Best Books in 2016

The past year has been a particularly fruitful year in biblical studies, including scholarship on the Gospels, Paul, NT Greek, and other topics. Listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name, here are the Biblical Foundations™ awards for 10 best books in Biblical Studies for 2016. Following this list, I have taken the liberty to provide a list of my own books published in 2016.

Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament: Countering the Challenges to Evangelical Christian Beliefs (B&H). The culmination of decades of work on the historical reliability of the New Testament documents.
Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Baylor Univ. Press). The sequel to Hays’s acclaimed and highly influential work Echoes of Scripture in Paul’s Letters, this volume applies the same brilliant theological and scriptural analysis to the Gospels.
Christoph Heilig, J. Thomas Hewitt, and Michael F. Bird, eds. God and the Faithfulness of Paul: A Critical Evaluation of the Pauline Theology of N. T. Wright (Mohr Siebeck). An important collection of essays critiquing N. T. Wright’s Pauline theology, including a response by Wright.
Michael J. Kruger, ed., A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament and
Miles V. Van Pelt, ed., A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (Crossway). Two helpful new introductions to the respective Testaments with special emphasis on biblical theology.
Michael R. Licona, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? What We Can Learn from Ancient Biography (Oxford University Press). I have not yet read the book, and the author has previously come under fire for his view of Matthew 27, but I look forward to reading this book and to learn better how to defend the reliability of the Gospels.
Richard N. Longenecker, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans). A new addition to a standard Greek-based NT commentary series from a veteran scholar.
Christopher W. Morgan, ed. The Love of God, Theology in Community (Crossway). Another helpful, well-conceived volume in the Theology in Community series with contributions by D. A. Carson, Ray Ortlund, Robert Plummer, and yours truly (on the Gospels).
Steven E. Runge and Christopher J. Fresch, eds., The Greek Verb Revisited: A Fresh Approach for Biblical Exegesis (Lexham). A significant contribution to Greek verbal analysis from a group of leading scholars in the field. Disclaimer: I wrote the foreword to this book.
Jeffrey A. D. Weima, Paul the Ancient Letter Writer: An Introduction to Epistolary Analysis (Baker). A very useful accessible introduction to epistolary analysis by a seasoned Pauline scholar.

Own books published in 2016:

Co-authored with R. Alan Fuhr, Inductive Bible Study: Through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology. (B&H). This new college-level textbook and local church resource blends the tried-and-true inductive Bible study method with the hermeneutical triad of history, literature, and theology (Invitation to Biblical Interpretation).
Co-authored with Benjamin L. Merkle and Robert L. Plummer, Going Deeper with New Testament Greek: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the New Testament (B&H). A new intermediate NT Greek grammar written as a course text. Also available is an associated laminated chart plus various ancillary resources.
Co-authored with L. Scott Kellum and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament, 2^nd (B&H). Fully updated footnote documentation and bibliographies, as well as a new epilogue on the biblical storyline and sections on how to interpret the various NT genres.
Co-edited with Thomas R. Schreiner, Women in the Church: An Analysis and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9–15, 3^rd (Crossway). The third edition of this standard volume features new essays by Albert Wolters and Denny Burk, a new panel discussion on application, and updated chapters by Baugh, Köstenberger, Schreiner, and Yarbrough.