I’ve just spent some time examining an outstanding book hot off Zondervan’s press:

Gary M. Burge, Lynn H. Cohick, and Gene L. Green. The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament Within Its Cultural Contexts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 480 pp.

Introduction

1. overview of the book and authors (Note that all three authors are NT professors at Wheaton College and Graduate School.)
2. 10-page PDF of the front matter and chapter 1
3. video interview with all three authors
4. blog interview with Gary Burge

Endorsements

1. Craig L. Blomberg, PhD, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary: “. . . one of the best introductions and surveys in recent times. Remarkably attractive in its layout, with color pictures, color pictures, charts, diagrams and sidebars galore . . . If it’s backgrounds you want to highlight in a one-semester introduction to the New Testament, this is the text to assign.”
2. Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary: “The New Testament in Antiquity is a beautifully done, carefully presented, evangelically sensitive work to introduce the New Testament. I have longed for a text like this. There is richness on virtually every page. Read, savor, learn.”
3. Craig S. Keener, Professor of New Testament, Palmer Seminary of Eastern University: “Complete with an extraordinary array of visual illustrations, this book covers important topics needed for an introductory text in New Testament in a way that is both understandable and well-informed. It emphasizes many details that help students discover the biblical text in new ways they would rarely get on their own.”
4. Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University: “For years I have searched in vain for a book that would introduce students to the New Testament—with clear outlines, graphic images, historical contexts, timelines, maps, and bibliographies. My search is over; this is that book.”

Initial Evaluation

While flipping through every page and dipping in here and there, I noticed a few relatively minor disappointments (e.g., the bibliography on p. 122 lists the first rather than the second edition of Craig Blomberg’s The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, and the book lacks an author index), but overall, I agree with the above scholars. My text for New Testament introduction in college was Robert G. Gromacki’s New Testament Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974). I sure wish that it would have been this one!