Product Description

New technologies are revolutionizing research capabilities and pedagogical approaches. To meet the needs of an increasingly technology-savvy public, Fortress Press presents widely-used volumes in a new CD-ROM format. Features include: The complete, searchable text of the book; glossary hyperlinked to key words in the text; additional study questions; student helps for writing papers; internet links to additional resources; note-taking, bookmarking, and highlighting capabilities.

The completely revised and updated version of JohnsonÂ’s very successful introduction to the New Testament (1999) is now available with a CD-ROM that contains the entire original text with copious searching and researching features, plus hyper-links to the NRSV. Johnson organizes his presentation in six major sections:

(1) The Symbolic World of the New Testament, (2) The Christian Experience, (3) The Synoptic Tradition, (4) Pauline Traditions, (5) Other Canonical Witnesses, and (6) The Johannine Tradition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173685 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Review
"As a student of the New Testament, I admire Johnson's thorough familiarity with scholarship, his desire to stay close to the texts themselves, and his lively interest in religious experience." -- ---Daniel J. Harrington, S.G. Theological Studies

"Readers of Luke Johnson's proliferating studies have come to expect a blend of masterful scholarship and raw imagination at once engaging and penetrating. His introduction to the New Testament will not disappoint. . . . The fresh vantage points into the contour and content of the texts themselves that his model opens up are to date without equal." -- ---David P. Moessner, Theology Today

"This is a resource which nobody who works with the New Testament should be without." -- - --Robert Morgan Theology

About the Author
Luke Timothy Johnson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He has also written for Fortress Press Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity, among others.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I have written this book for those who want to understand the origin and shape of the New Testament writings but are unable to find a comprehensive introduction that is neither repellingly technical nor appallingly trivial. I have called it an interpretation rather than an introduction for the simple reason that most volumes going by the name of introduction are either handbooks devoted to the communication of information concerning a narrow range of scholarly issues or popularized versions of conventional scholarly wisdom for college students. In contrast to both, I have tried to provide a genuine interpretation of Christianity's earliest writings. By so doing I draw the reader into the most important critical questions concerning their understanding. In this sense, every interpretation is also an introduction. By no means is every introduction an interpretation.

The organization of this book, its argument, and the choice of topics have all been dictated by the desire to make these writings intelligible and alive for the contemporary reader who want to meet and understand them more than scholarly discussions of them. I have considered all the critical issues pertinent to the understanding of the writings, but I have gone beyond presenting a consensus of scholarly opinion. The reader will find in these pages a signal "reading" of the evidence from beginning to end---my own. My approach to the writings and the critical issues is independent. It is not, I think, idiosyncratic. I have learned more than I can ever credit to my teachers and to the reading of other scholars. But in this book I advance my own understanding of the New Testament in its origin, in each of its parts, and as a collection. Sometimes I agree with the majority of scholars; sometimes I disagree. I have tried to indicate the reasons for both. As in every attempt to deal with the whole of a subject within a reasonable space, much has been eliminated or abbreviated. More advanced readers should recognize in my sometimes elliptical remarks a thoughtful response to critical scholarship.

In order to keep my argument and presentation clean I have not used footnotes, nor do I refer to other scholars by name in the text. The reader will, I hope, forgive the inevitable air of omniscience that results. It seemed better to restrict reference to primary sources, above all the texts of the New Testament itself. Occasionally even these are so numerous as to make the detection of decent prose a problem. At the end of each chapter I have provided an annotated bibliography. Some entries support my presentation, others provide alternative points of view, still other give the reader additional resources for study. With very few exceptions I have included only literature in English, since the notes are meant to be an aid to the reader rather than a demonstration of learning. Given the rate of translation, not that much of great value is missing. I have also tried to refer to literature that is reasonably available. Translations of primary sources are acknowledged at the head of each bibliographical section. ---Preface to First Edition

The first edition of The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation appeared in 1986. The manuscript for that edition was completed in 1984. The bibliographies were fairly up-to-date but included only a few items from 1984. The contents of the books are therefore almost fifteen years old. Despite the usefulness of the first edition---it went through thirteen printings---it is clearly time for a new edition.

I have not changed the basic philosophy or design of the book. I have simply tried to update and improve it. The updating takes two basic forms. The first is the completely revised bibliographies. Some older items are eliminated; many more recent items are included. I have continued to use only English-language references for the reasons stated in the first edition. The second updating is found in two appendices. One deals with newer methods that have developed over the past fifteen years; it is only a sketch but it shows the general lines of development and its bibliography provides some starting points for reading. The other appendix deals with the question of the Historical Jesus. I explain why I continue to omit this topic from the body of the book, and try to indicate some of the critical questions and sources to consult.

The improvement of the book is found in the line-by-line editing. Every sentence has been assessed for accuracy and clarity. Many passages have been rewritten, some have been omitted, some added. The argument of each chapter remains the same, though I hope it is clearer and more accessible. All of the references have been checked and corrected. I have also added study questions at the end of each chapter to make the book an even better teaching tool. ---Preface to Revised Edition

Customer Reviews

A Refreshing and Helpful Interpretation
What many of the reviews on this page seem to miss is that this work by LTJ seeks to acheive "interpretation" of the text rather than the common historical-critical approach. He does treat some of the history and critical issues throughout, mostly he does this in the beginning. However, historical-critical is not his concern. Johnson effectively unfolds, in a very helpful and introductory way, the theological flow and cohesiveness of the New Testament. If you are looking for a commentary or a historical critical treatment of the text this is not your book. If you are looking for an introduction to the theological themes and structure of the New Testament that is thoroughly aware of the difficulties and limitations of the historical-critical approach yet still utilizes the method in reasonable ways this book is for you.

A "reader friendly" commentary on the New Testament text
The Writings Of The New Testament: An Interpretation By Luke Timothy Johnson (Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia) is an erudite, scholarly, yet thoroughly "reader friendly" commentary on the New Testament text, in relation to history of the ancient world, Christian beliefs, and a page-by-page analysis of the scripture itself. An accompanying CD-ROM provides ready access to cross-referenced text. The Writings Of The New Testament is highly recommended as an exhaustive study enhanced with extensive bibliographical annotation and thought-provoking questions.

Great Reference - go back again and again
I bought this for a course on the Gospels and have gone back to this book every time I go to study another part of the New Testament. Johnson covers the NT extremely well and gives insights into the text and the context that is helpful to students, preachers and teachers. This updated version includes significant current NT scholarship. It is very well written, making the reading enjoyable.