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Exploring The New Testament World An Illustrated Guide To The World Of Jesus And The First Christians
by Albert A. Bell
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (1998-09-20)
ISBN: 0785214240
EAN: 9780785214243
Dewey Decimal #: 225.95
Paperback: 336 pages
SKU: 90308000313
Condition: New
Comments: 0785214240 New, never read, may have minor wear on cover.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The timeless message of the New Testament applies to people of every culture and generation. Yet there is great value in understanding the world in which that message was first revealed - its social manners, politics, religious customs, and culture. Exploring the New Testament World, written by classics and Bible scholar Dr. Albert A. Bell, Jr., illuminates the living context of the New Testament, immersing its readers in the intriguing world of Jesus and the early church. An authority on ancient Greek and Roman language, culture, and history, Dr. Bell writes in a readable style that is accessible and enjoyable to any reader - an uncommon accomplishment among New Testament scholars today. Surveying Jewish factions of the era, the social and political structure of the Roman Empire, and the philosophies and religions that surrounded the early church, Dr. Bell helps his readers learn to think like first-century Jews, Greeks, and Romans, illuminating puzzling New Testament passages for clear understanding. Comprehensive Scripture and Subject Indexes make this volume even more useful as a "manners and customs" Bible companion. This authoritative guide receives high praise from college professors and Sunday school teachers alike, proving its appeal to both popular and academic audiences. A "must-have" reference for every pastor and an indispensable resource to any Bible reader.
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Customer Reviews
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Unless Someone Guides Me
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-01-25
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Albert Bell sees this book as beginning while he was yet in high school. At some point, he says, he made the connection that the authors he read in his Latin class "lived in the same world as the people who wrote the books I studied on Sunday." Now as an instructor at Hope college in Holland, MI, Bell asks the question of how we can believe something that we simply do not understand. Will we be like the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8.26-40 who asked, " How can I (understand) unless someone guides me?"
As an illustration of what he means, Bell says he once heard a minister tell the story of Paul's imprisonment in Rome. In his story, the minister told of clanking chains and a foul-smelling dungeon. But in ancient Rome, the law was that prisons were for holding people for trial and not for punishment. More accurately, Paul as under house arrest. He was chained during moves but even in Rome he was allowed to by himself in his own hired dwelling with a guard.
There are ten major sections to Bell's book ranging from the Judaic background of the NT to Roman law, religion, and philosophy to Greco-Roman society and morality to a section on time, distance, and travel. In the section on Roman Law, Bell covers Pliny the Younger, the powers of Roman governors, and so on. in the section on Greco-Roman religion Bell notes the story of Vespasian's healing of the blind man; such stories succeeded, says Bell, because "the popular mentality of the time accepted such things happening"
I heartily endorse the study of non-canonical writings in order to study the cultural milieu of a text. Time and again Bell guides the reader through the world in which the writers of the New Testament wrote.
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First-rate study of New Testament background
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-05-31
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a masterful study of the Graeco-Roman culture of the first century AD which underlies the New Testament. Bell examines a wide variety of topics, from dress to how meals were eaten, from child-rearing to the treatment of slaves, and discusses the dominant philosophical and religious movements of the day. Knowing such things enables a reader of the New Testament to delve more deeply into the meaning of the text and to dig out new levels of understanding.
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