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Introduction to the New Testament
Book by Harrison, Everett F.
- GenresNew TestamentTheology
522 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1964
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November 4, 2023
This solid work of evangelical New Testament scholarship is another example of many nonfiction books, read pre-Goodreads, on which I slapped my standard (for nonfiction books I liked) three-star rating when I shelved it. However, I was prompted to reconsider this by the fact that, although it has no other text reviews (and given that it's over 50 years old, it's startling that mine will be the first!) most of the other ratings are higher than that. Since I usually like fiction better than nonfiction, my enjoyment factor tends to be higher with the former. But the quality of a nonfiction book doesn't depend on its value as enjoyable entertainment, and it seems unfair in this case to drag down the average rating by rating it on that scale. Considering the top-notch quality of Harrison's scholarship here, the value and clarity of the content, the importance of the subject matter to me, and the foundational role the book played in my intellectual formation as a serious student of Scripture, I've come to the conclusion that a five-star rating is justified.
The contents of the book are exactly what the title states: an introduction to the New Testament, written primarily for readers who may have read the New Testament books or parts of them before, but are relatively new to serious study of it. These would include seminary students (like those whom the author taught in a teaching career that ultimately occupied 47 years; at the time he wrote the book, he was on the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary), undergraduate college students, and intelligent Christian lay people who want to deepen their knowledge of the Bible. After a brief Preface and a helpful list of standard abbreviations used in scholarly literature in this field, Harrison begins with three chapters of valuable background, surveying the intertestamental history of Israel, the religious institutions of first-century Judaism (with a look at Diaspora Judaism), and the intertestamental literature. These are followed by chapters on the language of the New Testament, the textual criticism of the same, and the recognition of the various books as canonical. We then turn to the books themselves, each treated in its own chapter, with a discussion of authorship, date, occasion of writing and facts about the original audience, style, and a basic survey of their content and message(s). Discussion of the individual gospels is preceded by a chapter discussing their common characteristics and relationships, and discussion of the individual epistles by a similar introductory chapter. For the most part, the books are treated in their canonical order, but the Pauline epistles are considered in their chronological order, and Jude right after the letters of Peter.
A substantial amount of important factual information is provided here. Exposition and interpretation of facts is careful, sound, intellectually rigorous, and reflecting a conservative evangelical stance. Skeptical theories of scholars attempting to debunk the various New Testament writings are represented fairly, and rebutted convincingly, IMO. Harrison interacts with the full range of New Testament scholarship up to his time (this edition was published in 1971), and where appropriate he uses documentary footnotes; but the prose style is not dry or pedantic, and the text flows well. There is a general bibliography, about a page and a half long, and each chapter is also followed by a select list of useful books for further study. (A few of these are in German or French.) I haven't read many of the listed resources available in English, but I recognize most of the author's names; many of the works cited are standards in the field. (Not all of the writers included are evangelicals --Bultmann's German-language book on John's Gospel appears in the bibliography for that gospel, for instance-- but generally they're chosen as providing perspectives that are helpful for understanding the New Testament material, rather than inimical ones. Separate indexes are provided for subjects, authors cited (that runs to close to five pages!), Scripture references, and references to other ancient writings.
My basic grounding in the study of the New Testament came from this book, though I've certainly read other helpful books since, and built on the foundation. Even though it's an older book now, the information in it doesn't change. If you're ready to embark on a serious study of the New Testament, I believe it could be as helpful to you as it was to me, and I don't hesitate to recommend it!
The contents of the book are exactly what the title states: an introduction to the New Testament, written primarily for readers who may have read the New Testament books or parts of them before, but are relatively new to serious study of it. These would include seminary students (like those whom the author taught in a teaching career that ultimately occupied 47 years; at the time he wrote the book, he was on the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary), undergraduate college students, and intelligent Christian lay people who want to deepen their knowledge of the Bible. After a brief Preface and a helpful list of standard abbreviations used in scholarly literature in this field, Harrison begins with three chapters of valuable background, surveying the intertestamental history of Israel, the religious institutions of first-century Judaism (with a look at Diaspora Judaism), and the intertestamental literature. These are followed by chapters on the language of the New Testament, the textual criticism of the same, and the recognition of the various books as canonical. We then turn to the books themselves, each treated in its own chapter, with a discussion of authorship, date, occasion of writing and facts about the original audience, style, and a basic survey of their content and message(s). Discussion of the individual gospels is preceded by a chapter discussing their common characteristics and relationships, and discussion of the individual epistles by a similar introductory chapter. For the most part, the books are treated in their canonical order, but the Pauline epistles are considered in their chronological order, and Jude right after the letters of Peter.
A substantial amount of important factual information is provided here. Exposition and interpretation of facts is careful, sound, intellectually rigorous, and reflecting a conservative evangelical stance. Skeptical theories of scholars attempting to debunk the various New Testament writings are represented fairly, and rebutted convincingly, IMO. Harrison interacts with the full range of New Testament scholarship up to his time (this edition was published in 1971), and where appropriate he uses documentary footnotes; but the prose style is not dry or pedantic, and the text flows well. There is a general bibliography, about a page and a half long, and each chapter is also followed by a select list of useful books for further study. (A few of these are in German or French.) I haven't read many of the listed resources available in English, but I recognize most of the author's names; many of the works cited are standards in the field. (Not all of the writers included are evangelicals --Bultmann's German-language book on John's Gospel appears in the bibliography for that gospel, for instance-- but generally they're chosen as providing perspectives that are helpful for understanding the New Testament material, rather than inimical ones. Separate indexes are provided for subjects, authors cited (that runs to close to five pages!), Scripture references, and references to other ancient writings.
My basic grounding in the study of the New Testament came from this book, though I've certainly read other helpful books since, and built on the foundation. Even though it's an older book now, the information in it doesn't change. If you're ready to embark on a serious study of the New Testament, I believe it could be as helpful to you as it was to me, and I don't hesitate to recommend it!
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