“The Jesus Movement and the World of the Early Church is a solid, simple, straightforward introduction for the undergraduate or general reader to the Jesus movement in its complex cultural and historical world. The people, places, and objects of that world are clearly explained in text and glossaries. This is an excellent resource for the beginning reader.”

“Sheila McGinn’’s book, The Jesus Movement and the World of the Early Church, is a masterful example of an important and difficult genre: the scholar’’s presentation, for an intelligent and educated but nonspecialist audience, of a large and complicated topic. Her topic is the development of Christianity from Jesus into the period of the apostolic fathers, or ‘“How did Christianity get to basically what we have today: a hierarchically organized institutional Church with a strong ‘“minor chord’” of prophetic egalitarianism?”’ She does this by treating briefly but adequately all the New Testament writings and some of the early noncanonical writings in their sociopolitical, economic, and religious contexts. In the process she educates her readers in how to handle ancient historical writings so that these readers can not only understand what she is presenting but treat it critically and relate it to other such treatments, which they will now be able to handle. This will be a valuable text for beginning theology students, parish education programs, and independent lay readers.”

“The Jesus Movement and the World of the Early Church is a fascinating, decade-by-decade synopsis of earliest Christianity from Caesar Augustus through Emperor Trajan. Using visual and material culture alongside biblical, Greek, and Latin writings, McGinn has written a condensed version of the history from Jesus through Bishop Ignatius that summarizes most New Testament writings, the Didache, and 1 Clement. An especially notable aspect of her book is extensive use of information from the writings of Eusebius, as well as from Josephus and those Roman historians who wrote about this period of time.”

“Expressing complex matters in an accessible way characterizes excellent teaching—and in Beginning Biblical Studies, Dr. Marielle Frigge, OSB, reveals herself as a superb teacher. Grounded in solid scholarship and written in graceful prose, her textbook informs and guides those unfamiliar with the Bible; in contrast to many textbook writers, she avoids the temptation to overwhelm her readers with data. May this outstanding book be widely used, and may its readers learn from the wisdom of its author.”

“It suits the context of my classes. We are a religious institution with an introduction to the Bible course as a requirement for all. I appreciate the broad coverage of interpretive issues from a variety of starting points.”