Nijay K. Gupta, A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020.
Gupta selected 13 topics in New Testament Studies and outlined different scholarly opinions on each topic. He is even-handed and gives some points for thoughts as concluding remarks on each topic. The topics are:
1. The Synoptic Problem
2. The Historical Jesus
3. The Fourth Gospel and History
4. Jesus and Paul
5. Paul’s Theological Perspective
6. Paul and the Jewish Law
7. Interpreting the Book of Revelation
8. Pseudonymity and the New Testament Letters
9. The New Testament and the Roman Empire
10. Women in Leadership in the New Testament
11. Justification by Faith and Judgment according to Works
12. The Old Testament in the New Testament
13. The Application and Use of Scripture
This book is helpful for those who want to read about the history of interpretation on a specific topic and highlight the key differences between various views of interpretation. Gupta also provides a suggested reading list, which categorizes significant books on the subject into beginner, different perspectives, and advanced levels.
All essays are helpful; I am particularly interested in the topics of Pseudonymity and the New Testament Letters, and The Application and Use of Scripture. If I could use one word to describe the book, it would be “complicated.” When one says “the Bible says,” he had better qualify his words. But on the other hand, it makes biblical studies an interesting discipline. Can I find a good topic for a PhD? This is the question.
I have The Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-1986 by Stephen Neill and Tom Wright. Now this book is dated. But as a history of interpretation, it should still be readable.