The purpose of this book is to acquaint the student with the historical, geographical, political, and religious context that gave birth to the document that we call the New Testament or the New Covenant. This is a survey. If you have had a survey course, you know that this is the kind of a study where you give a cursory parasol to the material. Instead of a deep, theological and historical study, you're getting a rather broad picture. That is what this kind of book is designed to be-just a survey. That's not the way that I'm going to write it. I will give special attention to the life and teaching of Jesus in its proper historical, cultural, and linguistically context. I then will look at this movement that centers around Jesus with him considering himself to be the center of a new movement that he calls "the Kingdom". I want to pay special attention to it as we see it in its early years on Hebrew soil. Then I want to study the development of that movement as it embraces the Gentile world and moves to the West as a result of missionary activities of individuals like Paul, Barnabas, and others.
