::New Testament

Bible::epistle    Gospel::canon    Books::jesus    Century::which    Greek::these    Written::early

{{#invoke:Hatnote|hatnote}}

{{#invoke:sidebar|sidebar |title = Books of the
New Testament |titleclass = navbox-title |image = |headingclass = navbox-abovebelow

|heading1 = Gospels |content1 = Matthew · Mark · Luke · John

|heading2 = Acts |content2 = Acts of the Apostles

|heading3 = Epistles |content3 = Romans
1 Corinthians · 2 Corinthians
Galatians · Ephesians
Philippians · Colossians
1 Thessalonians · 2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy · 2 Timothy
Titus · Philemon
Hebrews · James
1 Peter · 2 Peter
1 John · 2 John · 3 John
Jude

|heading4 = Apocalypse |content4 = Revelation

|below = New Testament manuscripts |belowclass = navbox-abovebelow }}

The New Testament (Koine Greek: Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη,<ref>Ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη - bibliotheca Augustana</ref> Hē Kainḕ Diathḗkē) is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The Greek New Testament discusses the teachings at person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament (in whole or in part) has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world. It reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated (along with readings from the Old Testament) into the various Christian liturgies. The New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom, and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music.

The New Testament is an anthology, a collection of Christian works written in the common Greek language of the first century, at different times by various writers, who were early Jewish disciples of Jesus. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books. The original texts were written in the first and perhaps the second centuries of the Christian Era, generally believed to be in Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the Conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greeks (c. 600). All the works that eventually became incorporated into the New Testament seem to have been written no later than around 150 AD,<ref>See the standard New Testament introductions listed below under "Further reading": Goodspeed, Kümmel, Duling and Perrin, Koester, Conzelmann and Lindemann, Brown, and Ehrman.</ref> and some scholars would date them all to no later than 70 AD<ref>Dr. John A. T. Robinson dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD (see link).</ref> or 80 AD.<ref>William F. Albright, 'We can already say emphatically that there is no long any basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about 80 AD http://www.bethinking.org/bible/the-dating-of-the-new-testament (Section 3 Acceptance of Early Dates)</ref>

Collections of related texts such as letters of the Apostle Paul (a major collection of which must have been made already by the early 2nd century)<ref>See, e.g., Clabeaux, J. J.: A Lost Edition of the Letters of Paul: A Reassessment of the Text of the Pauline Corpus Attested by Marcion. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 21; Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association, 1989</ref> and the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (asserted by Irenaeus of Lyon in the late-2nd century as the Four Gospels) gradually were joined to other collections and single works in different combinations to form various Christian canons of Scripture. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation and the Minor Catholic (General) Epistles were introduced into canons in which they were originally absent. Other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. The Old Testament canon is not completely uniform among all major Christian groups including Roman Catholics, Protestants, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Slavic Orthodox Churches, and the Armenian Orthodox Church. However, the twenty-seven-book canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity (see Development of the New Testament canon).

The New Testament consists of

• four narratives of the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus, called "gospels" (or "good news" accounts);

• a narrative of the Apostles' ministries in the early church, called the "Acts of the Apostles", and probably written by the same writer as the Gospel of Luke, which it continues;

• twenty-one letters, often called "epistles" in the biblical context, written by various authors, and consisting of Christian doctrine, counsel, instruction, and conflict resolution; and

• an Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, which is a book of prophecy, containing some instructions to seven local congregations of Asia Minor, but mostly containing prophetical semiotics, about the end times.

New Testament sections
Intro  Between the Testaments  Etymology  Books  Book order  Authors  Dates of composition  Language  Development of the New Testament canon  Early manuscripts  Textual variation  Relationship to earlier and contemporaneous literature  Early versions  Modern translations  Theological interpretation in Christian churches  In the liturgy  In the arts  See also  Notes  Further reading  External links  

PREVIOUS: Intro	NEXT: Between the Testaments
<<	>>