The New Testament: An Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings - Softcover

This introduction to the New Testament takes a comparative historical approach to early Chrisitian writings. Without shying away from the critical challenge posed by the ancient books, it emphasizes their impressive diversity and discusses the ongoing academic debate over their authorship, meaning, origin, collection in a canon of Scripture and reason for existence. A feature of the study is the presentation of the Greco-Roman world, including early Judea, as not merely a background to early Christian writings, but as the context from which the books emerged and within which they must be viewed. It also reviews other works by Christian writers written at the time the New Testament was created, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the letters of Ignatius.