Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters (Handbooks on the New Testament)
Overview
Leading biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner provides an easy-to-navigate resource for studying and understanding the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Letters. This accessibly written volume summarizes the content of each major section of the biblical text to help readers quickly grasp the sense of particular passages.
This is the first volume in the Handbooks on the New Testament series, which is modeled after Baker Academic’s successful Old Testament handbook series. Series volumes are neither introductions nor commentaries, as they focus primarily on the content of the biblical books without getting bogged down in historical-critical questions or detailed verse-by-verse exegesis. The series will contain three volumes that span the entirety of the New Testament, with future volumes covering the Gospels and Hebrews through Revelation. Written with classroom utility and pastoral application in mind, these books will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople alike.
- Focuses on the content of the biblical books
- Helps readers quickly grasp the sense of particular passages
- Written for students, pastors, and laypeople
- The Acts of the Apostles
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
Top Highlights
“The elders are also identified as ‘overseers’ (20:28), confirming that elders and overseers are two different ways of identifying the same office (cf. Titus 1:5, 7; 1 Pet. 5:1–2). Interestingly, they are called upon ‘to shepherd the church of God,’ and the infinitive ‘to shepherd’ (poimainein) can be translated as ‘to pastor.’ We have a hint here that pastors, overseers, and elders all refer to the same office.” (Page 39)
“The close connection between gospel, kingdom, and the message about Jesus Christ is confirmed by Acts 8:12” (Page 5)
“The shift to the second-person pronoun probably doesn’t refer to gentiles, as some interpreters suggest. Instead, Paul now addresses the readers directly, assuring them of the completion of their salvation.” (Page 275)
“The message of salvation in Acts, the message that has an inherent power, is the message of the end-time kingdom” (Page 5)
“ It is anthropological: no one can be righteous apart from faith in Christ since all are sinners.” (Page 243)
This new textbook is highly informative, consistently comprehensive, and eminently accessible. With his customary acumen as a scholar and his pastoral sensitivity as a teacher, Schreiner introduces his readers to the complex realities of the first-century world, the missionary work of the earliest missionaries, and the theological emphases of Luke and Paul, two of the most prolific theologians of the early church, without losing sight of the foundational convictions that the early followers of Jesus lived and died for.
—Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mary F. Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Some commentaries are so chock-full of detailed treatment of minute exegetical issues that it is easy to miss the forest for the trees. Others are so superficial that they say little that is not already obvious from a casual reading of the Scripture. Schreiner’s Handbook strikes a proper balance between the two extremes. The fruit of his years of careful scholarly study in Paul’s Letters is hanging on low limbs where it is easy to pick and enjoy. This handbook will serve as a perfect introduction to the content of Acts and Paul’s Letters or as a helpful review after plodding through multiple lengthier commentaries.
—Charles Quarles, research professor of New Testament and biblical theology and Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Readers and students of the Bible often do not know where to go for an in-depth but not overly technical introduction to the biblical books. This is where the reader should turn! Thomas Schreiner, a well-respected authority in New Testament studies, guides his readers sure-footedly through the background, context, and interpretive issues in Acts and Paul—the first stop on the way to a sound understanding of the Scriptures’ teachings and message.
—A. Andrew Das, professor of religious studies and assistant dean of the faculty, Elmhurst College
- Title: Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters
- Author: Thomas R. Schreiner
- Series: Handbooks on the New Testament
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 480
- Resource Type: Handbook
- Topic: New Testament
Thomas R. Schreiner (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also taught at both Bethel Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University.
Dr. Schreiner is a Pauline scholar and the author or editor of numerous books, including New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ; Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology; and the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament volume on Romans.