Book Review--The State of New Testament Studies Edited by Scot McKnight and Nijay K. Gupta

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New scholarly approaches and theories touching every corner of the New Testament have arisen at a dizzying pace since the time that I graduated from seminary in 2001. Fortunately, professors Scot McKnight and Nijay K. Gupta have c an invaluable collection of essays for pastors, seminary students and doctoral students such as myself.

The State of New Testament Studies: A Survey of Recent Research (Baker, 2019) is broken into twenty-three chapters falling into four sections ((1) Ancient Context; (2) Interpretation; (3) Jesus, Paul and New Testament Theology and (4) New Testament Texts). The scholars that McKnight and Gupta have recruited for the daunting task of summarizing decades of work in approximately twenty pages per chapter are first rate.

Of course, as with any collection of essays, some are better than others. Dr. Michael Bird’s chapter entitled, “Paul, a Jew among Jews, Greeks, and Romans” is written with verve and even humor. Yet, all of the entries are helpful. However, readers of all stripes may feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of works cited. I’m not sure how I can devote so many hours to Greek, sermon preparation and peruse even a fraction of the books mentioned by the various authors.

Regardless, The State of New Testament Studies is a must own for anyone interested in where contemporary Biblical scholarship has been and where it may be headed. Now, apparently I have to jump off here and get back to reading!

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