Bruce W. Longenecker, Elizabeth E. Shively, and T.J. Lang (eds.)
Behind the Scenes of the New Testament:
Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts.
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2024.
There are many great resources on New Testament background. I mean, there is Craig Keener’s IVP Background Commentary plus the Dictionary of New Testament Background. There’s a lot of background books on the NT. But this one is pretty good!
The topics are great, the essays are short and informative, the authors are certainly read-up on the latest works in their areas, and it covers the areas that I’d want people to know about if they are covering the context of the New Testament world.
Glad to see my former PhD student, Dr. David Wenkel write the chapter on numismatics (coins and culture). The book surveys a lot of things you probably have never thought about: ancient accounts of masculinity, widows, disabled bodies, itinerant religious experts, reading strategies, etc.
Here’s the blurb:
This authoritative volume brings together a team of world-class scholars to cover the full range of New Testament backgrounds in a concise, up-to-date, and comprehensive manner.
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 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.
For something similar but shorter, Bruce Longenecker has written a good little book about ancient context: In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World.