Wright and Bird then turn to the New Testament’s understanding of Jesus’ resurrection by first exploring Paul’s words about the resurrection before delving into the Gospel accounts. Part 4, “Resurrection and The Son of God,” begins by setting expectations and understandings of resurrection in the 1 st-century context.

This part includes a chapter on the search for the historical Jesus as well as a chapter that explores who Jesus thought he was. Part 3-titled “Jesus and the Victory of God” (beginning a pattern of using titles from the Christian Origins series)-turns attention to the person of Jesus. Part 2 delves into the historical context of the New Testament-describing the world in which Jesus walked and the early church grew up. In Part 1, the book introduces its methodological approach, unpacking the significance of studying the New Testament in its historical context, considering it as literature, and pondering its theological implications for today. Indeed, the book does provide a robust study of the New Testament within its early Christian context.

In the preface, Wright and Bird describe the book as “robust” and “user-friendly” (26)-both appropriate appellations. It also contains portions of Wright’s series Christian Origins and the Question of God and Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne, 2007), as well as pieces from Wright’s contributions to the series The New Testament for Everyone. The book explores the historical world and literary details of the New Testament thoroughly and vividly. Wright “reader” and an introduction to the study of the New Testament. The result of their joint labor is a “unique” (26) resource that functions as both an N.T. They mark their comments throughout the book using their initials (MJB and NTW), which reinforces the collaborative nature of the book. Due to this dynamic, Wright and Bird call the book a “joint effort” (26). The project took almost a decade to develop and complete Bird condensed Wright’s work in conversation with Wright, who also rewrote some of his own work and adapted it for the new mode and audience. Wright’s massive Christian Origins and the Question of God series into one volume. The book grew from Michael Bird’s proposal to distill N.T. The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians is a nearly 1,000-page introductory study of the New Testament in its context.

The new testament in its world