A useful and user-friendly text for undergraduate study of the New Testament. While clearly based on the most up-to-date scholarship, the presentation will be especially helpful for students approaching the Bible critically for the first time. The text never falls into excessive jargon; the style is clear, with complex issues neatly developed.

Landry’s first few chapters on the background to the New Testament texts are comprehensive yet compact. Discussions of such issues as document dating, canonical development, comparison of canonical and noncanonical gospels, and the task of critical inquiry are all helpful.

Time and again, I found this text fit well with my own presentation of the material and the range of students I encounter in my classroom. It has the real feel of classroom experience. I can see myself using this textbook very successfully, and I think other teachers of the Bible would find it similarly useful.

David Landry and John Martens provide a thorough and accessible introduction to the New Testament replete with images, review and discussion questions, key terms, and bibliography. The approach is primarily historical and literary. What makes Inquiry into the New Testament distinctive from other introductory texts, however, is its engagement with the ongoing use of the Bible in the contemporary world, whether for good or ill. Landry and Martens address the historical and present-day significance of various parts of the New Testament, and furnish each chapter of their book with discussion questions that sometimes engage controversial issues. Various topics such as fundamentalism, politics, economics, gender, and social and environmental justice come to the fore, especially in the last chapter. The authors effectively demonstrate why the academic study of the New Testament is important, regardless of one’s religious orientation. I highly recommend Inquiry into the New Testament for undergraduate courses.

In the overcrowded field of introductory textbooks, Inquiry into the New Testament is a standout. Designed with the undergraduate student in mind, this engaging and pedagogically smart volume explores salient historical, literary, theological, and wider interpretive issues both within and with the New Testament. Reflecting decades of teaching and scholarship, Landry and Martens show why a critical New Testament literacy is indispensable for understanding the power the Bible exerts, for better and for worse, in contemporary culture. Few introductions readily embrace this challenge so directly, and none does so more effectively. It’s a superb choice for the beginning New Testament course and one that will enrich many classrooms for years to come.

Layer by Layer is an excellent companion to courses in either biblical studies or archaeology, introducing students of both disciplines to methodology used by their colleagues that will benefit their own studies. Ellen White draws upon her own experiences to vividly and candidly describe what it is like to do archaeological fieldwork and what such work has contributed to answering some of the major questions posed by the Bible. The book’s lively, engaging, and humorous style makes reading enjoyable for both students and instructors.

One could scarcely hope for a more helpful introduction to biblical archaeology, a field subject to much sensationalism and misunderstanding. Ellen White explains what archaeologists really do and how their work relates to biblical studies. Her clear writing and judicious examples will engage students and laypeople alike. I foresee lots of students signing up for summer digs.