(note: this list was put together as I was thinking that the only possibility for a doctorate would be through the modular program at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clark Summit, PA, and the list reflects the requirements of that program. I wanted to begin chipping away at the reading ahead of time. However, I was able through God’s providence to take a residency program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, so the reading list will be different, and I will adjust this list accordingly when I learn more.)
Key:
* Core reading list; + NT reading list
1: Mastery Level 1: “You should have read this book carefully and know it well enough to discuss its contents and major theses in some detail from memory.” (Core) “Know this title thoroughly” (NT)
2: Mastery Level 2: “You should have read this book. You should be able to summarize the significance of this book for biblical studies and identify the author’s major thesis.” (Core) “May be read ‘rapidly’ (but it should be read)” (NT)
3: Mastery Level 3: “Skim, reading intro/conclusion, etc. so you know what it’s about” (NT)
#: In my library; $: Do not own
Bolded: read already; unbolded: unread as of yet.
______________________
Aland & Aland, The Text of the NT (+1#)
Apocrypha (NT) in English (+2#)
Apocrypha (OT) in English (+2#)
Apostolic Fathers in English (+2#)
Augustine, The City of God (*2#)
Baird, History of NT Research, vol 1 (+2#) & vol 2 (+2$)
Baker & Arnold, The Face of OT Studies (*2#)
Balla, Challenges to NT Theology (+3$)
Barnett, Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity (+1#)
Barr, Semantics of Biblical Language (+1#)
Bateman, Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews (+2$)
Beale, ed. Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? (+1#)
Black, Linguistics for Students of NT Greek (+3$)
Black & Beck, eds., Rethinking the Synoptic Problem (+1#)
Blomberg, From Pentecost to Patmos (+2$)
Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels (+2$)
Blomberg, Historical Reliability of the Gospels (+2#)
Bock, Studying the Historical Jesus (+1#)
Bock & Herrick, Jesus in Context (+2$)
Bozung, “The New Perspective on Paul,” JMAT 9.2 (2005): 96-114; 10.1 (2006): 22-43. (+1$)
Brown, NT Introduction (+3#)
Bush & Nettles, Baptists and the Bible (*2$)
Campbell & Townsend, A Case for Premillennialism (*1$)
Carson, The Gagging of God (*1#)
Carson, Justification and Variegated Nomism, 2 vols. (+3#)
Carson, NT Commentary Survey (most recent ed.) (+2$)
Carson, “NT Theology,” 796-814 in DNTLD (+1#)
Carson & Moo, Intro to the NT (+1#)
Carson & Woodbridge, Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon (chs. 1-5, 9) (+2$) and Scripture and Truth (chs. 2-5) (+2$)
Dead Sea Scrolls in English (+3#)
Decker, Temporal Deixis in Mark, part 1 (+1$), remainder (+3$)
Dowley, ed., Eerdmans Handbook to the History of Christianity (*2$)
Ehrman, Lost Christianities (+3$)
Ehrman & Holmes, ed., The Text of the NT in Contemporary Research (+3#)
Ellis, The Making of the NT Documents (+2$)
Erickson, Christian Theology (2nd ed) (*2# 1st ed)
Eusebius, Church History in English (books 1-5) (+2#)
Evans, Ancient Texts for NT Studies (+3#)
Ewert, From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translations (*2$)
Feinberg, Continuity and Discontinuity (*1#)
Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (*2#)
Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church (+2$)
Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics (+2$)
Hanson & Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus (+2#)
Palestine in the Time of Jesus, Hanson & Oakman
Helyer, Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period (+3$)
Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (+2$)
Hemer, “Observations on Pauline Chronology,” 3-18 of Pauline Studies, ed. Hagner & Harris (F. F. Bruce FS) (+2$)
Hiebert, Non-Pauline Epistles and Revelation (v. 3 of Intro to NT), chs. 1-3, 5-9 (+3#)
Jobes/Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (+1#)
Johnson, L. T., Writings of the NT (+3#)
Josephus, Antiquities, Books 10-20 (+2#)
Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology (*1#)
Kaiser, The Uses of the OT in the NT (+1$)
Komoszewski, Sawyer, Wallace, Reinventing Jesus (+2$)
Lane, Hebrews (WBC) (intro only) (+1$)
Levinshon, Discourse Features of NT Greek, 2d ed. (+2$)
Lewis, Mere Christianity (*2#)
Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (+2#)
Marshall, NT Theology (+2#)
Merrill, Kingdom of Priests (*2#)
McKnight & Osborne, The Face of NT Studies (+1#)
Metzger, The Canon of the NT (+2#)
Metzger, The Text of the NT (+2#)
Morgan (Rowland & Tuckett), The Nature of NT Theology (+1$)
Mounce, Intro to Revelation (NIC) (+1#)
Nash, Life’s Ultimate Questions (*2$)
Nash, The Word of God and the Mind of Man (*2$)
Neill& Wright, The Interpretation of the NT, 1861-1986, 2nd ed. (+1#)
Noll, Between Faith and Criticism (*2$)
NT in Greek (+1#)
Osborne, Introduction from Revelation (+1$)
OT in English(+1#), and good familiarity with the Hebrew text such that you can sight read the easier portions and make sense of the rest as needed.
