God’s new covenant with God’s people

The New TestamentWritings

The New TestamentWritings

4 Gospels Acts of the Apostles 9 letters from Paul to churches 4 letters from Paul to specific people

and their communities Hebrews 7 letters by other people (“catholic

letters”) Revelation

27 Writings27 Writings

Not ordered chronologically Titles do not necessarily indicate

authorship, but tradition and trajectory Luke-Acts = two volumes by one author Letters ordered from longest to

shortest “Apocalypse” is the Greek word for

“Revelation”

Organization of the WritingsOrganization of the Writings

Leader writes a letter or gospel Community reads aloud in worship

together with Torah, prophets, and psalms Communities copy and share writings with

other churches More churches copy and share writings Churches begin to collect some writings to

read together with Torah, etc. Leaders begin to list important writings Lists expand and contract over time

Development of the “Canon”Development of the “Canon”

Oral to written Expansion: add to what exists

• Copy writings• Augment writings• Edit writings (combine oral and written)• Write new writings (in names of early apostles)

Contraction: condense what exists• Leaders prefer “known” apostolic writings• Leaders list writings connected to earlier

traditions

Basic Trends in the Development of the Christian CanonBasic Trends in the Development of the Christian Canon

Text criticism Archeology Sociological

criticism Cultural

anthropology

Historical criticism Source criticism Form criticism Redaction criticism Narrative criticism Rhetorical criticism Reader-Response

criticism Ideological criticism Deconstruction

Critical Methods of Study (tools used by biblical scholars)Critical Methods of Study (tools used by biblical scholars)

explication of the text.

philosophical reflection on the process of interpretation.

In New Testament study, we use hermeneutical tools in

our exegesis of the text.