Summarized.

New Testament Abstracts

In what is perhaps the most exhaustive and painstaking review of the subdiscipline to date … Hatina is concerned with relevance: Will the message of the New Testament have any value or relevance in the twenty-first century not only to people of faith but for society at large? … This massive survey should be essential reading for anyone working in New Testament theology. Even if one disagrees with Hatina's final resolution of the problem, the treatment of the primary issues is comprehensive, fair, and incisive.

Gary M. Burge, Wheaton, Illinois, Review of Biblical Literature

Hatina has provided a succinct survey and evaluation of the discipline. … [This book] offers a way forward that draws on the best aspects of both past and current scholarship in many fields, seeks to engage contemporary culture and religious studies in a way that offers the NT theologian a voice in the public sphere, and finds its ultimate expression in the Church that is seeking justice in the world.

Frank E. Dicken, Lincoln Christian University, USA, Stone-Campbell Journal

Hatina is dealing thoughtfully and respectfully with a question of immense contemporary importance.

The Heythrop Journal