Chapter 3
For accessible sources, see pp. 230–3. On the New Testament,
the best place to start is one of the many excellent introductory
guides now available. Some can be written in a theological lan-
guage that students of Classics and Ancient History might find
intimidating. Accessible introductions, however, can be found in
Burkett 2002, Ehrman 1997, Johnson 1999, and Schnelle 1998.
For the complex processes underlying the formation of the New
Testament canon, see Ehrman 1993, Metzger 1987, and Stanton- The importance of Q is hotly debated: Tuckett 1996 is a
useful introduction to its positive virtues, but compare the nega-
tive verdict on Q made by Stanton 2004: 2–4. The complexity
of the issues can be grasped rather swiftly from a quick glance
at the rather bewildering pages of Robinson, Hoffman, and
Kloppenborg 2000.
General histories, notably H. Chadwick 2001, devote much
space to examining early Christian literature outside the New
Testament. There are useful essays in Hazlett 1991. For a detailed
description, see especially Quasten 1950–60; this should now be
supplemented by Young, Ayres and Louth 2004. A helpful intro-
duction to themes is B. Ramsay 1985. Various of the translations
referred to above contain good introductions. Useful historical
studies of a number of early Christian writers are available, such
as E. J. Hunt 2003 on Tatian; Barnes 1971 on Tertullian; Trigg
1983 on Origen; and Barnes 1981 on Eusebius of Caesarea.
For Jewish literature, wide-ranging but accessible introduc-
tions may be found in Jonge 1985 and Nickelsburg 2003.
Charlesworth 1985 examines the relevance of the pseudepigrapha
for the New Testament and Christian origins. Most translations
of the Dead Sea Scrolls provide an introduction to the problems
presented by the Qumran texts; for more detail, see Davies,
Brooke, and Callaway 2002 (beautifully illustrated), Stegemann
1998, and Vermes 1999. Williamson 1989 is a helpful introduc-
tion to Philo and his works. For Josephus, see Rajak 2003.
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