The World that Shaped the New Testament

Already known from his clear and succinct guide The Letters of Paul, Professor Roetzel here brings the same approach to the New Testament world. In little more than a hundred pages he discusses the political setting of early Christianity; contemporary forms of religious expression, both Jewish and Hellenistic; institutions from temple and synagogue to the Greek polis and Hellenistic kingship; scripture and its interpretation, from Philo via Qumran to the rabbis; and the feeling dominant at the time of being involved in a struggle between the powers of light and the powers of darkness. This can now claim to be the best available introduction to the subject which is not only factual and reliable, but holds the reader's interest from beginning to end.