Robert Gundry is a brilliant scholar and theologian, and he remains one of the brightest people I’ve had the honor of knowing. I took several classes from him when I was a student at Westmont College. To this day those class notes are an inspiriation when I need new insights into the New Testament.
That’s why A Survey of the New Testament
This is a simple book to read. It covers the entire New Testament, providing insight into the cultural, religious, theological and simply human elements contained in the Scriptures. It was from Gundry that I learned simple human insights like the fact that Jesus loved puns, and from Gundry that I learned the more theological nerdy facts like what the Synoptic Gospels were. He opened my eyes to seeing Scripture not as a dusty bunch of rules and regulations, but as stories that are true. Or as J.R.R. Tolkien is reputed to have said, myths that really happened.
That transformed my perspective on the Bible. It changed how I studied. It made me pay attention to the details, but to never lose sight of the overall theme. Gundry taught me to put things into the proper context but always be open to the surprise to be found in the stories. He brought Scripture alive, in part because he was so passionate about it himself. He was a great role model as a scholar, a humble follower of Christ, and a teacher.
A few weeks ago I had the honor of hearing Dr. Gundry speak in chapel at Westmont. The next day we had a few minutes to chat and catch up on life. He still remembers some of the sillier things I did as an undergrad (or at least he was gracious in pretending to remember), and he still has those penetrating eyes that made me shudder when I was called upon in class. After 10-minutes of chatting I realized that in many ways I’m still a smart aleck and he’s still … well, smart.
Even today A Survey of the New Testament sits on my bookshelf. I pull it out every now and then, read a few pages, and smile. I’m always learning something from that book, even 35 years removed from my freshman religious studies class.
And for that reason, it makes the list of one of the twenty five books that most influenced my life.
Want to read more of my top 25? Here is the list thus far:
Celebration of Discipline – #1
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – #2
The Cost of Discipleship – #3
The Screwtape Letters – #4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – #5
Only the Paranoid Survive – #6
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – #7
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – #8
Truman – #9
Shantaram – #10
The Maltese Falcon – #11
The Shadow of the Wind – #12
Survey of the New Testament – #13
Calvin & Hobbes – #14
Celtic Daily Prayer – #15
Managing the Nonprofit Organization – #16
A Wrinkle in Time – #17
The Practice of the Presence of God – #18
Catch 22 – #19
The Tortilla Curtain – #20
The Kingdom of God is a Party – #21
Earthkeeping – #22
Reviving Ophelia – #23
The Grapes of Wrath – #24
Peanuts – #25