Paul and those who had been converted by Jesus and his apostles knew they would not leave the world alive. They wanted to make sure belief in God and in Jesus went hand-in-hand and that Christian churches would be there for generations of believers. Author Eduard Lohse leaves no verse unturned in the Epistles to the COLOSSIANS AND PHILEMON. His book is a learning experience that works with His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's THE GOOD HEART, Matthew Fox's BREAKTHROUGH, Max Lucado's GOD CAME NEAR, and Thomas Merton's WISDOM OF THE DESERT.

Dr. Lohse explains pertinent facets of the Jewish and Hellenistic-Roman cultures of the period from 400 B.C. through A. D. 100. The reader will become acquainted with the political intrigue, historical patterns, religion, economics, intellectural currents, and overall culture of both the Jewish and Hellenistic-Roman powers of the Near East. There is an up-to-date explanation of the Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls as related to the New Testament. There are two charts which help clarify the genealogies, and two maps which depict the physical and political geography of the New Testament world. There is also a complete bibliography, chronological table, indexes of names, subjects, and New Testament passages.It is a very well written book. It reads like a fast moving novel, easy to read for the layman and yet scholarly enough for use by those who have a desire to learn indepth the lifestyles and background of the Near East during the time that Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth.It is an exciting adventure in reading,taking the reader into the very heart of the world of Palestine, Egypt, and Syria. Probing the intellectual currents of Judaism as well as stepping into the time of the Hellenistic-Roman environment. John Steely translated it into English for an excellent resource.

This volumne by one of Germany's foremost evangelical scholars rates along with F.F. Bruce's New Testament History as the most through introduction to New testament background that anyone can acquire. Professor Dr. Lohse's command of the primary sources is evident throughout the work. Personally I feel this volumne is a must read for a positive and sound conceptualization of the world within which the NT story developed.