"History encompasses an immense landscape of time, events, ideas, and individuals.... To set the scene for the story of the beginnings of Christianity ... the narrative begins with Alexan-der, the advent of the Hellenistic age, and the Maccabean independence struggle." New Testament History introduces the reader to the historical, religious, and political settings of the New Testament, and "because Christianity is singularly based on historical events in a particular time and place, it can be apprehended more fully only by a careful study of these events in their context."