Behind the Scenes of the New Testament

Behind the Scenes of the New Testament
by Bruce W. Longenecker, Elizabeth E. Shively, and T. J. Lang, eds.

ISBN-13: 9781540964472
Hardcover: 544 pages
Publisher: Baker Academic
Released: November 5, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Drawing on the expertise of specialists in the areas of archaeological, historical, and biblical studies, this book provides concise treatments of a wide breadth of topics related to the world of the early Christ followers. The book offers compact overviews of key historical issues, facilitating enriched understandings of the significance and force of the texts of the New Testament in their original contexts.

Meant to be used alongside traditional literature-based canonical surveys, this one-stop introduction to New Testament backgrounds fills a gap in typical introduction to the Bible courses and is ideal for undergraduate or seminary classes. It is beautifully designed and includes photographs, line drawings, maps, charts, and tables, which will facilitate its use in the classroom.


My Review:
Behind the Scenes of the New Testament is a collection of 62 academic essays on the ancient world leading up to, including, and after the New Testament period. One of the assumptions of this collection is that the NT was largely (or perhaps totally) written after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., so these essays covered a much broader period than I expected. Some essay authors stated that we don't know who really wrote the NT books and that prophecies were written by people who knew what happened but were pretending Jesus predicted them ahead of time. The Bible was treated as just another ancient document, not divinely inspired.

The essay authors usually tried to fit the NT writings into the surrounding ancient culture. As in, after talking about how a Roman or Greek would have written a letter, the author pointed out that NT letters had certain elements of a proper letter but were lacking others (like Paul was trying and failed to meet this formula). Another essay talked about Roman ideals of masculinity and how the NT writers tried to portray Jesus as a hypermasculine Roman ideal even though Jesus didn't seem to fit that ideal. I felt like the scholars were trying too hard to fit the NT into Roman culture rather than acknowledging how Jewish culture was unique, and maybe the Jews didn't want to fit in completely with Roman ideals and culture.

Since the NT wasn't divinely-inspired truth about God, one essay tried to figure out why people from other cultures might add Jesus to the gods they worshipped or even give up their other gods. What social benefit might they have received? Most of the essays hardly referenced the actual NT but were on topics relating to that general time period. For example, one essay simply gave an overview of Greek and Roman schools of thought. The essays weren't intended to help a student of the Bible better understand the NT in its Jewish context but usually gave an overview of various topics, mostly focused on Roman culture. The essays were very academic in writing style, with references to their sources cited in the text and a list of sources at the end of each essay. While I learned more about Roman culture than I'd previously known, I didn't feel like I'd gained any true insights into the NT.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.