The New Testament : A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings - Ehrman, Bart D. (New York : Oxford University Press, 2020)
Introduction: Why study the new testament? -- 1. What is the new testament? The early Christians and their literature -- The diversity of early Christianity -- The new testament canon of scripture -- Implications for our study -- Take a stand -- Excursus 1: some additional reflections: the historian and the believer -- 2. Do we have type original new testament? -- Publishing books: now and then -- How can we know if we have an ancient author's actual words? -- What manuscripts of the new testament do we have? The good news and bad news -- A concrete example -- Accidental mistakes -- Intentional errors -- Criteria for establishing the text -- Take a stand -- Photo essay 1: ancient manuscripts of the new testament -- 3. The greco-roman world of early Christian traditions -- The problem of beginnings -- One remarkable life -- The environment of the new testament: religion in the Greco-Roman world -- Take a stand -- 4. The Jewish world of Jesus and his followers -- Judaism as a Greco-roman religion -- Political crises in Palestine and their ramifications -- The formation of Jewish groups -- 5. From oral traditions to written gospels -- Oral traditions behind the gospels -- The earliest Christian gospels -- The question of genre -- Biography as a Greco-Roman genre -- the gospels as ancient biographies -- Excursus 2: some additional reflections: the authors of the gospels -- 6. Jesus, the suffering son of God: the gospel according to Mark -- The beginning of the Gospel: Jesus the Messiah, the son of God who fulfills scripture -- Jesus the authoritative Son of God -- Jesus the opposed son of God -- Jesus the misunderstood son of God -- Jesus the acknowledge son of God -- Jesus the suffering son of God -- Jesus the crucified son of God -- Jesus the vindicated son of God -- Conclusion: Mark and his readers -- 7. The synoptic problem and its significance for interpretation -- Methods for studying the gospels -- The synoptic problem -- The methodological significance of the four source hypothesis -- 8. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah: the gospel according to Matthew -- The importance of beginnings: Jesus the Jewish Messiah in fulfillment of Jewish scriptures -- Jesus and his forerunner from Matthew's perspective -- The portrayal of Jesus in Matthew: the sermon on the mount as a springboard -- Jesus and the Jewish cultic practices prescribed by the law -- Jesus rejected by the Jewish leaders -- Matthew and his readers -- 9. Jesus, the savior of the world: the gospel according to Luke -- The comparative method and the gospel of Luke -- A comparative overview of the gospel -- The preface to Luke's gospel -- Luke's birth narrative in comparative perspective -- From Jew to gentile: Luke's portrayal of Jesus the rejected prophet -- Luke's distinctive emphases throughout his gospel -- Conclusion: Luke in comparative perspective -- 10. Jesus, the man sent from heaven: the gospel according to John -- The gospel of John from the perspective of genre criticism -- The gospel of John from a comparative perspective -- The gospel of John from a redactional perspective -- The socio-historical method -- the gospel of John form a socio-hisporical perspective -- The author of the fourth gospel -- Excursus 3: methods of ideological criticism -- 11. From John's Jesus to the gnostic Christ: the Johannine Epistles and beyond -- The questions of genre and author -- The new testament epistolary literature and the contextual method -- The Johannine Epistles from a contextual perspective -- Reflections on the contextual method -- Beyond the Johannine community: the rise of christian gnosticism -- Major views of various gnostic groups -- Gnostics and the Johannine community -- 12. Jesus from different perspectives: other gospels in early Christianity -- Narrative gospels -- Marcion's gospel -- Sayings gospels -- Infancy gospels -- Passion gospels -- Conclusion: the other gospels -- 13. The historical Jesus: sources, problems, and methods -- Problems with sources -- Non-Christian sources -- Christian sources -- using our sources: some of the basic rules of thumb -- Specific criteria and their rationale -- Conclusion: reconstructing the life of Jesus -- Excursus 4: the historian and the problem of miracles -- 14. Jesus in context -- Popular modes of resistance to oppression -- An ideology of resistance -- Jesus in his apocalyptic context -- Photo essay 2: the material world of Jesus and the gospels -- 15. Jesus, the apocalyptic prophet -- The apocalyptic deeds of Jesus -- The apocalyptic teachings of Jesus -- The apocalyptic death of Jesus -- 16. From Jesus to the Gospels -- The beginning of Christianity -- Jesus' resurrection form an apocalyptic perspective -- Jeasus' death, according to the scriptures -- The emergence of different understandings of Jesus -- 17. Luke's second volume: the acts of the Apostles -- The genre of acts and its significance -- The thematic approach to acts -- From Gospel to acts: the opening transition -- Themes in the speeches in acts -- Conclusion: the author and his themes in context -- Excursus 5: the author of Luke-acts and his audience -- 18. Paul the Apostle: the man and his mission -- The study of Paul: methodological difficulties -- The life of Paul -- 19. Paul and his apostolic missions: 1 thessalonians as a test case -- The founding of the church in Thessalonica -- The beginnings of the Thessalonian church: a socio-historical perspective --The church at Thessalonica after Paul's departure -- Conclusion: Paul the apostle -- 20. Paul and the crises of his churches: 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Philemon -- 1 Corinthians -- 2 Corinthians -- Galatians -- Philippians -- Philemon -- 21. The gospel according to Paul: the letter to the Romans -- The occasion and purpose of the letter -- The theme of the Epistle -- Pauline models for salvation -- The flow of Paul's argument -- Conclusion: Paul and the Romans -- Photo essay 3: the cities and roads of Paul -- 22. Does the tradition miscarry? Paul in relation to Jesus, James, Thecla, and Theudas -- Paul in relation to what came before -- Paul in relation to what came after -- Conclusion; Pauline Christianities -- 23. In the wake of the Apostle: the deutero-pauline and pastoral epistles -- Pseudonymity in the ancient world -- The deutero-pauline epistles -- The pastoral epistles -- The historical situation and authorship of the pastoral epistles -- Conclusion: the post-pauline pastoral Epistles -- 24. From Paul's female colleagues to the pastor's intimidated women: the oppression of women in early Christianity -- Women in Paul's churches -- Women associated with Jesus -- Paul's understanding of women in the church -- Women in the aftermath of Paul -- Ancient ideologies of gender -- Gender ideology and the Pauline churches -- 25. Christians and Jews: Hebrews, Barnabas, and later Anti-Jewish literature -- Early Christian self-definition -- Continuity and superiority: the epistle to the Hebrews -- Discontinuity and supremacy: the epistle of Barnabas -- Conclusion: the rise of Christian anti-Judaism -- Excurses 6: the digital Bible -- 26. Christians and pagans: 1 Peter, the letters of Ignatius, the Maryrdom of Polycarp, and later apologetic literature -- The persecution of the early Christians -- Christians in a hostile world: the letter of I Peter -- Christians sentenced to death: the letters of Ignatius -- Christians before the tribunal: the martyrdom of Polycapr -- Christians on the defensive: the later apologetic literature -- 27. Christians and Christians: James, the Didache, Polycarp,, 1 Clemet, Jude, and 2 Peter -- The epistle of James -- The didache -- Polycarp's letter to the Philippians -- 1 Clement -- 2 Peter -- Conclusion: Conflicts with in the early Christian communities -- 28. Christians and the cosmos: the revelation of John, the Shephers of hermas, and the apocalypse of Peter -- Introduction: the end of the world and the revelation of John -- The content and structure of th ebook of revelation -- The book of revelation from a historical perspective -- Apocalyptic worldviews and the apocalypse genre -- The revelation of John in historical context -- the Shepherd of Hermas -- The apocalypse of Peter.
Keywords: Bible. New Testament Introductions