A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Exegesis

Taking the Fear out of Critical Method

By Richard J. Erickson

(paperback)

Product Details

Line: IVP Academic
Length: 239 pages
Size: 6 x 9 inches
Binding: paperback
Published: September 2005

ISBN-10: 0-8308-2771-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-2771-8
IVP Order Code: 2771

Related Subjects

Hermeneutics/Exegesis

Let's face it. Just the word exegesis puts some of us on edge. We are excited about learning to interpret the Bible, but the thought of exegetical method evokes a chill. Some textbooks on exegesis do nothing to overcome these apprehensions. The language is dense. The concepts are hard. And the expectations are way too high. However, the skills that we need to learn are ones that a minister of the gospel will use every week.

Exegesis provides the process for listening, for hearing the biblical text as if you were an ordinary intelligent person listening to a letter from Paul or a Gospel of Mark in first-century Corinth or Ephesus or Antioch. This book by Richard Erickson will help you learn this skill. Thoroughly accessible to students, it clearly introduces the essential methods of interpreting the New Testament, giving students a solid grasp of basic skills while encouraging practice and holding out manageable goals and expectations. Numerous helps and illustrations clarify, summarize and illuminate the principles. And a wealth of exercises tied to each chapter are available on the web.

This is a book distinguished not so much by what it covers as by how: it removes the "fear factor" of exegesis. There are many guides to New Testament exegesis, but this one is the most accessible--and fun!

Related Information & Resources

Available in electronic format from Biblesoft.

The additional exegetical exercises and supplemental materials below (all in PDF) are organized by chapter. You may download, print and distribute these at no charge. Instructors and students alike are invited to make use of these materials in or out of the classroom; we hope they will enhance the experience of using A Beginner's Guide to New Testament Exegesis.

A Message from the Author on Using These Materials »
Chapter 1. Framing Your Mind, or How to Pronounce Zmrzlina »
Chapter 2. Texts and Tools: Mowing the New Testament Lawn »
Chapter 3. Texts and Their Structure: Walls of Stones »
Chapter 4. Syntactical and Discourse Analysis: Some Dis-Assembly Required »
Chapter 5. History and Culture in Exegesis: You Can't Eat a Denarius »
Chapter 6. Letters: Reading Someone Else's Mail »
More from Chapter 6. Annotated Outline: Romans »
(Word Doc) More from Chapter 6: Annotated Outline: Romans »
Chapter 7. Narratives I: Telling the Old, Old Story »
Chapter 8. Narratives II: Thickening the Plot »
Chapter 9. Apocalypse: Alternative Education »
Chapter 10. Moving On: What Do We Do Now? »

Please send the author your suggestions for improving the book and these free supplemental materials using our feedback form.