This is the second year that the course I am taking through University of the South, Education for Ministry, has used Mark Allan Powell's textbook Introducing the New Testament - A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey (#494) for their second year of study. I must say I think that they've made an excellent choice with this book.
After some preliminary introductory chapters, each book of the New Testament has its own commentary chapter. This is not dry textual reading, either. Powell has a sense of humor, and he uses it here with great effect to engage the reader to pull him or her into the meat of his commentary. I didn't always agree with what he says, but that also provided fodder for some great discussions during our seminars. Not only does he present the material in an organized way in each chapter, there are also links online to additional brief essays about sources, cultural and social aspects not included in the text, as well as study guides and flash cards!
The book is lavishly illustrated with a wealth of eye-catching paintings, sculptures and objects from around the world along with photos of actual Biblical locations and maps. These pictures invariably became part of the seminar we shared with Year 1 students as we passed our textbooks around the group so everyone could see what the Year 2 students were talking about. (I do have one bone to pick with Powell about one of these illustrations, though. In the chapter on Ephesians, he includes a carving he labels as a "well-prepared Roman soldier". Even a cursory glimpse should be enough to tell the viewer that this is, in fact, a depiction of a Roman gladiator, not a common foot soldier. I knew my minor in Classic Studies would pay off one day!)
That aside, any text book that serves its purpose so well to inform and enlighten the reader on its subject, and to make the acquisition of such knowledge both interesting and painless to boot has done its job superbly. Powell's Introducing the New Testament is just such a book.
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