In this clear, comprehensive, student-friendly textbook, biblical scholar and teacher Paula Gooder describes and illustrates the range of approaches to interpreting the New Testament, as taught in universities and seminaries throughout the English-speaking world. Top scholars give a short definition of a particular criticism, and then Gooder gives a practical example to demonstrate how that criticism can be applied to a biblical text. A very broad range of methods is introduced, from traditional criticisms such as source criticism and historical criticism to more modern methods such as feminist criticism and liberation criticism. Readers will understand how different meanings and emphases can be drawn from a text depending upon the method of interpretation chosen. They will also be given the skills to start analyzing and examining texts for themselves in a meaningful and insightful way.