I can't make any suggestions from the Orthodox perspective. That material would be very new to me. There are focused studies I have really enjoyed from the Western tradition. But the surveys I have read or read from offer bits of learning and an unstable foundation for true understanding, but I was introduced to those texts at a Baptist university.
A few years back I began reading Raymond Brown's An Introduction to the New Testament with the hopes of reading a solid Western survey, but his tone and treatment of scripture turned me off and I couldn't finish the book.
I have been careful ever since that read. Modern writers talk a lot about the talk of talking writers. Some write well and think soundly...but most I've seen are either boring or ridiculous. I wish that I could make recommendations, because I would like to read them myself. What I described before is what I would be looking for in a survey.
Terry
(On a side note, I currently enjoy Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis' lengthy lectio divina on Matthew, but that is not from the Orthodox perspective, nor is it about the Old Testament.)
Last edited by Terry Bohannon; 08/31/07 08:22 PM.