The New Testament around the World: Exploring Key Texts from Different Contexts

As the church continues to expand and strengthen in non-Western contexts, it is increasingly important for students of the New Testament to be aware of how our global brothers and sisters exegete and apply Scripture. Even when we share a grammatical-historical approach with others, our interpretation of biblical texts is invariably affected by social location and cultural context, which influence the questions we ask of the text and how we apply it. Western readers can become aware of how our culture influences our interpretation by learning from others from different perspectives, including those whose experience may match the original audience more closely than our own.

This volume, ideal as a supplemental textbook for courses in the New Testament, brings together distinguished scholars from around the world with perspectives we might not typically encounter and includes some minority voices focused on life within the United States as well. Each contributor writes on a biblical book or group of books, and together they cover the whole New Testament. These authors expose students and pastors in the West to new questions and ways of reading familiar texts. The result is an eye-opening, spiritually enriching experience that will supplement and strengthen our own biblical interpretation.

Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn (PhD, St. Andrews University) is associate professor of New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her main scholarly focus is the Catholic Epistles, particularly James, as well as general historical and literary contexts of the New Testament. Kovalishyn coauthored a commentary on James for the ZECNT commentary series and is the author of numerous chapters and scholarly articles.