{"id":9122,"date":"2021-04-23T12:32:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T17:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=9122"},"modified":"2021-04-23T12:32:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T17:32:58","slug":"the-new-testament-in-its-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=9122","title":{"rendered":"THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ITS WORLD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"625\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_d8TrmWxLe0ebGi&#038;asin=0310499305&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The New Testament in its World<\/em> by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I typically read 4-6 books at the same time. Being a person of many interests, it fits my personality, and dare I say, my calling.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>When one of the books I am reading is long (500 pages plus) and\/or technical, I tend to read no more than 5-20 pages at a sitting. It gives me ample time to ponder and scribble my many marginal notes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>One large book (almost 900 pages) I am now finishing is <em>The New Testament in its World<\/em> by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird. I saw it highly recommended by many I respect so I decided to read it. I am glad that I did. It would fit in the long, but not technical category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Instead of a traditional book review, let me mention (in no particular order) five things I appreciated about this book:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*Even though this a dual authored book, it is clear and smooth in its presentation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*It is amply supplied with graphs, timelines, maps, and other visuals that wonderfully augment the text.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*The authors do a terrific job of modeling how history is crucial for the best understanding of the New Testament. My own book, <em>Stuck in the Present<\/em>, highlights this need.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*Various positions on the different books of the New Testament are offered. The authors are fair and balanced in telling the reader why they hold, or at least <em>lean<\/em> in one direction.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*There is a good use of both ancient and modern scholarship. This regularly reminds the reader that the Christian faith has a rich history.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Highly recommended!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Testament in its World by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird I typically read 4-6 books at the same time. Being a person of many interests, it fits my personality, and dare I say, my calling. When one of the books I am reading is long (500 pages plus) and\/or technical, I tend to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24,12,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-reading","category-book-review","category-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9123,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9122\/revisions\/9123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}