Making Sense of the New Testament

In less than 150 pages (plus endnotes), this is the best introductory case for the historicity of the New Testament and includes a wonderful primer chapter on responsibly interpreting the New Testament. Craig Blomberg does not assume divine inspiration of the texts a priori and then beg the question by arguing for their reliability. Rather, using normal methodologies of ancient history, he evaluates the New Testament's historical texts: the gospels and Acts. Blomberg's articulate defense of the New Testament's historicity finally finds its own, well-deserved binding after having been hidden in chapters of books such as, The Case for Christ, Jesus Under Fire, and Reasonable Faith (all of which are fantastic but much lengthier). Making Sense of the New Testament is especially perfect for a student of a New Testament introduction course, as Blomberg intelligently and efficiently dialogues with relevant scholarship and presents important facts and considerations too often ignored by more critical New Testament scholars and not heard by the general public often enough, even though the bulwark of Blomberg's case has been articulated by other New Testament scholars since at least the 1943 original publishing of F.F. Bruce's The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Blomberg's first chapter is the largest where he makes an impressive case in 70 pages for the historicity of the gospels and Acts, discussing: the gospels' textual history, authorship, date, genre, the gospel writers' intent and ability to write accurate history, apparent contradictions, hard sayings of Jesus, ancient non-Christian and Christian testimony, archaeology, miracles, and the resurrection. I must echo the previous reviewer's praise for how much breadth and depth Blomberg covers. The second chapter argues against the theory that Paul founded Christianity, although, the 30 page survey into this debate provided by Blomberg, though a quality one, may not satisfy those unfamiliar with the nuances of interpretation, as this debate centers more heavily around allegedly contradictory theologies gleaned from the New Testament. The final chapter on interpretation and application gives readers a basic framework that will help them avoid cliché misinterpretations and applications, many of which form the basis of apparent contradictions. Again, a basic understanding of the New Testament and/or ancient history is assumed by this book. A shorter and much less technical presentation of the positive case for the New Testament's historicity is Josh McDowell's classic, More Than a Carpenter. For a good summary of the use and abuse of critical methodologies relevant to the gospels, such as form criticism and literary criticism, try Blomberg's Historical Reliability of the Gospels (which perhaps dovetails more explicitly with undergraduate New Testament introduction courses but is equally excellent). Little of Blomberg's scholarship is either chincy or one-dimensional, not least

this is a fantastic little book. However, don't let the smaller size of this book fool you. It is packed with information on loads of issues dealing with the new testament. The author is a bona fide new testament scholar. He does a great job of presenting a well informed and sane treatment of new testament studies. Though this is meant to be an intro book, and it is, it would be helpful to already have some basic understanding of new testament studies going into this book. On the other hand, even if you already know a good amount of new testament studies, you will still learn alot from this little work, or at least be reminded of some very important things dealing with new testament studies. The book is well footnoted and interacts with a wide array of scholarship. The author is very well informed, he is conservative but not of a fundamentalist type. Thanks Dr. Blomberg for a truly helpful book about the new testament. Be sure to see his other book, Jesus and The Gospels, it is another grand slam! It should be noted that these books are meant as informative books not as devotionals, so they are a little bit of mental effort to work through, but this is a good thing. An intelligent well informed grasp of the new testament can go along way towards preventing sloppy or foolish interpretation and application.

"Blomberg has produced a handy little primer on some of the basic questions that face the reader of the New Testament. There is not much new here for specialists in the field, but this book will be useful for beginning students of the New Testament at both the college and graduate levels. It is also useful as an apologetic tool for anyone who might be interested in evidence concerning the historical claims of the New Testament." (...)

Making Sense Of The New Testament: Three Crucial Questions by Craig L. Blomberg (Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary) informative addresses three critically important issues in New Testament studies: Is the New Testament Historically Reliable?; Was Paul the true founder of Christianity? How are Christians to apply the New Testament to their lives? Enhanced with an excellent introduction, extensive notes, a Subject Index and a Scripture Index, Making Sense Of The New Testament is confidently recommended reading for students of the New Testament as well as non-specialist general readers with an abiding interest in New Testament Studies from a Protestant perspective.

Tackling three tough theological questions - the historical reliability of the New Testament, the truth of whether Paul was really the founder of Christianity, and how the Christian is to apply the New Testament to everyday life, Making Sense of the New Testament by Craig L. Blomberg provides thoroughly researched answers to these very compelling modern-day queries. The author's well-documented evidences lend valuable insights into the Christian faith and provide valid reasoning for the reliability of scriptural teachings. Blomberg says, "Until we know what a passage meant in its original historical and literary context, and until we have a reliable translation that reflects accurate meanings of words and sentences in that passage, we cannot determine how to apply it to our quite different contexts in the twenty-first century." His statement is altogether true, which is why it is imperative that Christians know what the Bible actually says and understand what it really means. God does not need us to defend Him; it is we who must study in order to be fully persuaded in our own minds about what we profess. Therefore, as responsible followers of Christ, we must look at the scriptures in light of human history to understand how beautifully and truthfully they are constructed. For instance, the book says, "The textual evidence for the New Testament from the first centuries after it was written is staggering. Scholars of almost every theological stripe agree that Christian scribes copied the New Testament with extraordinary care, matched only by the accuracy of Jewish scribes in copying the Hebrew Scriptures." As Believers, we need to be aware of this truth so that we can be confident, not only in our personal profession, but in the accuracy of Christ and His teachings as told to us in the New Testament. Blombery, who holds a Ph.D from the University of Aberdeen, draws upon years of study and research in authoring this book. He is a professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, where he has been teaching for more than fifteen years. He has authored or edited more than ten books, including Jesus and the Gospels and Interpreting the Parables. Making Sense of the New Testament is suitable for all who are interested in Christian apologetics, and for those who wish to gain a better understanding of the historical and theological context from which the New Testament is written. -- Nancy K. Brown, Christian Book Previews.com