A must have book
One day I will put out a list of must have books for anyone who wants to learn more about theology, preaching, cultural issues, hermeneutics, Church History, commentaries, et cetera. Right now, I think I do an okay job with my book of the day, which believe it or not, are made up of books I actually have read (maybe not all of that book in the case of B.B. Warfield's works) with only two exceptions that I am aware of at this point.
Anyway, there is one book that so far has been one of the most helpful books with regards to studying the New Testament. What is this book? It's An Introduction to the New Testament by D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo and Leon Morris and it has been such a huge help in understanding contextual issues surrounding the 27 books of the New Testament, as well as textual and authorship issues as well.
Each chapter is a concise breakdown of the context of the book of the New Testament, then it is broken down to various interpretations with regards to textual issues, or the reason for writing the book, then a decision is actually made for how the authors believe one should view a particular issue, for example, is 2 Corinthians one letter, two letters, or is it really three, and there are evidences and plenty of footnote work to get one started on really great research. It also gives the history of the text, as well as when and why the book was adopted into the Canon.
But what about for preaching? This book is great for that. With the brief look at context, overarching themes and other "difficult" issues which are addressed in this book, it is handy, in fact, it should be one of the first books looked to when preaching a New Testament passage, in my opinion. Another thing that is especially helpful with the social context highlights, is that this book can actually curtail some of the myths which are passed down due to poor research.
One huge example is this: how many times have you been told in a sermon something to the effect of "You see in Corinth, those people were a highly sexualized culture. There was even a temple to Diana with 1,000 temple prostitutes. So, what we see in Corinthians is Paul writing to this church in the middle of a city full of sex and prostitution." You get my point. But here's the deal, there was a temple to Diana with 1,000 prostitutes, which was destroyed about 100-200 years before Paul was writing to the Corinthians. The current temple in the context of Paul's life was barely larger than the average person's living room and kitchen, so there were not 1,000 prostitutes to worry about. Also, further archiological research into the writings and times of Corinth at the day lead one to the conclusion that sex wasn't the overarching theme of Corinth, but money, power, and getting ahead in life were.
This is just one example of the benefits of this great book. I could keep listing more, but I think you get my point.
Book of the day An Introduction To The New Testament by Carson, Moo and Morris.
Anyway, there is one book that so far has been one of the most helpful books with regards to studying the New Testament. What is this book? It's An Introduction to the New Testament by D.A. Carson, Douglas Moo and Leon Morris and it has been such a huge help in understanding contextual issues surrounding the 27 books of the New Testament, as well as textual and authorship issues as well.
Each chapter is a concise breakdown of the context of the book of the New Testament, then it is broken down to various interpretations with regards to textual issues, or the reason for writing the book, then a decision is actually made for how the authors believe one should view a particular issue, for example, is 2 Corinthians one letter, two letters, or is it really three, and there are evidences and plenty of footnote work to get one started on really great research. It also gives the history of the text, as well as when and why the book was adopted into the Canon.
But what about for preaching? This book is great for that. With the brief look at context, overarching themes and other "difficult" issues which are addressed in this book, it is handy, in fact, it should be one of the first books looked to when preaching a New Testament passage, in my opinion. Another thing that is especially helpful with the social context highlights, is that this book can actually curtail some of the myths which are passed down due to poor research.
One huge example is this: how many times have you been told in a sermon something to the effect of "You see in Corinth, those people were a highly sexualized culture. There was even a temple to Diana with 1,000 temple prostitutes. So, what we see in Corinthians is Paul writing to this church in the middle of a city full of sex and prostitution." You get my point. But here's the deal, there was a temple to Diana with 1,000 prostitutes, which was destroyed about 100-200 years before Paul was writing to the Corinthians. The current temple in the context of Paul's life was barely larger than the average person's living room and kitchen, so there were not 1,000 prostitutes to worry about. Also, further archiological research into the writings and times of Corinth at the day lead one to the conclusion that sex wasn't the overarching theme of Corinth, but money, power, and getting ahead in life were.
This is just one example of the benefits of this great book. I could keep listing more, but I think you get my point.
Book of the day An Introduction To The New Testament by Carson, Moo and Morris.
posted by Bobby's blog at 10:52 AM
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