From: 18669@bach.udel.edu (Steven R Hoskins)
Subject: Some questions from a new Christian
Organization: University of Delaware
Lines: 40

Hi,

I am new to this newsgroup, and also fairly new to christianity. I was
raised as a Unitarian and have spent the better part of my life as an
agnostic, but recently I have developed the firm conviction that the
Christian message is correct and I have accepted Jesus into my life. I am
happy, but I realize I am very ignorant about much of the Bible and
quite possibly about what Christians should hold as true. This I am trying
to rectify (by reading the Bible of course), but it would be helpful
to also read a good interpretation/commentary on the Bible or other
relevant aspects of the Christian faith. One of my questions I would
like to ask is - Can anyone recommend a good reading list of theological
works intended for a lay person?

I have another question I would like to ask. I am not yet affiliated
with any one congregation. Aside from matters of taste, what criteria
should one use in choosing a church? I don't really know the difference
between the various Protestant denominations.

Thanks for reading my post. 

Sincerely,

Steve Hoskins

[Aside from a commentary, you might also want to consider an
introduction.  These are books intended for use in undergraduate Bible
courses.  They give historical background, discussion of literary
styles, etc.  And generally they have good bibligraphies for further
reading.  I typically recommend Kee, Froehlich and Young's NT
introduction.  There are also some good one-volume commentaries.  They
often have background articles that are helpful.  Probably the best
recommendation these days would be Harper's Bible Commentary.  (I
think there may be a couple of books with this title.  This is a
fairly recent one, like about 1990, done in cooperation with the
Society for Biblical Criticism.)  If you are committed to inerrancy,
you will probably prefer something more conservative.  I don't read a
lot of conservative books, but a commentary I looked at by Donald
Guthrie looked rather good.  He has a NT Introduction, and he's also
editor of Eerdman's Bible Commentary.  --clh]