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Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey. By Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998, 448 pp., $44.99; Readings From the First-Century World: Primary Sources for New Testament Study. Edited by Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998, 223 pp., n.p.
A new generation of Biblical-studies textbooks is beginning to appear. On the leading edge of these "new-millennium" books are the volumes in the Encountering Biblical Studies series, under the indefatigable editorial oversight of Walter A. Elwell. Not only are these volumes "reader-friendly" with first-rate graphics, pictures, typesetting, and arrangement, several also feature CD-ROMs. The latter addition signals a new day in publishing. It is hard to imagine any successful survey text hereafter without something comparable, and almost certainly, something better. The age of computer technology, for better and for worse, has changed the way the Bible is being studied.
Elwell and Yarbrough bring together commendable experience and expertise. Encountering the New Testament is organized into four main parts: "Jesus and the Gospels," "Acts and the Earliest Church," "Paul and his Epistles," and "General Epistles and Apocalypse." These four main parts are divided into 24 chapters, each of which is introduced by an outline and concluded by review questions, study questions, and basic bibliography for further reading. Each chapter also features attractive sidebars, boxes, and graphics conveying special information, key terms, leading themes, charts, illustrations, maps, diagrams, pictures, and more. One can only use superlatives to describe the packaging and layout of the text.
A helpful preface by the publisher, a word to the professor, and a word to the prospective student state forthrightly what this textbook is and is not. At the end of the book is a nearly 12-page glossary with definitions that are generally fuller than one finds in introductory texts. Besides the answers to the review questions, the appendix contains nearly 11 pages of notes from the 24 chapters. This is followed by subject, Scripture, and name indexes, the latter including both ancient and modern writers and figures who are mentioned in the textbook. In addition, an Instructor's Resource Manual, containing suggestions for use, objective test questions, lecture outlines, among other helpful items, may also be purchased to supplement the main...