西暦に入って初めてまとめられたキリスト教の正典、『新約聖書』は、パウロ書簡、四つの福音書、ヨハネの黙示録などの文書で構成されています。既に研究し尽くされた感のある聖書ですが、本書では歴史文書、古代文学作品として新たな視線で読み解き、複数の人が書いた文書の寄せ集めが一大宗教の聖典になった背景をわかりやすく解説します。初心者はもちろんのこと、『新約聖書』を熟知する擁護派にも、批判派にも、その奥深さを見直すきっかけを提示する一冊です。
   

• Written by an acclaimed scholar of the New Testament.
• Accessible to general readers as well as students.
• Both a positive and a critical reading of the New Testament.

  
As part of the Christian Bible, the New Testament is at once widely influential and (especially among the young and the educated) increasingly unknown. Those who want to know the basics can find in this introduction the sort of information that locates these ancient writings in their historical and literary context. Those who want to learn why these compositions have had such impact can find here an appreciation for the religious experiences of the first Christians that forced them to reinterpret their Jewish and Greek heritage and reshape their symbolic world. In addition to providing the broad conceptual and factual framework for the New Testament —- including the process by which distinct compositions became a sacred book —- this introduction provides as well a more detailed examination of specific compositions that have had particularly strong influence, including Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Romans, the four Gospels, and the Book of Revelation.