Exploring Essential Books for Understanding Second Temple and New Testament Contexts

In the last podcast, I recommended the best books and reference sources for understanding the religion and culture of the ANE for OT study. This episode wraps up my overview of taking the Bible’s own context seriously by immersing oneself into the intellectual worldview of the biblical writers by taking a look at books dealing with the literature of the Second Temple period for NT study. Scholars who are steeped in this material have produced fine material for  explaining how the Second Temple period worldview contributes to NT interpretation. My goal in this episode is to direct you to the some of the best reference works and monographs in that regard to enrich your NT study.

Books and Reference Works on Second Temple Texts and Worldview

Most Recommended Reference Works for NT Study in the Context of both the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism

Green, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Hawthorne (ed.), Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Laansma (ed.), Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

Evans (ed.), Dictionary of New Testament Background (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series)

digital version

van der Toorn, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Second Edition

digital version

Levine (ed.), The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Simmons, Peoples of the New Testament World: An Illustrated Guide

Monographs

General Works on Second Temple Context

1. Skarsaune, Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries
2. Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity

digital version

1. Flusser, Judaism of the Second Temple Period: Volume 1, Qumran and Apocalypticism

digital version

1. Flusser, Judaism of the Second Temple Period: Sages and Literature, vol. 2
2. Evans, The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in Early Communities of Faith

Interpretation of Scripture in New Testament Times

Watson, A History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1: The Ancient Period (History of Biblical Interpretation Series)

Beale, Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation

Moyise, Jesus and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

digital version

Moyise, Paul and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Moyise, Later New Testament Writings and Scripture, The: The Old Testament in Acts, Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles and Revelation

Greco-Roman / Hellenistic Context

Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity

Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity

1. deSilva, Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture

digital version

History of the Second Temple Period

Grabbe, An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus

Schiffman, From Text to Tradition, A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

Sacchi, The History of the Second Temple Period (Academic Paperback)

Dead Sea Scrolls & Christianity

1. Flint and J. VanderKam, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity

digital version

1. Evans, Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology)

digital version

1. Fitzmyer, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature)

digital version

1. Collins, Religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls

digital version

1. Collins, The Scepter and the Star: Messianism in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
2. Evans, Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, V. 1) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature)

digital version

Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, and the New Testament

Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha & the New Testament

deSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Contextualized New Testament Theology

1. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God Volume 1 (Christian Origins and the Question of God)
2. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Volume 2)
3. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3)

all three in digital version

Yinger, The New Perspective on Paul