September 7 1998

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An Introduction to the New Testament, by Raymond E. Brown (Doubleday, 878 pp.; $42.50, hardcover). Reviewed by Michael J. Gorman, professor of New Testament and dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at Saint Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore. He is the author of Abortion and the Early Church (InterVarsity).

Of the making of books introducing the New Testament there is no end; some 25 sit on the shelves of my office, many more in the seminary library. Each is helpful and useful in its own way, and a few have become classics, issued in several editions over decades; KŸmmel and Guthrie, for instance, are household names in New Testament circles because of their New Testament introductions.

Fr. Raymond Brown, S.S. (Society of Saint Sulpice, or Sulpicians, whose members primarily direct and teach in Roman Catholic seminaries worldwide), is already a household name not only in the field of New Testament studies but in religious and academic circles more broadly. Father Brown, Auburn Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York, is best known for his work on the Johannine literature—especially the classic two-volume Anchor Bible commentary on the Gospel of John and a study of the Johannine community (The Community of the Beloved Disciple)—and for his exhaustive studies, The Birth of the Messiah and The Death of the Messiah. He began his illustrious career at Saint Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, the Sulpician institution that I serve, teaching courses like those I now teach in his shadow.

As anyone familiar with Brown's earlier writings would expect, his Introduction is a comprehensive, clear, balanced, ecumenical, ...