publisher\u2019s website<\/a>:<\/p>\nThe A to Z of the New Testament: Things Experts Know That Everyone Else Should Too<\/strong>
\nby James F. McGrath<\/p>\nSo you think you know the New Testament?<\/strong><\/p>\nDid you know that Jesus made puns? Did you know that Paul never calls himself or the churches he writes to \u201cChristian?\u201d Did you know that we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0<\/em>know who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews, or if it\u2019s even really a letter?<\/p>\nJames F. McGrath sheds light on these and many other surprising realities of\u00a0Scripture in The A to Z of the New Testament<\/em>. Cutting through common myths and misunderstandings of problematic bible passages, James F. McGrath opens up expert knowledge to laypeople in his friendly introduction to New Testament studies. Each chapter in this fresh, accessible volume begins with a provocative anecdote or fact and then pulls back the curtain to inform curious readers about how scholars approach the issue. Along the way, McGrath explains unfamiliar terminology and methodology to nonspecialists with humor and clarity.<\/p>\nYou\u2019ve graduated from Sunday School. Ask the hard questions. Take Scripture on its own terms. Invigorate your Bible study with\u00a0The A to Z of the New Testament<\/em>\u00a0as your guide.<\/p>\nTable of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\nABCs of New Testament Study (Introduction)
\nBorn In A Barn?!
\nCamels, Critters, and Calculations
\nDead Men Walking
\nEat Whatever is Set Before You
\nFulfilling or Failing: Would Matthew Get an \u201cF\u201d in Biblical Interpretation?
\nGreasy Jesus?
\nHate Your Enemies
\nIntent, Interpretation, and Intertextuality
\nJoking Aside
\nKeep On Keeping the Commandments
\nLanguage, Please (What the\u2026Hell?)
\nMud In Your Eye
\nNaked Truth: Jesus Didn\u2019t Wear Pants
\nOnly One God: The First Christians Were Monotheists
\nPlagiarism in the Gospels?
\nQuotation Marks Required
\nRevelations is NOT in the Bible
\nScribes and Secretaries: Who wrote the Letters of Paul?
\nTelephone Game?
\nUnmentionables: \u201cChristians\u201d and Other Things Paul Doesn\u2019t Mention
\nVariations and Variants
\nWomen With Authority
\nX Marks the Spot: How Do We Know the Shape of the Cross?
\nY Chromosome?
\nZacchaeus, Zebedee, Zechariah (Conclusion)
\nAcknowledgements<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I\u2019m not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as what it would be like if Pete Enns wrote an overview of the essential things to know about the New Testament, except instead of baseball references there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":95400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,67],"tags":[2976,8064,12428],"class_list":["post-95397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-new-testament-bible","tag-eerdmans","tag-new-testament","tag-textbook"],"yoast_head":"\n
New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2023\/02\/A-to-Z-cover-smaller-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"497\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html\",\"name\":\"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament","description":"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament","og_description":"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":497,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2023\/02\/A-to-Z-cover-smaller-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html","name":"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-11T23:59:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"The Eerdmans website now has my next book listed, which should be out sometime this year although I'm not sure on their precise schedule. Think of it as","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2023\/02\/new-book-the-a-to-z-of-the-new-testament.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Book: The A to Z of the New Testament"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}