Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsAwkward Format. Student Textbook version of NT Wright's Main Series.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019
The physical format is awkward. Paper is a fairly heavy coated stock so the nearly 1,000-page book is about 2.5" thick. The thick pages and small format (brick-like) make it hard to read (takes constant force to keep it open). I suspect few will make it through this weighty volume because of those physical barriers. Also, the pages feel cramped because the margins are very small (feels like they cheaped out here). Hardcover has a nice cover material. Overall, I would have preferred thinner, less glossy pages (they are matte not glossy) with a larger pages size to facilitate reading rather than selling and wrapped in a glossy print hardcover with no dust jacket. I was actually hoping for something better at this price point >$40 - but I guess online shopping has irreversibly impaired the physical quality of books.
A quick review of the book - it is clearly a student edition (like the other reviews are saying). It's NT Wright for Dummies mashed with a NT Introduction in a near cubic hardcover. It looks targetted at a first-year NT course. I'm sure they'll sell a million of these as textbooks. Not a book with real lasting value.
If you have NT Wrights series already (NT & People, Jesus & Victory, Res of Son, Paul &), you don't need this. It is the coles notes version (with some add-ons for the parts of the NT yet covered in his scholarly series). And the Fortress softcovers are great for reading.
The release is a bookselling event not a scholarly event.
If you haven't ready NT Wrights' major series, this is probably a superb place to start.
