New Testament

Christianity

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The New Testament is a collection of biblical books written by various authors between 45 AD and 100 AD, revolving around the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth and His apostles, as well as the history of the early church.

The books are traditionally classified into categories:

• The four Gospels (literally "Good news"): varying accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus, consisting of the gospels attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

• The Acts of the Apostles (or just "Acts") (which J. B. Phillips evocatively called "The Young Church In Action,") which concerns the ministry of the Apostles after the death of Christ. It is similar in language and style to, and reads as a continuation of, the Gospel of Luke.

• The Epistles (which J. B. Phillips called "Letters to Young Churches,") Romans through Jude, consisting of fourteen letters attributed to St. Paul and seven by other writers including James, Peter, John, and Jude. The writer of Hebrews is unknown.

• The Book of Revelation (or just "Revelation,") the prophetic book which ends the New Testament. It is also known as "the Apocalypse" (Greek for 'revelation'). It is somewhat similar in style to the Old Testament book of Daniel (and indeed weaves common prophecy), and tells of the end of the world, including Armageddon, Judgment Day, and the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. Despite Jesus' thrice repeated promise in it that 'I shall come very soon', opinions vary as to whether it refers to imminent events set amid the then Roman Empire or to the far future.

As with the Old Testament, the chapter and verse divisions of the various books are not original, but were added in medieval times for greater understanding.

The oldest books in the New Testament are the letters of Paul, or possibly the book of James.

See also

• The Twelve Apostles
• Virgin Mary

Sources

• Cruden, A., Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments (Lutterworth, 1930)
• Cross, C., Who Was Jesus? (Hodder & Stoughton, 1970)
• The Holy Bible (King James Version)
• James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament (Clarendon, Oxford, 1953)
• The New English Bible (Oxford & Cambridge University Presses, 1970)
• The New Jerusalem Bible (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1990)
• Lemesurier, P., The Armageddon Script (Element Books, 1981)
• Peake, A. S., Commentary on the Bible (Nelson, 1962)
• Schonfield, H. J., The Authentic New Testament (Dobson, n.d.)
• Schonfield, H. J., The Passover Plot (Hutchinson, 1965)
• Schonfield, H. J., The Pentecost Revolution (Macdonald, 1974)
• Schonfield, H. J., Those Incredible Christians (Bernard Geis, New York, 1968)
• Vermes, G., Jesus the Jew (Collins, 1973)
• Young, R., Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible (Lutterworth, 1939)