Abstract
In the final analysis, this book is an engagingly written general introduction to topics emerging from the critical study of the New Testament. The author describes his concerns about the ‘disconnect’ which exists between claims about the Bible he hears in churches on the one hand, and what is being taught and understood about it in academic circles, from secondary schools upwards, on the other.
McGrath enjoyably debunks some general and specific myths about the New Testament, challenging the ostensibly convincing ‘prophecy-fulfilment’ scheme found in Matthew’s Gospel and encouraging the reader to see it instead as an exercise in typology; he highlights the folly of the position of those who like to ‘reconcile’ the different presentations of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew and Luke by making out that one runs through Joseph’s line and the other through Mary’s; and he explains how the frequent assertion that the Aramaic word Abba means ‘daddy’ in its New Testament contexts is simply not true: ‘the concept of father across the Mediterranean world included a high level of authority and ownership, even if a child in the household had access to the father to an extent that others outside the family did not’ (p. 76). With the name Boanerges, meanwhile, ‘there are no obvious Aramaic words that stand behind it which could have meant “Sons of Thunder”’ (p. 78). Many of McGrath’s detailed points may inspire even the expert reader: Luke’s preoccupation with food and eating is well known and often said to mirror the liturgical and corporate ideals of the early Church. How often is it seen as part of a stand on social ethics? In the Graeco-Roman world, ‘meals were one of the places where differences in social status were starkly visible … the lifestyle of the earliest Christians [describing and sharing meals that subverted social boundaries] would have represented an important challenge to inequalities and divisions in the society of that time’ (pp. 47–8).
The reader must accept this book’s format and presentation on the author’s terms. Taken together, 26 essays engage with a good range of themes and points but they are usually too short to constitute strong, focused arguments with some bigger issues in New Testament study, such as the New Perspective on Paul and resurrection, given their limited treatment (decent and surprisingly specialized chapter bibliographies are provided). The ‘A–Z’ concept is almost arbitrary, as chapter titles are not things the beginner would naturally ‘look up’: information about the Messiahship of Jesus in its historical context is found in ‘Greasy Jesus?’ (G, p. 68); for the Synoptic problem, try ‘Plagiarism in the Gospels?’ (P, p. 169); and for a historical reconstruction of the death and burial of Jesus, it is ‘X marks the spot’ (X, p. 260).
Confusion about alphabets is not new – see ‘Revelations is not in the Bible’ (R, p. 194): ‘When Jesus referred to the blood of all the righteous from Abel to Zechariah … he wasn’t saying “all the martyrs from A–Z”.’ ‘Z’, McGrath reminds us, was not the last letter in either the Hebrew nor the Greek alphabets. A critically informed discussion tackles the problem (pp. 198–9).