This book by David deSilva covers the standard introduction topics, but includes exegetical skills sections covering a wide range of passages that the author interprets for the reader. Each chapter on the NT literature closes with a discussion of the implications for ministry formation. The features alone would distinguish this work from others. He balances between scholarship and ministry.

An excellent complement to Guthrie is the work by McDonald and Porter, which is a major work that attempts to ground the documents of the New Testament in the history and culture of the Jewish and Greco-Roman world of the first two centuries. Supplemented with helpful charts, bibliography, pictures and time-lines, this is one of the best introductions to early Christianity and its literature.

Paul Barnett’s introductory work is such a refreshing reversal of many critical presuppositions about the historical Jesus. Here is a scholar who actually sees Jesus to be the wellspring of earliest Christianity. This book is a radical, thought-provoking, comprehensive survey of New Testament history that will meet the needs of students and teachers.

Probably the best overall introduction to Christology Raymond Brown explores the identity of Jesus in the New Testament. He concentrates on subjects such as Jesus' perception of Himself and His purpose, the probable reaction of His contemporaries to His teachings, and the overall picture we get from the gospels.

This magnificent volume by E. Ellis might be considered by the more advanced student and not by the casual reader of the Bible. It is not a comprehensive introduction but more a collection of learned essays focusing on literary criticism and other topics, which are handled masterfully. He argues e.g. forcefully that, from the beginning, the early church accepted the books of the NT as Scriptures.

In order to fully understand the teachings of Jesus and his followers, it is important to understand the large body of Scripture that preceded and informed their thinking. Leading evangelical scholars Beale and Carson have brought together a distinguished team to provide readers with a comprehensive commentary on OT quotations, allusions, and echoes that appear from Matthew through Revelation.

Very attractively produced and intended for the undergraduate level this book by Delbert Burkett, which is well written and well argued for this audience and his insistence on treating New Testament texts equally with other early Christian texts is a valuable contribution to introductory study. Features include step-by-step reading guides, special boxes , charts, maps and numerous illustrations.

This is the more popular version of the above.

Bruce Malina’s contribution belongs to the category concerned with relating the findings of cultural anthropology and sociology to matters of NT introduction and exegesis. It provides the beginning Bible student with a historically and culturally accurate panorama of first century Palestine and helps contemporary Christians to avoid anachronisms when contemplating Jesus and his early movements.

This team of scholars produced an outstanding new guide to the literature and theology of the New Testament. Wonderfully readable, eminently teachable, and well supplied with maps, sidebars, photographs, and bibliographies, this is an ideal textbook for seminary and college courses, regardless of theological orientation.

As a well-respected author, scholar, and teacher, David Barr’s prime goal is teaching students to read the New Testament writings for themselves, bridging the chasms of language, history, and culture that separate them from us. The book brings the writings alive and clearly shows how critical study enhances understanding of their meanings.

Last but not least the very popular book by Gordon Fee, a New Testament scholar, and Douglas Stuart, an Old Testament scholar. This book is for both beginning and experienced Bible readers. It explains how to read God's Word for information and for transformation.