This is a book that raises critical questions about the stories we tell in the field of New Testament studies: stories about who we are as New Testament scholars, what it is we think we do in the discipline, on what terms, and to what ends. It is not an articulation of a “new” method for “introducing” the New Testament. Rather, we use the term “de-introducing” to denote a practice of excavating and unmasking the most basic categories and operative frameworks in the field so that we might better understand and appraise what discourses and relations of power are at work in the ways New Testament scholars do what they do, as well as how our material conditions shape those power relationships and discourses.

This project is a fully collaborative and co-authored endeavor that has its genesis in questions concerning methodology, as well as the history of New Testament studies on both sides of the Atlantic, to which we had each turned in our own individual work. We are each grateful for the opportunity to have thought through some of the seminal impulses of the present book in different contexts. Todd particularly appreciates memorable engagements at the International Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings, an invited session on Christian origins at the 2006 Westar Institute annual meeting, and invitations to deliver papers for the Redescribing Early Christianity seminar at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings (2008 and 2009). Davina highlights invitations to discuss methodological questions in the field at the Institute for History, Archaeology, and Education (2006), in the Teaching Religion section of the American Academy of Religion (2008 and 2009), and in the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism (2008), Rhetoric and New Testament (2009), and Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2010) sections of the Society of Biblical Literature. Having the chance to work together at the 2008 “Empire: Resistance and Reimagination” conference at Union Theological Seminary in New York allowed us the time, and a timely topic, through which we could explore the ways in which our teaching and research agendas intersected. The decision to co-author a volume with a methodological orientation brought the many threads and trajectories in which we had each already been interested into critical conversation with one another. The “synthesis” offered here is the result of a truly dialectical and dialogical process.

As with the New Testament, portions of this book started life as “oral tradition,” in the form of academic presentations. We thank the following individuals and program units of the Society of Biblical Literature for providing a scholarly venue through which to discuss and deliberate various methodological issues and questions related to (de-)introducing the New Testament: Edmondo Lupieri and the Construction of Christian Identities seminar (2010), Colleen Conway and the Jesus, Gospels, and Negotiating the Roman Imperial World section (2012), and Greg Carey and the Rhetoric and New Testament section (2011 and 2013). We are also fortunate to have presented this work, in much earlier iterations, at various public forums. These include an installment of the Friends of the Burke Library lecture series at Union Theological Seminary (2011), and we thank the Friends, especially Mim Warden, for their hospitality. We are also grateful to Whitney Bauman for the invitation to present our work as part of the Religion and International Affairs lecture series at Florida International University (2011). We additionally had an opportunity to explore and discuss some of the ideas and themes in this book as part of the Burchenal lecture series at Eckerd College (2012) and the Class of 1956 Chair in New Testament lecture series at the College of the Holy Cross (2013). Our interactions with the audiences on each of these occasions have assisted in the production of this book in its current form.

Exceptional thanks are due to the staff at Columbia University’s Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, where we had the distinct pleasure of serving as scholars-in-residence during the summers of 2010 and 2011, and where we have continued to conduct research for this and other projects since then. During our first stay at the Burke, then-students Lauren Bridge and Megan Freda (Eckerd College) and Genny Richard (Austin College) provided research assistance, and notably helped us to reflect on the interconnectedness of teaching and research in New Testament studies. John Weaver, then at the Burke and now Dean of Library Services and Educational Technology at Abilene Christian University, enthusiastically encouraged our investigations into the history of New Testament scholarship in the United States, and provided significant support so that we could do so with the Burke’s extensive holdings. We are also grateful for John’s informal interactions with us during the summer of 2010 on diverse topics related to our research, as we learned a great deal from his insights. Betty Bolden assisted us with our every request over multiple visits. Ruth Tonkiss Cameron provided guidance with at times difficult archival finding aids and subject guides. Beth Bidlack, now the Director of the Burke Library and Professor of Theological Librarianship at Union Theological Seminary, has been most welcoming and accommodating of both our love of libraries and our commitment to old books (and old biblical scholars).

