The reality of the New Testament in context. Calvin Roetzel, author of the best selling Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context, offers another fine introduction to New Testament studies. The New Testament writings are the result of lively interaction between the early church writers and their world. Roetzel discusses these first-century writers and outlines the major realities they faced as they shaped the New Testament record: political history, forms of religious expression, institutions, scriptural interpretation, and the mythic significance of evil. It is from understanding the New Testament in its natural setting and cultural context that we may gain new insights and perspective into our own world and how we respond to the same questions and issues that faced our New Testament predecessors. -- Back cover.