Fortress Introduction to the New Testament.

Fortress Introduction to the New Testament. By Gerd Theissen. Trans. John Bowden (Fortress, $19). Theissen's Introduction sets the NT books into an historical sequence. He discuses in order the message and career of Jesus, the post-Easter Jesus tradition (logia source and oral tradition), the career of Paul, Paul's letters, the Synoptic Gospels and Acts (second and third generation Christianity), pseudepigraphical letters, and Johannine literature, and concludes with a chapter on the unity of the New Testament. Theissen here traces the development of early Christian literature and the growth of the canon and describes fourteen basic motifs that run through the literature. Written in clear, nontechnical language, the book is user-friendly and might well be used as a college text and find a home in a parish library. Every reader will find some things to challenge her or him. I do not agree that Romans is a theological synthesis that serves as Paul's testament to the church. The map on p. xi is useful, but it omits both Philippi and Thessalonica while including less significant sites. The Pauline chronology on p. 57 should give 58-59, not 56-59, for Paul's imprisonment in Rome. All in all, a helpful book. EK