Invitation to the New Testament: First Things

by Ben Witherington III

Writing with his usual flair and reader-friendly style, renowned scholar, author, and lecturer Ben Witherington offers a balanced approach to the New Testament in this exceptional introductory text. Addressing the content, context, and interpretation of the New Testament in a faith-friendly
light, Invitation to the New First Things is unique in that keeps the original social and rhetorical milieux of the New Testament in mind. An ideal textbook for college survey courses, this volume is also captivating reading for seminary students and general readers.

FEATURES

* Numerous dynamic color photos keep students engaged

* Maps and charts provide visual overviews at a glance

* Marginal definitions bring students up to speed on new concepts

* Chapter-ending study questions review key ideas and encourage reflection

* First-century quotations expose students to the world of the New Testament

* "A Closer Look" boxes cover more advanced topics

* An Instructor's Manual on CD (not included with book, available separately) includes PowerPoint-based lecture outlines, chapter goals and summaries, media resources, pedagogical suggestions, and key terms

* A Companion Website offers all of the material from the Instructor's Manual along with self-quizzes and flashcards of key terms for students

Genres: Religion, History

480 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 2012

About the author

Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is on the doctoral faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including The Jesus Quest, The Paul Quest, and The New York Times bestseller The Brother of Jesus. He has appeared on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will note I have not read this book cover-to-cover but only the assigned chapters for an Intro to the New Testament class. Overall, there are plenty of nuggets of interesting observations and theories in this textbook. For instance, Witherington makes a good case that the source material for the gospel of John comes from Lazarus. He does a particularly good job of explaining that "the disciple Jesus loved" was the likely source for 1 John as well as the gospel of John, but that John the Elder may have been the editor of the gospel (and maybe 1 John) and was the outright author of 2 & 3 John. He also explains why, based especially on vocabulary and syntax, the author of Revelation is quite possibly a different John altogether. Surprisingly John Zebedee, the disciple of Jesus, most likely was not involved in any of the "John" writings. Beyond that Witherington is thorough on all the books of the New Testament. My difficulty with his chapters were the amount of repetition of ideas and a seeming lack of economy of writing. So many words! But I will be using this as a reference in future Bible study and preaching.

[Jordan Parkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to the New Testament and Biblical scholarship. Not my favorite thing Dr. Witherington has written but it does the job. Did not agree with his stance on some authorship issues but he brings up some good points. Overall good textbook.

[Lee Harmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, full-color university text, complete with Further Reading and Study Questions at the end of each section. It’s very well written in Witherington’s usual fascinating prose, though I did uncover a few editing errors.

The book does a very good job of immersing you into the culture of the first century. Praying for daily bread was a normal prayer for most ancients. You’ll get to know the Judaizers well, whom Witherington presents as subversive competitors to Christianity. To an important extent, you’ll need to be open to the possibility of miracles in order to truly understand the writings.

Be aware that you will receive a biased view of the topic. For example, Witherington argues strongly for one of his pet conclusions: that the author and the Beloved Disciple of the Gospel of John is the man Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. He also is a proponent of early (pre-war) writings in nearly all cases, and argues that every book in the Bible was written before the turn of the century. His trust in the church fathers’ testimony and traditional authorship (such as Peter as the author of 1st Peter) flavors his interpretation. Witherington considers none of the New Testament pseudonymous, arguing that it may have been composed by as small a group as these 11 men: Mark, Matthew, Luke, the Beloved Disciple, John of Patmos, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, Apollos, and the compiler of 2 Peter.

This emphasis is both good and bad: I certainly prefer that a scholar boldly present his own conclusions, especially when they are as well-argued as in this book, but a university text is also expected to present other scholarly opinion, so balance is key. I wouldn’t want this to be the only book you read about the New Testament, but I wouldn’t want you to miss it, either!

One topic where I did feel the treatment was too imbalanced was Witherington’s introduction to Paul. For example, he submits the controversial hymn in 1 Corinthians as evidence of Paul’s high Christology. While Witherington does not emphasize the contested epistles as much as he does the agreed-upon authentic writings of Paul, he does at times seem to lean on the atmosphere of those letters, and thus betrays his conservative bent. The end result is that this portion of the book comes off more as an evangelical work than a scholarly one.

However, when Witherington begins to discuss each epistle individually, he does a superb job. Absolutely superb. With an emphasis on rhetorical style, he presents his case for authorship and dating, and fits the texts together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Regarding the Gospels, Witherington displays an odd lack of emphasis on the passion story. That suits me fine; I just found it odd. His treatment of the Gospels focuses more on the teachings of Jesus than on Jesus’ accomplishments.

All in all, though I’ve presented a few negatives, I have no qualms about ranking this textbook as one of the best religious works of 2013. If Ben Witherington writes it, you should read it.

One final note: If you don’t buy the book, at least sneak into a university bookstore and check out the discussion of the Synoptic Problem in the appendix …with its fascinating color visual of duplicate verses.