New Testament Backgrounds
This guide identifies recommended resources for the study of the religious, cultural, literary, and geographic background of the New Testament.
Professor of New Testament and Archaeology
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The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism by Call Number: BM50 .E34 2010ISBN: 9780802825490Publication Date: 2010Includes helpful general articles followed by alphabetical listing of articles on more specific topics.
T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism by Call Number: BM176 .T25 2020ISBN: 9780567661449Publication Date: 2020
An Introduction to Early Judaism by Call Number: DS121.65 .V36 2001ISBN: 0802846416Publication Date: 2001
Additional Resources
Handbook of Jewish Literature from Late Antiquity, 135-700 CE by ISBN: 9780197265222Publication Date: 2013
Encyclopaedia Judaica by Call Number: BM50 .E496 2007ISBN: 9780028659282Publication Date: 200722 vols. Key resource on all of Jewish history (until modern era).
Cambridge History of Judaism by Call Number: BM155.2 .C35Publication Date: 1984–Extensive scholarly articles (volumes 2–3 are especially important).
Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology by Publication Date: 2018Includes introductions and translations of extended selections from the DSS, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Josephus and Philo (organized by genre).
Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans: Primary Readings by Call Number: DS102 .J45 1996ISBN: 0800629264Publication Date: 1996
Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture by Call Number: BM496.6 .O98 2013ISBN: 9780827609334Publication Date: 2013
The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine by ISBN: 9780199216437Publication Date: 2010
Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Call Number: DS112 .M2325 2011ISBN: 9780802865588Publication Date: 2011-04-12
The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ by Call Number: DS122 .S422 1973ISBN: 0567022420Publication Date: 1973–1987
Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash by ISBN: 9781683596646Publication Date: 2022–English translation of standard German reference work from 1922–1961. Rightly criticized for not dating its rabbinic source material, but still a very useful tool for locating potential rabbinic parallels.
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash by Call Number: BM503.5 .S8713 1992ISBN: 0800625242Publication Date: 1992
Further Bibliography
Purchasing Primary Sources
To purchase the most essential primary sources from Second Temple to Early Rabbinic Judaism the least expensive and best way:
- Josephus – buy the Whiston translation available in reprint from Hendrickson (though for academic publication you should use instead the multi-volume, and much more expensive, Loeb Classical Library text/translation from Harvard University Press)
- Apocrypha – acquire a copy of the Revised Standard Version translation (either with the whole Bible or as a standalone edition of the Apocrypha)
- Pseudepigrapha – purchase the Hendrickson reprint of James H. Charlesworth, ed. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1983–1985; paperback repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009.
- DSS – buy the inexpensive, but excellent, Vermes translation from Penguin (but get the most recent edition!): Geza Vermes. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. 7th ed. New York/London: Penguin Classics, 2012.
- Philo – get the Younge translation available in reprint from Hendrickson (the Colson translation in the Loeb Classical Library is admittedly better fro academic writing, but much more expensive; and Younge is a quite good translation of all Greek texts). C. D. Younge. The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged. New upd. ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993.
- Mishnah – if you were to purchase one early Rabbinic book, it should be the Mishnah (and this should be in the Danby translation rather then the Neusner): Herbert Danby. The Mishnah. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1933; repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2012.