Piper/Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (*1#)
Porter, Handbook to the Exegesis of the NT (+3$)
Porter, Idioms of the Greek NT (+2$)
Porter, ed. The Language of the NT: Classic Essays (+3$)
Porter & Carson, eds. Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics, part 1 (+1$)
Porter & Reed, eds. Discourse Analysis and the NT (+3$)
Pseudepigrapha (Charlesworth, texts only, not introductions) (+3#)
Robinson, “The Case for Byzantine Priority” in The Greek NT According to the Majority Text (+3#)
Ryrie, Dispensationalism (1995) (*2#)
Sanders, Paul & Palestinian Judaism (+2#)
Schreiner, The Law and Its Fulfillment (+1#)
Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (+1#)
Schaeffer, The God Who Is There (*2#)
Scheitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus (+2#)
Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, 2 vols (+3#)
Scott, Jewish Backgrounds of the NT (+2#)
deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (+3#)
Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meanings (+1#)
Silva, God, Language and Scripture (*2#)
Silva, Has the Church Misread the Bible (*2#)
Stein, Studying the Synoptic Gospels (+3$)
Thielman, Theology of the NT (+2#)
Thistelton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics (+2$)
Thomas, Introduction to Revelation (+1#)
Thomas & Farnell, The Jesus Crisis (*2#)
Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning In This Text? (*1#)
Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, pp. 1-389 (+2#), remainder (+3#)
Wallace, “Some Reflections on the Majority Text” (ETS paper) or “Some Second Thoughts on the Majority Text,” BibSac 146 (1989): 270-90 (+2#)
Wallace, “The Majority Text and the Original Text: Are They Identical?” BibSac 148 (1991): 151-69. (+2#)
Wells, No Place for Truth (*1#)
Wells, God in the Wasteland (*1#)
White, J. L., “N.T. Epistolary Literature in the Framework of Ancient Epistolography,” in ANRW 2.25.2: 1730-56 (+2$)
Woodbridge & McComiskey, Doing Theology in Today’s World (parts 1 & 2) (*2#)
Yarbrough, The Salvation Historical Fallacy (+3$)
_______________
Ben Witherington III: “here is a list of twenty useful monographs for New Testamentlers that you might want to start with, and read them long before you get to the doctoral process:
Adolph Deissmann: Light from the Ancient East ($)
Edwin Judge: The First Christians in the Roman World ($)
Joachim Jeremias: The Parables of Jesus ($)
E. P. Sanders: Paul and Palestinian Judaism (#)
N. T. Wright: Resurrection and the Son of God (#)
Richard Hays: The Faith of Jesus Christ ($)
Ben Witherington: The Christology of Jesus ($)
Anthony Thiselton: The Two Horizons ($)
Gerd Theissen: The Historical Jesus ($)
Richard Bauckham: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (#)
Gordon Fee: God’s Empowering Presence (#)
Raymond Brown: The Death of the Messiah (#)
Craig Hill: Hebrews and Hellenists ($)
Murray Harris: Jesus as God (#)
Allen Culpepper: Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel (#)
R. Tannehill: The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts (#)
Christopher Bryan: Render unto Caesar ($)
Margaret Mitchell: The Rhetoric of Reconciliation ($)
John Barclay: The Obedience of Faith ($)
Ben Witherington: New Testament Rhetoric” ($)
Orchard Keeper 
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