Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Reviews Of Books
Author: Anonymous

WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025) p. 99

Reviews Of Books

Gregory R. Lanier, Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets: Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament. Brentwood, TN: B&H Academic, 2024. Pp. xviii+1,068. $69.00, cloth.

Biblical scholars often come across new works and think, “Why didn’t someone write this sooner?” Gregory R. Lanier’s Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets: Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament is not one of those books. On the contrary, the need for a comprehensive, single-volume study of all noncanonical influences on the NT has long been recognized, but also acknowledged was the fact that few possessed the expertise or stamina to tackle it. Spanning over 1,000 pages, Lanier’s work is a rare achievement, requiring a serious knowledge of Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic, as well as the ability to synthesize countless arguments into a coherent whole. It is a monumental contribution to scholarship—one that few could or would undertake.

The volume is divided into five parts, beginning with an overview of its scope and key theses. Lanier defines canon and influence as the ways Jewish and non-Jewish sources outside Israel’s traditional scriptures tangibly shaped the NT (p. 9). His focus includes Jewish, non-Jewish (mostly Greco-Roman), and early Christian writings, identifying both direct and indirect influences—whether literary, nonliterary, conscious, or unconscious—on the final form of the NT (p. 11). Lanier’s central argument is that noncanonical influences on the NT are far more significant than often recognized and should be appreciated rather than dismissed (pp. 23–24). He concludes Part 1 by surveying the presence of such influences in the Hebrew Bible (HB), postbiblical Jewish sources (e.g., Philo, Josephus), and early Christian writings (e.g., the Didache), demonstrating that many extrabiblical works circulated widely in the ancient world.

In Part 2, Lanier explores Jewish influences on the NT, positioning his argument between scholars who see Jesus and Paul as fully within Judaism and those who view the HB as the sole influence. He argues that the early Jesus movement was not an isolated sect but actively engaged with broader Jewish thought. Lanier then examines Jewish literary conventions, such as typology, deviations from the Hebrew text, and exegetical expansions—demonstrating their clear presence in the NT. He also identifies concrete Jewish influences, where NT authors explicitly or implicitly draw from known noncanonical Jewish writings. In what may be the book’s most eye-opening section, Lanier uncovers far more of these direct influences than previously assumed. However, he ultimately emphasizes that while these sources leave their mark, the HB remains the dominant influence, with nearly 100 direct qu...