Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey

Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey. By Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998, 448 pp., $44.99; Readings From the First-Century World: Primary Sources for New Testament Study. Edited by Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998, 223 pp., n.p.

A new generation of Biblical-studies textbooks is beginning to appear. On the leading edge of these "new-millennium" books are the volumes in the Encountering Biblical Studies series, under the indefatigable editorial oversight of Walter A. Elwell. Not only are these volumes "reader-friendly" with first-rate graphics, pictures, typesetting, and arrangement, several also feature CD-ROMs. The latter addition signals a new day in publishing. It is hard to imagine any successful survey text hereafter without something comparable, and almost certainly, something better. The age of computer technology, for better and for worse, has changed the way the Bible is being studied.

Elwell and Yarbrough bring together commendable experience and expertise. Encountering the New Testament is organized into four main parts: "Jesus and the Gospels," "Acts and the Earliest Church," "Paul and his Epistles," and "General Epistles and Apocalypse." These four main parts are divided into 24 chapters, each of which is introduced by an outline and concluded by review questions, study questions, and basic bibliography for further reading. Each chapter also features attractive sidebars, boxes, and graphics conveying special information, key terms, leading themes, charts, illustrations, maps, diagrams, pictures, and more. One can only use superlatives to describe the packaging and layout of the text.

A helpful preface by the publisher, a word to the professor, and a word to the prospective student state forthrightly what this textbook is and is not. At the end of the book is a nearly 12-page glossary with definitions that are generally fuller than one finds in introductory texts. Besides the answers to the review questions, the appendix contains nearly 11 pages of notes from the 24 chapters. This is followed by subject, Scripture, and name indexes, the latter including both ancient and modern writers and figures who are mentioned in the textbook. In addition, an Instructor's Resource Manual, containing suggestions for use, objective test questions, lecture outlines, among other helpful items, may also be purchased to supplement the main textbook. One can think of little that could have enhanced its usefulness. In short, this survey of the NT establishes a new benchmark.

The viewpoint, of course, is staunchly evangelical. The introductory chapter establishes this stance by discussing the issues of revelation, inspiration, canonicity, and significance. As the subtitle implies, the authors are interested not only in the historical background of the NT, but also in its theological significance for today. Especially helpful for beginning students are the summaries of Jesus' thought (chap. 9), what the earliest Christians believed (chap. 13), Paul's teaching (chap. 17), and the epilogue. The latter offers some guidance in bringing the NT to bear on the great questions of our new millennium (chap. 24).

The authors seek a positive presentation of NT teaching. The tone of the book is for the most part irenic. Not unexpectedly, the section on Jesus and the Gospels has a polemical flavor, since this issue is the touchstone of orthodox, Christian faith. Yarbrough's expertise in Gospel studies is especially evident here. Chapters 10-12 are devoted to a description and critique of modern methodologies in Gospel research. I applaud the straightforward acknowledgment by the authors of the necessity for a critical approach to the NT (pp. 155-156). At the same time, they remind us of the limitations of critical approaches, especially when divorced from faith commitments and openness to the transcendence of God.

The discussion of the philosophical roots and hermeneutical presuppositions that underlie modern Gospel criticism will benefit not only beginning students, but seasoned teachers as well. A huge amount of information has been digested and condensed in two succinct chapters-the sure sign of an experienced guide! Of course, the much-ballyhooed searches for the "historical Jesus" and the extreme claims of the Jesus Seminar elicit some well-deserved criticism (chap. 12).

Here is one minor point argued in the book that I find questionable. In chap. 2, dealing with the background of the NT, the authors survey Jewish literature outside the canon. With regard to the Pseudepigrapha they state: "Yet the pseudepigraphal books were never considered Scripture by anyone, Jew or Christian" (p. 63). This is hardly the case. Jubilees and 1 Enoch seem to have possessed that status at Qumran (ca. 16 copies of Jubilees and ca. 11 of 1 Enoch were discovered there). At face value, Jude views 1 Enoch and The Assumption (or Testament) of Moses as authoritative, if not Scriptural. 2 Peter may well do the same with regard to 1 Enoch. In any case, the Abyssinian Church still views Jubilees as Scripture.