Authentic New Testament

The Authentic New Testament, prepared by Hugh J. Schonfield, is an independent translation notable for reading the New Testament within a strongly Jewish historical framework. Its scope is limited to the New Testament, rendered from the Greek on the basis of a critical Greek New Testament text, and its approach is historical and idiomatic, placing it in the category of a fresh translation rather than a revision of an existing English version. It belongs to the tradition of twentieth-century single-translator renderings, in which an individual scholar's judgment shapes the whole work, in contrast to versions produced by committees. Among its distinctive features, the translator's historical reconstructions influence both the terminology used and the accompanying notes, which situate the writings among the Jewish communities and movements of the first century. It has been read chiefly as an interpretive and historical presentation rather than as a liturgical or devotional text.