The New Testament in Antiquity (2nd ed)—Gary M. Burge and Gene L. Green

Burge, Gary M. and Gene L. Green. The New Testament in Antiquity, 2nd ed. (Zondervan Academic, 2020) 624 Pages; List Price, $59.99.

Book Description: This completely revised and updated second edition of The New Testament in Antiquity skillfully develops how Jewish, Hellenistic, and Roman cultures formed the essential environment in which the New Testament authors wrote their books and letters. Understanding of the land, history, and culture of the ancient world brings remarkable new insights into how we read the New Testament itself.

Throughout the book, numerous features provide windows into the first-century world. Nearly 500 full color photos, charts, maps, and drawings have been carefully selected. Additional features include sidebars that integrate the book’s material with issues of interpretation, discussion questions, and bibliographies.

A Word from the Author(s): Gary Burge and Gene Green say

 This textbook is used widely by colleges and seminaries in the US. Now in its second edition, it has benefited from ten years of use and suggested improvements. The text is known for having fantastic pictures, illustrations and maps of the ancient biblical world, and quotations from ancient literature that help students understand the context and relevance of the biblical message. The second edition has throughly revised and up-to-date chapters on every aspect of the New Testament that will genuinely help the beginning college or seminary student. Similar textbooks find themselves to be too technical and are really written for the scholar. They are also too long. Other textbooks simplify the material so dramatically that the reader is left unsatisfied. Students and professors alike tell us that The New Testament in Antiquity strikes the right balance between scholarship and accessibility.

[*author comments are found exclusively here on the Crux Sola New Testament Resource Guide*]

Distinctive Features: Gary Burge and Gene Green say

When we titled the book, we were serious that this was a text that would help you travel back in time. It works hard to reconstruct the ancient context of the New Testament so that you can understand Jesus’ words or Paul’s letters as they were understood by their first audiences. But everyone remarks about the book’s pictures which are relevant “visual content.” A team of photo experts at Zondervan spent countless hours (and a great deal of money) building an array of pictures that are unmatched anywhere. These are professional pictures that the reader will notice right away. If you are a visual learner like we are, then this text is ideal. Through the chapters, quotations, and illustrations The New Testament in Antiquity helps students “go there and back again” as they see the impact of the biblical message on the first readers and its importance for us today.

[*author comments are found exclusively here on the Crux Sola New Testament Resource Guide*]

Nijay’s Notes

I love this textbook. I feel like students need the help with ancient context and it makes them better interpreters of the New Testament. This is a good resource for getting your bearings straight. It is basic and not comprehensive; it doesn’t get you into all the critical academic discussions, but it is a very good place to start. Also, the images are spectacular.

About the Author(s)

 Gary M. Burge (PhD, King’s College, Aberdeen University) is visiting professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. Gary has authored a number of books, including Who Are God’s People in the Middle East? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians; John and Letters of John in the NIV Application Commentary series; The New Testament in Antiquity (coauthored with Gene Green); and the first three volumes in the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series: The Bible and the Land, Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, and Encounters with Jesus. Gary specializes in the Middle East, its churches, and its history in the Hellenistic period.

Gene L. Green (PhD, Kings College, Aberdeen University) is dean of Trinity International University’s Florida campus. Previously, he served as emeritus professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. His special research interest is the intersection of the Christian faith and cultures, both ancient and contemporary. Gene has pastored and taught in churches in the United States and Latin America since 1972.