Following Jesus Christ: The New Testament Message of Discipleship for Today is a new book that has been published by Kregel Publications. It is edited by John Goodrich and Mark Strauss, and the book has an incredible 21 contributors! These 21 are excellent New Testament scholars, folks such as Craig Bloomberg, Darrell Bock, Karen Jobes, Andreas Kostenberger, Scot McKnight, and many more.
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Following Jesus Christ: The New Testament Message of Discipleship for Today
The aim of this book (coming in at about 350 pages) is to provide a comprehensive, biblical picture of what every New Testament book teaches about the topic of discipleship. That may sound like a massive project, and indeed, it is. That is why I am thankful that Kregel produced such an important book!
The book consists of 20 chapters, and 17 of those (part one of the book) are on the 27 New Testament books. The remaining three chapters (part two of the book) are on “Discipleship Today”.
What a joy to listen to what top notch, New Testament scholars have to say about the topic of discipleship as found in every book of the New Testament! This book is filled to the brim with information about discipleship in the New Testament. For this reason, I would highly recommend this as a book for college and seminary classes, but I would also recommend it for every church member to use as a resource. Perhaps the layman will not read this book from cover to cover, and that’s ok. As somebody is reading/studying a specific book in the New Testament, it would be greatly helpful to read the corresponding chapter in this book. The reader is sure to grow in their understanding of the biblical teaching on both the contents of the New Testament generally and the topic of discipleship specifically.
Strengths of Following Jesus Christ: The New Testament Message of Discipleship for Today
- The material in this book is both scholarly (and quite comprehensive in its treatment) and very readable (making it a good book for all)
- The study covers the entire New Testament
- The chapters are not too long (making it overwhelming) or too short (leaving out too much)
- I appreciate the many footnotes that will help the reader in further study if that it so desired
- There is the occasional use of biblical Greek, but it won’t impact someone negatively who doesn’t know Greek
- The amount of excellent scholars in one work
- Really cool cover
Weaknesses to Following Jesus Christ: The New Testament Message of Discipleship for Today
Part Two of the book is way too short. It seems as if this section either should have been left out, or it should have included much more to provide more balance to the book.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this book due to its excellent, biblical treatment of a topic that every single Christian has been commissioned to be engaged in. Enjoy learning much from the Bible’s teaching on discipleship.
Disclaimer: My thanks to Kregel Publications for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Matt became a joyful follower of Jesus at the age of 21. He is very grateful to be a husband to Lindsey, and a father to four boys. He is an ordained minister (teaching elder) in the PCA. He previously served as a pastor of biblical counseling and is currently a corporate chaplain in southern Delaware. Matt received his Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds an advanced certification in biblical counseling from the Association of Biblical Counselors. In his free time, he loves playing with his boys, traveling with his wife, and reading (and buying!) books.
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