Each resource listed in this guide will include one of the following icons:
Open Access: This is an online resource that is freely available and does not require an institutional login.
KGS Login: This is an online resource open only to affiliates of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Access from off-campus will require a login through OpenAthens.
KGS Print: This is a print resource available in the Souvay Memorial Library. Click on the link to see the item's current status, location, and call number. Most items listed under "Essential Readings" in the LibGuides will appear in current and recent Kenrick syllabi, and will have a copy in our reference section.
MOBIUS Print: This is a print resources that is not available at Kenrick but that can be requested through MOBIUS.
Internet Archive: The Internet Archive has a digital copy of this book. It is completely free to read online, but you will need to set up a personal account, through which you "check out" (get temporary access) to the e-book. Kenrick alumni and non-Kenrick patrons can also freely access these volumes once they set up their own accounts.
The following are recommended introductions to the study of the New Testament.
Richard Bauckham
Most of these thirty-one essays by Richard Bauckham, a well-known New Testament scholar, were first published between 1979 and 2015 in journals and multi-authored volumes. Two are previously unpublished and one has not been published in English before. They range widely over early Christianity and early Christian literature in both the New Testament period and the early patristic period, reflecting the author's conviction that the historical study of early Christianity should not isolate the New Testament literature from other early Christian sources, such as the apostolic fathers and the Christian apocryphal literature.
This book contains twenty-four studies that shed essential light on the religious and biblical-interpretive matrix in which early Christianity emerged. Bauckham discusses the "parting of the ways" between early Judaism and early Christianity and the relevance of early Jewish literature for the study of the New Testament. He also explores specific aspects or texts of early Christianity by relating them to their early Jewish context.
Raymond Brown
Since its publication in 1997, Raymond Brown’s Introduction to the New Testament has been widely embraced by modern readers seeking to understand the Christian Bible. Acknowledged as a paragon of New Testament studies in his lifetime, Brown was a gifted communicator who wrote with ease and clarity.
This collection brings together fourteen of Brown's early works on subjects ranging from the ecumenical possibilities raised by historical study of the Bible to the relationship between faith and biblical research to the theology and history of the Gospel of John, concisely capturing many of Brown's major concerns in the clear and accessible voice for which he was so beloved.
Everett Ferguson
This text explores and unpacks the Roman, Greek, and Jewish political, social, religious, and philosophical backgrounds necessary for a good historical understanding of the New Testament and the early church.
Daniel J. Harrington
A roadmap to New Testament study over the past fifty years.
James Jeffers
Jeffers provides an informative and scenic tour of daily life during the time of Jesus and the apostles. He affords "you-are-there" glimpses of everything from legal codes to dinner foods, from social hierarchy to apartment living, from education to family dynamics.
Luke Timothy Johnson
Johnson offers a compelling interpretation of the New Testament as a witness to the rise of early faith in Jesus. Critically judicious and theologically attuned to the role of the New Testament in the life of the church, Johnson deftly guides his reader through a wealth of historical and literary description and invites critical reflection on the meaning of these ancient writings for today.
Peter Kreeft
Practical and illuminating guide to each book in the Bible.
Brant Pitre
The author taps into the wells of Christian scripture, history, and tradition to ask and answer a number of different questions, including: If we don't know who wrote the Gospels, how can we trust them? How are the four Gospels different from other gospels, such as the lost gospel of "Q" and the Gospel of Thomas? How can the four Gospels be historically true when there are differences between them? How much faith should be put into these writings? ... recent discoveries in New Testament scholarship, as well as neglected evidence from ancient manuscripts and the early church fathers, together have the potential to pull the rug out from under a century of skepticism toward the apostolic authorship and historical truth of the traditional Gospels.
Henry Wansbrough
This introduction presents the complex and often challenging texts and history of the New Testament in a clear and informative manner.
N.T. Wright and Michael Bird
This text brings together decades of ground-breaking research, writing, and teaching into one volume that will open readers' eyes to the larger world of the New Testament. It presents the New Testament books as historical, literary, and social phenomena located in the world of Second Temple Judaism, amidst Greco-Roman politics and culture, and within early Christianity.