Carson, D. A. and Douglas J. Moo. Introducing the New Testament: A Short Guide to its History and Message. Edited by Andrew D. Naselli. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.
I love when I come across sources that serve the church well. This short guide to the New Testament that Andy Naselli has edited is one such source!
In short what Naselli has done is taken Carson and Moo’s larger work, An Introduction to the New Testament (784 pages) and summarize it down to 163 pages. He has taken some very in depth content targeted towards the seminary student or pastor and made it accessible for the average church member in the pew.
The work is setup to deal with each book of the New Testament, and in some cases a group of books (i.e. 1, 2, 3 John all appear in one chapter), at a very overview level. It is not setup so much as a book one would sit down to read cover to cover, though some would, but more as a quick reference guide looking at each book of the New Testament. Each chapter seeks to answer eight questions:
- Content: What is the book about?
- Author: Who wrote the book?
- Genre: What style of literature is used?
- Date: When was the book written?
- Place: Where was the book written?
- Audience: To whom was the book written?
- Purpose: Why was the book written?
- Contributions: What does the book contribute to our understanding of the faith?
The other thing that I find extremely helpful is that each chapter ends with a set of questions that will help the reader process the information of the chapter. Following the questions the reader will find a list of sources where they can go for more information.
On the whole, Andy Naselli has served the church well by making this material more accessible to the average person in the church and I would wholehearted encourage anyone wanting a fuller understanding of their New Testament to pick up this book.
