I am delighted to see praise for my book, Studying the New Testament Through Inscriptions: An Introduction. Bob Turner, Library Director at Harding School of Theology (Memphis, TN), has hailed my book as “a really impressive work” that “any NT student or scholar” should purchase. One particular strength of my book, he notes, is that it is really “an exercise in both epigraphy and hermeneutics.” To exemplify this, Turner points to my chapter on 1 Corinthians 11:21 and the translation of the Greek verb προλαμβάνω, which is important for reconstructing the problem with the Lord’s Banquet at Corinth that Paul the apostle addresses. Does it mean to eat, to devour, or to go ahead with? Turner notes, “In that conversation Burnett engages with the leading figures in Corinthian scholarship, reviews the usages of that word in antiquity, reconstructs the social setting of house churches in that world, and shows how inscriptional evidence can inform the reading of that passage.” For the rest of Turner’s review click here.

I appreciate Turner’s kind comments and encourage everyone to purchase Studying the New Testament Through Inscriptions to see the immeasurable benefit that inscriptions have for interpreting the New Testament. It is available now for your Kindle on Amazon or your Nook from Barnes & Noble. As soon as some Coronavirus restrictions are lifted, physical copies of Studying the New Testament Through Inscriptions will be available everywhere good books are sold, including Amazon, ChristianBook.com, and Barnes & Noble.