Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Stranded on an Island and you had teach a NT course ...

Let's say, hypothetically, that you get stranded on a remote Island with natives that have strange and peculiar customs (e.g. New Zealand, Tasmania, Newfoundland, Isle of Lewis), you were able to convert the natives to Christianity, and they all wanted you to teach them seminary level NT subjects. You only have enough credit on your phone to SMS Amazon for one book order and you only have enough credit left on your credit card to buy 8 books (which is covenient since you have 8 courses to teach). Here's the subjects they want to learn about.

NT 101
Jesus and the Gospels
Luke-Acts
Gospel of John
Romans
Pauline Theology
Hebrews
Revelation

So, what eight books do you order?

Here's my list:

NT 101 - David DeSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament.
Jesus & the Gospels - Scot McKnight, et. al., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
Luke-Acts - I. Howard Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian.
Gospel of John - John Pryor, John: Evangelist of the Covenant People
Romans - Douglas Moo, Romans (NICNT)
Pauline Theology - James Dunn, Theology of the Apostle Paul
Hebrews - Craig Koester, Hebrews (AB)
Revelation - Greg Beale (NIGTC)

What is your pick?

8 comments:

Craig (mars-hill) said...

It all depends...Can people in New Zealand read English?

Scot McKnight said...

If I were in Newfoundland, I'd buy that Dictionary because in the winter I could burn it and warm mee-self a wee-bit.

Eddie said...

Yes we can

J. B. Hood said...

I think Australia would also qualify as an "island where people have strange customs and habits." (I say this to defend the poor Kiwis.)

I'm not sure I can improve your list.

A related question, Mike, might be, if you only have eight books you can assign, which would you assign (on those texts). I think DJG is the only one that might make both lists.

Anonymous said...

for nt101, ehrman's nt intro.

Peter M. Head said...

I think you could happily forget the secondary literature:
NT 101 - a Bible
Jesus and the Gospels - a Bible
Luke-Acts - a Bible
Gospel of John - a Bible
Romans - a Bible
Pauline Theology - a Bible
Hebrews - a Bible
Revelation - a Bible

You could buy eight Bibles and set them really free to learn.

metalepsis said...

Here goes...

NT 101 - To Each Its Own Meaning: An Introduction to Biblical Criticisms and Their Application;
Steven L. McKenzie

Romans - Pauline Theology, Sympossium Series, Volume 2, Hay and Johnson

Pauline Theology - Writings of St. Paul (Norton Critical Edition); Meeks (This contains the writings of Paul too)

After that we would work on our raft building skills!

Pastor Bielby said...

I've had Moo for Romans and Beale for Revelation and on those two you hit the nail on the head.