This month sees the publication of the first in a multi-volume series by Luther Seminary professor, Matthew Skinner. The series “A Companion to the New Testament” begins with this first volume titled “A Companion to the New Testament: The Gospels and Acts.” Subsequent volumes in the series are scheduled to release in February 2018.
“A Companion to the New Testament” has grown out of Skinner’s teaching at Luther Seminary and offers learners an accessible and scholarly guide to the New Testament. Readers get chapters that help put the New Testament’s historical context and culture in perspective. Skinner gives attention to themes like how the New Testament uses the Old Testament, the role of the Roman Empire in the development of Christian life and the place of women in the early church.
This first volume focuses on how the followers of Jesus and members of early churches sought to testify to the life and teaching of Jesus. In the section on the Gospels, topics include how the testimony of Jesus’ followers came about as a way to witness to Jesus being the Christ and agent of divine salvation. In the section on Acts, Skinner shows how the book portrays God as active in the world. Skinner demonstrates throughout “A Companion to the New Testament: The Gospels and Acts” how the narratives in these books of the New Testament are deeply theological.
France Taylor says, “Matthew Skinner provides masterful orientation to the landscape of New Testament study that is both succinct and carefully nuanced, and informed by recent currents in biblical scholarship. Engagement with this perceptive volume will provide a grasp of both the diversity and coherence of the Gospels’ fourfold witness and will equip interpreters to continue the conversations—to consider anew what it means to live faithfully in their own particular contexts.”