How do you sum up a book of this density in only a few paragraphs. This book is a monumental work and I found it very helpful in understanding the historical climate surrounding Second Temple Judaism. Wright is a first class historian of the highest calibre. I have never Bibliography list that long before. He has certainly done his homework.

Like another reviewer has said this is a dense read and you need to take time to reflect on what he says. At one point I was reading 2 pages a day. I skipped most of the first section and went straight to the history. I'm not interested in epistemology yet....

This is not for the lay theologian, its aimed at scholars who are familiar with the various forms of literature and schools of thought out there. I'm not so a lot of this book has been over my head.

The Chapters I found most useful are Chapters 6 - Judaism in a Greco Roman world and Chapters 9-10 about the beliefs and hope of Israel - Its worth noting that Wright also says trying to present a coherent statement about the beliefs of a nation one is walking onto a minefield. Its particularly difficult and wright does an excellent job.

I love the section on the early Church, and his exposition of the themes in the gospels particularly Luke. Never have I seen the parrallels between Lukes gospel and the story of Samuel. WOW ! Blew my mind.

If you have some theological training then this book will be food for your eager mind. This is not Christian living book in the typical sense of someone like Yancey or Lucado, it is history and history in the most scholarly context.

Well worth the price I paid for it, but my only complaint (apart from not understanding some of it) was the shoddy job done by the publisher. Surely a book of this magnitude should have a hard cover and not a sloppy soft cover.

I have just finished reading this book after coming across Wright's shorter work, The Challenge of Jesus" which I also highly recommend.
This book lays a good foundation for the ambitious project Wright is undertaking to explain Jesus, Paul and the New Testament.

The first section of the book explains the need for History, Theology and Literature to be interlinked. Wright explains that neither positivism nor phenomenalism are good ways of explaining the world. He argues for a new hermeneutic: the hermeneutic of Love. He also uses the term 'critical realism' to explain this.
In part two he goes deeper into the explanations of narrative and worldview with some very useful insights and ideas. Such as the reality of public and private spheres of knowledge, instead of the well worn objective/subjective split. He also discusses the enlightenment and its values and the necessity for different ideas in theology than pantheism and deism.
The third part of the book is a massive account of Judea and its people from the 100's BC to the 100's AD. It includes explanations of Jewish beliefs, hopes and worldviews. How their interpretive framework of the world operated.
The fourth portion of the book does the same for the early 1st century Christian movement. Wright critiques the different strands of Christianity and insists that Christianity of the first century was above all from a Jewish perspective and not, as Crossan and others postulate, a hellenistic movement that later became Jewish.
The final section sums up the entire book and sets the stage for the second book of the series, Jesus and the Victory of God. I promptly ordered that book as soon as I finished this first volume. It is very refreshing to see someone like Wright who is firmly rooted in history but can also sum up theology and narrative so well.

A definite must-read for any student of the bible and christianity. 5 stars all the way around.

Bishop N.T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God is a marvelous work of exegesis. Unlike his 'for everyone' Bible studies which are filled with contemporary references and language, his series of scholarly tomes-of which this is one of three--are not for the casual reader. They are, however, for any Christian who wants to know more about the growth of the Christian church in the first century and how Christianity diverged from its Judaic roots. This is not light reading, but it is definitely worthwhile.

It is difficult to speak of this work without over selling. Serious Bible students and theologians alike must read Wright's work. He does not simply rehash old theories; he steps out with fresh insight and boldly states his positions without apology. He masterfully builds his case.
The first 144 pages are spent on the subject of epistemology. After he has thoroughly introduced you to this subject he then moves on to teach, in a very readable and interesting way, about the history of the Jews from exile to Bar Kochba. He demonstrates his understanding of primary source documents to such a degree that one wonders do they even need to read anyone else on the subject. This book is thorough, but good. Wright presents his material in such a way as to teach, than to show off how much he knows. This is not a light read, but the subject matter is heavy, but definitely worth a price with what I find to be a great teacher.
Wright moves from Jewish history and thought into Church history and thought and ends with a chapter that bears the title of the book.
After I got past the first 144 pages of the book this book became hard to put down. If you get this book and find the first 144 pages too laborious skip it and then read the first part later, but make sure you do not quit on this book. The good news is that this is just volume one and afterwards comes Jesus And The Victory of God. I am just starting on it now, but can already tell that it will equal or exceed this book.

