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Title: not very impressive
Review: I do not think it is wise to use this book (or Gerd Theissens) as there are many NT introductory works that are much more worked out. Not only to the teacher this is patently clear, but especially students who read a chapter by Perkins and then go over the same topic by Brown, Guthrie, Witherington or Kümmel. The student will immediately find (s)he's been reading assumptions, positions and ideas that are not motivated, but simply based on traditional general pictures. There is quite some backreading of modern criteria into the first century and too often the jewish purpose of the books are underlooked. I realise Perkins has been a useful person as a teacher, but this is not a good book. Choose something else.
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