Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 An Overview of the New Testament ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

2. Key Topics/Themes • New Testament: twenty-seven documents • Four Gospels • A church history • Letters • An apocalypse • Other Christian documents • Diversity of early Jesus movement ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

3. What Is the New Testament? • The New Testament as “scripture” • Appreciating the cultural world of the New Testament • A society far different from ours • The Jewish world of Jesus: Palestine • An agrarian, peasant society • Interaction of Palestinian Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

4. The New Testament and the Hebrew Bible • Relationship between the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible • The Hebrew Bible as Scripture for early Christians ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

5. Testament and Covenant • The nature of the covenant with Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible • The promise of a “new covenant” (Jer. 31:31) • Jesus’ declaration of a new covenant ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

6. The Septuagint • Written in Alexandria, Egypt • Beginning about 250 B.C.E. • Legend in the Letter of Aristeas • Abbreviation: LXX • Standard biblical text for Jews in New Testament period • Version most frequently quoted in New Testament ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

7. Language and Literature of the New Testament • Koinē Greek • New Testament literary forms • Gospel • Church history • Letters, or epistles • Apocalyptic literature • Subgenres within New Testament books ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

8. Diversity and Unity in the New Testament Documents • Early Christians ethnically and theologically diverse • Gentile Christians • Jewish Christians • Community of the Gospel of John • Pseudonymous works • Diverse views toward Roman authority ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

9. Other Early Christian Literature • Struggle for orthodoxy and contents of the New Testament • Diverse interpretations of importance of Jesus in God’s plan • The Gospel of Thomas ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

10. Scholarly Approaches to the New Testament • Scholarly vs. devotional approaches • Development of analytical methods for biblical research • Biblical criticism • Coordinating critical methodologies and spiritual concerns ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education

11. Summary • New Testament • Greek documents • Written ca. 50-140 C.E. • Hebrew Bible (Tanak) • Other Christian documents • Diversity of early Christianity • Importance of scholarly analysis ©McGraw-Hill Higher Education