Related articles and links |  1 of 5

An Introduction to the New Testament, by Raymond E. Brown (Doubleday, 878 pp.; $42.50, hardcover). Reviewed by Michael J. Gorman, professor of New Testament and dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at Saint Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore. He is the author of Abortion and the Early Church (InterVarsity).

Of the making of books introducing the New Testament there is no end; some 25 sit on the shelves of my office, many more in the seminary library. Each is helpful and useful in its own way, and a few have become classics, issued in several editions over decades; KŸmmel and Guthrie, for instance, are household names in New Testament circles because of their New Testament introductions.

Fr. Raymond Brown, S.S. (Society of Saint Sulpice, or Sulpicians, whose members primarily direct and teach in Roman Catholic seminaries worldwide), is already a household name not only in the field of New Testament studies but in religious and academic circles more broadly. Father Brown, Auburn Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York, is best known for his work on the Johannine literature—especially the classic two-volume Anchor Bible commentary on the Gospel of John and a study of the Johannine community (The Community of the Beloved Disciple)—and for his exhaustive studies, The Birth of the Messiah and The Death of the Messiah. He began his illustrious career at Saint Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, the Sulpician institution that I serve, teaching courses like those I now teach in his shadow.

As anyone familiar with Brown's earlier writings would expect, his Introduction is a comprehensive, clear, balanced, ecumenical, and centrist work that leads the reader through the New Testament documents in their historical context. Brown has the credentials to write for the "scholarly majority" in the field of New Testament at the close of the twentieth century, and his "consensus" approach to basic issues does in fact reflect the positions of many specialists in the field.

It comes as no surprise, then, that numerous scholars—Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish—endorse the volume with very high praise, as inscribed on the book's dust jacket. What we have here is a synthesis of the results of biblical scholarship in this century and a starting place for the century to come. This Introduction is both a monument and a foundation.

The plan of the book is clear and simple. Following a few opening comments, chronological tables, and maps, Part 1 covers the "preliminaries" for understanding the New Testament: its nature and origin (including canon); methods of interpretation; manuscripts; and the political, social, religious, and philosophical worlds of the New Testament. Parts 2-4 deal with the Gospels and related works (Acts, epistles of John); the Pauline letters and the other NT writings. Each NT book has a chapter devoted to it, ranging in length from about 50 pages each for the Gospels and Acts to 20 or 25 pages for longer letters and 10 or fewer for shorter ones.

Appendixes on the historical Jesus and on relevant noncanonical Jewish and Christian writings, as well as indexes to authors cited (23 pages) and topics, conclude the volume. Each chapter has an ample bibliography and footnotes, so that students and scholars can follow up on topics of interest. The student (formal or informal) is, in fact, Brown's primary intended audience.

An especially helpful and appealing aspect of the chapters in Parts 2-4 is the (usually) first and main section of each chapter, entitled "general analysis of the message." This section, occasionally encompassing more than half of the chapter, provides a "mini-commentary" on the entire book in question. While some other NT introductions also do this, none to my knowledge is as thorough or as engaged with other scholars (in the notes) as Brown's.

next page... |  1 of 5

September 7 1998, Vol. 42, No. 10