A must-have resource for academic and layman alike. An important contribution that sets the cultural stage of the first-century. Jam-packed with indispensable insights from one of Christianity's great apologists, The New Testament and the People of God is fantastic!

This book is the first volume in N.T. Wright's series of books on "The question of God," and Wright spends the first quarter of the book explaining and defining the methodology he intends to apply to the task. This makes for some tedious reading if one has never studied (or studied and found horribly boring) literary theory or historical method. But it is important to the argument he is making. I went back and read it again once I got into the "good stuff" (the historical background of Second Temple Judaism) just so I wouldn't miss any of the finer points he was making.

Wright's interpretation of Second Temple Judaism is a variation on E.P. Sanders and J.D.G. Dunn's "New Perspective", which denies that the Jews in Jesus' time believed they could earn salvation through acts of covenantal loyalty. Wright parts ways with Sanders at several imporant points, though, including the historicity of Jesus' debates with the Pharisees (which he explores more fully in "Jesus and the Victory of God") and seems to be less interested in doing apologetics for Second Temple Jews than Sanders.

But with Sanders, he argues for a pluriform Judaism. He cites scads of ancient texts which catalogue the debates between the Pharisaical schools of Shammai and Hillel, the separatist Essenes and the Sadducess. These groups all expected the "forgiveness of sin" to involve YHWH moving decisively against those who refused to acknowledge him in the way he deserved, which included not only the Gentiles, but also members of the other sects of Judaism which did not hold to their belief system, and to exalt their particular group as the true children of Israel, returned from exile at last. Most strikingly, Wright says the Pharisees were a revolutionary party, drawing largely on their roots in the Maccabean period.

Wright's historical method is as fine as any I have seen in any history book on any topic in any genre. His command of the ancient and secondary sources is quite impressive. He is a cogent thinker and his work has little touches of ironic humor that endear the reader.

But Wright's eschatology leaves something to be desired. He claims that Second Temple Jews could not have understood the "little apocalypse" in Mark 13 as referring to end of the "space-time universe" and that it refers to destruction of the Temple in AD 70 rather than a scene of judgment at the Parousia. Instead, he recommends reading all apocalyptic language as figuratively referring to actual socio-political events.

Traditional scholars have often underestimated the importance of Jesus' proclamation of judgement on the temple. But it seems that Wright's position, following Dodd and Caird before him, is a response to Bultmann's mockery of Schweitzer's picture of Jesus as a failed apocalyptic prophet. Wright's eschatology gives too much in this area.

I have not yet read the "Resurrection of the Son of God", which presumably will tie in the importance of Christ's life and death to someone who lives millenia after AD 70. The expectation of Christ's return as the eschatological judge of the world has been the signal belief of Christians since the time of the apostles; I am not wiling to give it up because of the opinion of a handful of scholars doing battle against existentialism.

On balance, the book is worth your time and money, but, as always, read critically.

The first of Wright's projected six books in the series. I do not recommend reading out of sequence as you will find yourself overwhelmed by Wright's material. He is carefully constructing an argument that is complex, but the reader will find it rewarding. NTPG is footnoted extensively in the second book of the series, Jesus And The Victory Of God, so reading this book will save the time required to cross reference.

Wright offers a one stop veiw of previous NT research, and expalnation of methodology (both his and other's), and a comprehensive analysis of first century Palenstine. The material lays the ground work for his belief that current NT scholarship is missing the forest in its focus on the trees.

Wright rebuts the current work of the Jesus Seminar, Form Criticism, and other popular researchers that seek to deconstruct the NT in an effort to make the material easier to digest rationally. Ironically, it is Wright's arguments that offer the most credible explanation for the origin of the NT material.

This book is not an easy read, and may require a refresher course in history, methodology, and some of the social sciences. I found myself dusting of books not read since college to familiarize myself with some of Wright's references. But the whole experience is well worth the effort.

This book calls into question most of the liberal scholarship and much of the "traditional orthodox" research. I believe it will change the focus of NT Studies once the series is complete.

This book is the first in a series by N.T. Wright. Wright sets the groundwork for volume 2 of the series. He explains his methodology and illustrates some of the basic Jewish beliefs of 1st-century Judaism. This series is a must read for those interested in the historical Jesus.