A Brief Introduction to the New Testament is a concise and more pedagogical version of Bart D. Ehrman's best-selling The New A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 3/e . Retaining the approach of the longer textbook while condensing and simplifying much of its material, this volume looks at the New Testament from a consistently historical and comparative perspective and emphasizes the rich diversity of the earliest Christian literature. Rather than shying away from the critical problems presented by these books, Ehrman addresses the historical and literary challenges they pose. He shows why scholars continue to argue over such significant issues as how the books of the New Testament came into being, what they mean, and how they relate to contemporary Christian and non-Christian literature. Distinctive to this study is its emphasis on the historical, literary, and religious milieu of the Greco-Roman world, including early Judaism. Features : * Covers the fundamentals of New Testament scholarship in an engaging style, making challenging material easily understandable to undergraduates in introductory courses * Retains the numerous pedagogical devices from the longer "What to Expect" and "At a Glance" boxes introduce and provide summaries of the material covered in each chapter "Something to Think About" and "Some More Information" boxes offer thought-provoking asides * Adds new study aids : Key Terms (each appearing in boldface the first time it is used), Questions for Study and Reflection, and a greatly expanded Glossary * Offers streamlined coverage—this volume is nine chapters shorter than The New A Historical Introduction to the New Testament, 3/e * Includes a full-color eight-page insert on archaeology * A Student Website contains chapter summaries, guides for reading, and self-quizzes An Instructor's Manual provides chapter summaries, student reading guides, pedagogical suggestions, and exam questions and answers Ideal for undergraduate and seminary classes in the New Testament, Biblical Studies, and Christian Origins, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament is an accessible, clearly written introduction that encourages students to consider the historical issues surrounding these writings.
Author
Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Professor Ehrman received both his Masters of Divinity and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary, where his 1985 doctoral dissertation was awarded magna cum laude. Since then he has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, having written or edited 21 books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews. Among his most recent books are a Greek-English edition of The Apostolic Fathers for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press), an assessment of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Oxford University Press), and two New York Times bestsellers: God’s Problem (an assessment of the biblical views of suffering) and Misquoting Jesus (an overview of the changes found in the surviving copies of the New Testament and of the scribes who produced them). Among his fields of scholarly expertise are the historical Jesus, the early Christian apocrypha, the apostolic fathers, and the manuscript tradition of the New Testament. Professor Ehrman has served as President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical literature, chair of the New Testament textual criticism section of the Society, book review editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and editor of the monograph series The New Testament in the Greek Fathers (Scholars Press). He currently serves as coeditor of the series New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (E.J. Brill), coeditor in chief for the journal Vigiliae Christianae, and on several other editorial boards for journals and monographs in the field. Winner of numerous university awards and grants, Professor Ehrman is the recipient of the 1993 UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award, the 1994 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching. Professor Ehrman has two children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Derek. He is married to Sarah Beckwith (PhD, King's College London), Marcello Lotti Professor of English at Duke University. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.
