The Compact Guide to the Whole Bible: Learning to Read Scripture’s Story (Baker Academic, 2015—editor, with Robert W. Wall)

“A Compact Guide is unique in its sweeping, fast-paced, accessible invitation to read the Bible–the whole Bible–in all of its wonderful, challenging presentation of the God who meets us in this ancient, tough, revealing, and relevant book. Perhaps the greatest gift of A Compact Guide is that it dares to present the Bible as Scripture. Generations of people have lived and died by this book, have met a living, revealing God through its stories and pronouncements, and have been taken places they could never have gone without Scripture taking them there.”  Will Willimon, Duke Divinity School; former bishop, the United Methodist Church

Endorsements:

“This compact guide is a true vade mecum: ‘Walk with me.’ The authors cordially invite you to accompany them into the drama of faith through Christian Scripture. Especially if you are new to biblical study and desire to read the Bible seriously and faithfully, it’s an invitation I encourage you to accept.”
C. Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

“It’s easy to find introductory textbooks that overwhelm students with information and theories about the Bible–textbooks that complicate rather than open up the Bible to its readers. The promise of this slender volume is its commitment to genuinely invite students into the Bible by giving readers a keen sense of how each section of Scripture contributes to the whole and by identifying key landmarks for making sense of the biblical materials. This compact guide is the obvious choice for undergraduate courses concerned with the Bible as the church’s book and for congregational use.”
Joel B. Green, dean of the School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary

“Those of us who teach Scripture as part of a larger theological enterprise often long for a concise and accessible way to present the whole scope of Scripture to students. This book is an answer to those longings. It is clear, theologically acute, and written with beginning students in mind. These colleagues have brought their scholarly expertise and their commitment to reading theologically to bear on the whole Bible. The result is a collaborative work that is unified in its approach, uniformly accessible, and of immense value to the rest of us.”
Stephen Fowl, professor of theology, Loyola University Maryland

“Wall and Nienhuis have assembled a concise and readable guide to the Bible as Christian Scripture. This is not your typical historical and literary introduction but a guide to the Bible as the church’s sacred canon. It is an outstanding resource for learning to read the biblical texts theologically and a gift both to the church and to the academy.”
David F. Watson, academic dean and vice president for academic affairs, United Theological Seminary

Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude as Scripture: The Shaping and Shape of a Canonical Collection (Eerdmans, 2013—with Robert W. Wall)

“In this groundbreaking book David Nienhuis and Robert Wall show that the New Testament collection called the ‘Catholic Epistles’ has a structure and a rationale that profoundly impact the way its individual texts should be read. Like the fourfold canonical Gospel, this collection represents a decisive intervention in the process of creating a well-ordered Christian scripture out of the mass of early Christian writing.”  Francis Watson, Durham University

Endorsements:

“In this eloquent challenge to current exegetical communis opinio, the authors argue forcefully for a reading of the seven Catholic Epistles as a canonical unit, which then reveals their common theology, their collective role in the scriptural canon as balance to the Pauline letters, and their cogent apostolic instruction on Christian discipleship and community both in antiquity and in today’s world.”
John H. Elliott, University of San Francisco

“David Nienhuis and Robert Wall argue that if we shift our focus from the point of composition to much later matters of canonization, we can begin to see that the Catholic Epistles as a group round out and enrich the theological emphases of the Gospels and Paul’s letters in ways that form a more complete and even more attractive canonical whole. . . . Nienhuis and Wall present a challenging argument sustained by detailed theological attention to the canonical process and by close and lively readings of the Catholic Epistles. If taken up, their views can dramatically alter the interpretive patterns and concerns the church and the academy bring to these letters.”
Stephen Fowl, Loyola University

Not By Paul Alone: The Formation of the Catholic Epistle Collection and the Christian Canon (Baylor University Press, 2007)

“This novel resolution to the puzzle that is the Book of James is full of instructive observations. Its case for a second-century dating of James is formidable, and its thesis about James’ role in the formation of the New Testament canon attractive. Nienhuis has given us a thoroughly enjoyable book of meticulous scholarship whose implications for the study of early Christianity are broad.”  Dale C. Allison, Jr., Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

Endorsements:

“This book makes a brilliant and original and convincing contribution to the current attempt to rethink the relationship between text and community, scripture and church.”
Francis Watson, Durham University

Well written, scholarly, and well organized, this book provides new insight into an often overlooked part of New Testament study… Highly recommended.
CHOICE