IWNT revolve around these ancient sources, not modern debates.
"Everyone who teaches an introductory NT course should seriously consider using this text as a pedagogical aid.” – David E. Aune, University of Notre Dame, USA
Nor does IWNT try to fill the role of a biblical commentary. I avoid presenting a New Testament text and then marshalling the relevant ancient parallels. That sort of approach may have its merits, but in such a small book, I could only treat a fraction of the New Testament corpus. Hence, I focus on larger issues that affect the first-century world more broadly: the military history of the ancient Near East, the widespread practice of emperor worship, the concept of faith/pistis/fides, and Jewish apocalyptic worldviews. I seek to illuminate the reading of New Testament writings, not to exegete the finer points of this or that verse.
While I strive to help students plant their feet on ancient ground, I do not lose sight of—as one endorser put it—“the interests that brought them to the study in the first place.” I teach at a Jesuit university, where the tradition of cura personalis calls us to nurture our students’ intellectual development, but to do so within the context of “care for the whole person.” Of course, almost all of my students take my introductory course to fulfill a university requirement. But many of them also bring their twenty-first-century questions and quandaries to the text. Where possible, I incorporate these contemporary concerns into IWNT, laying the groundwork for further discussion and reflection. I hope that students and other interested readers will find IWNT to invigorate their interest in reading and studying the New Testament.
"This companion to the New Testament offers students an opportunity to read the New Testament intelligently. It is neither a substitute for reading the New Testament by summarizing it and the questions related to it nor a survey of the background of the New Testament. It is a judicious selection and commentary on ancient texts and their relevance to the basic issues of the New Testament. I heartily recommend it for use in introductory courses.” – Greg Sterling, Yale Divinity School, USA
Comments