Preface

The Story of the New Testament
by Edgar J. Goodspeed

Preface

The idea of presenting the successive situations out of which the books of the New Testament grew, one after another, and of showing how each book met the situation that called it forth, has proved a useful one, and this little book has met with increasing success ever since its publication twelve years ago. But New Testament study is not a closed system but a living and vigorous discipline, and its progress during these years has been such that some revision is now necessary, if the book is to continue to give its readers a sound historical view of the New Testament. In particular, it has come to be recognized that Luke and Acts are two volumes of a single work, and new light has been thrown upon the first collecting of Paul’s letters and the origin of Ephesians. ... Indeed it is hoped that with this brief introduction each book of the New Testament in such a version as my American Translation, for example, may be continuously read with understanding and interest by the general reader.

Edgar J. Goodspeed

March 1, 1928