Frank Dicken, at the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins blog gives us a quick list of 10 books from four scholars, that all PhD graduates ought to know. The list has generated some comments, and I have made my own list below that I intend to master when I do my PhD.
- Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament.
- James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, 3rd ed.
- Kurt and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament.
- Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians.
- Adolf Deissman, Light from the Ancient Near East.
- N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God.
- Harry Y. Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts
- Rudolf Bultmann, New Testament Theology or Georg Strecker, Theology of the New Testament.
- E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism or Dale Allison, Constructing Jesus.
- Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism or John M. G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora.
These are books that I consider fundamental to the study of the New Testament. I haven't yet read all of them cover to cover, but I've dabbled and read considerable chunks of most, and have managed to get right through some.
I'm tempted to put books on this list that deal directly with the primary sources, such as Holme's Apostolic Fathers, and Nickelsburg's Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishna. I wish there was some kind of survey and introduction of Graeco-Roman writings, but I've not found anything like that just yet.
So what's missing from my list? What would you add or replace?