Eckerd College and Austin College have shaped us as biblical scholars and teachers in the liberal arts tradition, and we trust that one of the core values of the liberal arts – to capacity to make connections – comes through in these chapters. Our guest-teaching and co-teaching in each other’s classrooms over the past few years have nurtured the collaborative spirit that we practice throughout this volume. Davina is grateful to the Lloyd W. Chapin Faculty Development Program at Eckerd, which provided generous funding toward archival research on New Testament introductory textbooks for this project during the summer of 2011. The Ford Apprentice Scholarship Program also provided research funding and support in 2010 and 2013, as well as enabled work with capable students who have felt something of a call to academia. We give thanks to President Donald R. Eastman III, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Suzan Harrison, Associate Dean for Faculty Development Kathy Watson, and Dean Betty H. Stewart, now of Midwestern State University. Doug McMahon, Director of Eckerd’s Center for Spiritual Life and Chaplain, has nurtured critical space and jovial conversation about this project and about matters related to teaching the Bible across vocational affiliations, and has been a good friend and a warm host to us. Todd is grateful for the generous support that Austin College provided over the course of this project. Funding for summer research was invaluable, and came through both the Sid Richardson Fund and a W. M. Keck Foundation grant, the latter of which was for the project “Scientific Method and the Rise of Modern Biblical Criticism.” A generous sabbatical travel fellowship for the spring of 2013 was instrumental, as was funding from Austin College’s Lemuel Scarborough, Jr., Summer Research Program in the Humanities and Social Sciences, which supported collaborative faculty-undergraduate research in the Burke Library during the summer of 2010. Generous travel support for the summer of 2014 was also provided by the Mellon Course Partnerships Program. Special thanks are due to Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Imhoff, Humanities Dean Patrick Duffey, and Mellon Program Director Bernice Melvin for their support.

We are most privileged to have enjoyed conversations over the contours and controversies in biblical scholarship, and the study of religion more broadly, with the following esteemed colleagues, each of whom has contributed in their own way to this project: Eugene Gallagher, Neil Elliott, Bill Arnal, Jacques Berlinerblau, James Crossley, Milton Moreland, Susanne Scholz, Benny Liew, Joseph Marchal, Ward Blanton, Caroline Vander Stichele, Anders Runesson, René Falkenberg, Halvor Moxnes, Elizabeth Clark, Dale Martin, Hal Taussig, Tom Olbricht, David Carr, Colleen Conway, Bart Ehrman, Julia O’Brien, Steed Davidson, James Aitken, Daniele Pevarello, Lillian Larsen, Barry Matlock, Juan Hernández Jr., Patricia O’Connell Killen, Suzanne Watts Henderson, Cass Fisher, Mark Given, Bradley Herling, Sean Adams, Laura Brenneman, Ruth Cape, Bill Felice, Heather Vincent, Jared Stark, and David Bryant. Todd would also like to express his appreciation to Jacqueline Klassen for her support over the years. Davina recognizes the companionship of her “old lady,” Blossom the Boston terrier, who is a model of diligence and tenacity. Special thanks to Al Germann, whose hands appear in this work in unexpected ways. Moreover, we are deeply grateful for the friendship of Helmar Nielsen, whose enthusiasm for our field’s work is inspiring and most reassuring, and who always prods us to know more about, and do better by, the transformative potential of biblical scholarship in the context of the high (perhaps even higher) calling of liberal arts education.

Andrew Humphries was the initial Blackwell editor for this volume, and was incredibly enthusiastic when the project first took flight. Our first conversation about this book took place in 2006. We are grateful to the five anonymous reviewers of the original proposal who provided substantive feedback that helped shape the final form of the project. Rebecca Harkin assumed oversight and spurred us on. Isobel Bainton, Bridget Jennings, and Sally Cooper were also on board over the course of time. Georgina Coleby, our editorial contact in the final drafting stages of this project, was supremely supportive and encouraging. We cannot thank Georgina enough for her persistence and patience, which ultimately were formative in seeing this book through to completion. She responded to our every inquiry with efficiency and grace until the “last days” of this project, and we wish her well in her new publishing (ad)venture. Ben Thatcher and Lisa Sharp ensured a smooth production process. We are indebted to Sandeep Kumar and the capable staff at SPi Global, and we are especially grateful to Janet Moth for her keen editorial eye. And thanks are due to Beth White, Eckerd College Class of 2015, who helped compile the index.

Niro Lopez and Nicole Penner-Horodyski, our younger siblings, have taught us much over the course of our lives together. Stories have their roots in human relationships and interactions, and there are many stories here that could be told, some inspiring and others less so. There is no doubt, however, that all have been learning occasions and opportunities for growth, all of which continue into the future. It is out of our immense appreciation for all we have learned over the years in interacting with our younger siblings that we have come to dedicate this book to them. May we reflect back on the older stories as we look forward to creating new ones in the years ahead.