New Testament Basics: A Guide for Reading and Interpreting the Text

New Testament Basics introduces college, university, seminary, and divinity school students to the study of the New Testament. Authors Stefan Alkier and David M. Moffitt adopt five major aims:

to explore how the Bible came to exist, dealing with the formation and significance of the Christian canonto discuss the ways the Bible continues to exert influence on contemporary culture, demonstrating the ongoing value and importance of biblical literacyto introduce readers to some of the most fundamental methods used in the study of the New Testament, including a substantial discussion of semiotics and its usefulness for New Testament interpretationto provide a survey of central historical, social, and economic information as important contextual knowledge for interpreting the New Testamentto offer some brief discussion of the contents of several New Testament texts and consider ways they might inform theological reflection

In the end, Alkier and Moffitt's New Testament Basics fosters within students important competencies needed to read and interpret the New Testament for themselves.