New Testament

This textbook offers a streamlined introduction to the New Testament that blends long-established historical-critical methods with a range of alternative scholarly viewpoints. It traces how the traditions about Jesus took shape within the wider world of the ancient Mediterranean, giving readers a compact overview of that development.

The book pays close attention to the historical and political circumstances of the New Testament's authors and first audiences. It also asks how social identity and lived experience affected the making of the Bible and the ways it has been read since. Scholar Colleen Conway foregrounds the cultural and literary background of these texts and draws on historical, postcolonial, gender, feminist, and intersectional approaches. Throughout, readers consider how race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and power shaped the New Testament writings and continue to shape how they are interpreted in the twenty-first century.

The content is arranged in twelve chapters that follow a chronological order. Topics include Paul's mission to the Gentiles, the tensions and unity within Paul's communities, the four Gospel accounts, the Book of Revelation, Hebrews, 1 Peter, the formation of the New Testament canon, and early Christian writings beyond it.

The text is written for undergraduates who bring differing levels of biblical knowledge. It suits a one-semester course on the Bible, the New Testament, or early Christianity in religious studies, and it is also useful for undergraduate and graduate students in history, sociology, and philosophy.