Comprehensive intro!

I purchased Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament for a seminary course by the same title. Brown does a wonderful job of giving the historical background of each book, its basic layout, and a more in-depth analysis of the text, followed by some disputations about the text (whether it was thought to be written by someone else or written at two different times, etc.). While Brown doesn't go into great detail about certain topics, he refers the reader to resources for further information. I recommend this text to anyone looking to gain a comprehensive intro to the New Testament.

Great book!

This is certainly a well-written and great book. Worth every dollar that you spend on it. A most measured work by a thoughtful author. Regardless of your faith orientation, you will not waste your time studying this book. Of course, he is a consensus-type Roman Catholic scholar who may have even suspected that he might be writing his last scholarly work, and you will have to take all that into some consideration, but he is always eminently fair and thoughtful. My perspective on this derives from being a former graduate student at Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Comparative Study of Religion) and Gordon Divinity School. Buy it. Read it - as you have time to do so.

Great for the newcomer

This is an excellent book for someone who is really interested in studying the New Testament. Very precise and easy to read and understand.