Difference between revisions of "New Testament"

From TheAlmightyGuru
Jump to: navigation, search
(Criticisms)
(Criticisms)
Line 55: Line 55:
 
==Criticisms==
 
==Criticisms==
 
===Canon===
 
===Canon===
Although the writings viewed by Christians as the official list for the New Testament, the "canon," is now mostly agreed upon, it hasn't always been this way. For the first few centuries of Christianity, church leaders argued over which writings should be included. There arguments were not based solely on the authenticity of the documents, but also their theology, thus, even if they believed that a writing was authored by an early Christian with ties to Jesus, if the content didn't match what they currently believed about the religion, it would not be included.
+
Christians argued for a couple centuries over which writings should be considered their biblical canon. Each major branch of Christianity has independently decided upon a canon, and, while the majority of them eventually agreed upon the same list, there is still disagreement among the less-popular denominations to this day.
  
 
===Authorship===
 
===Authorship===

Revision as of 14:54, 22 May 2018

The New Testament is a collection of ancient writings put together by Christians and believed by them to describe the foundations of their religion. Which specifics writings should be viewed as "canon," or official, was a matter of great debate in the past, but now, most branches of Christianity agree on a single set of 27 writings. However, as most New Testament scholars now point out, a large portion of these writings are thought to have been modified from their original form, or, in several cases, completely fraudulent.

Standard List of Writings

The following writings are are the standard canon of the New Testament. There are some disagreements among the less-popular denominations, and a disagreement to the order in which they should be presented, but most embrace this list:

  1. Gospel of Matthew
  2. Gospel of Mark
  3. Gospel of Luke
  4. Gospel of John
  5. Acts of the Apostles
  6. Epistle to the Romans
  7. First Epistles to the Corinthians
  8. Second Epistles to the Corinthians
  9. Epistle to the Galatians
  10. Epistle to the Ephesians
  11. Epistle to the Philippians
  12. Epistle to the Colossians
  13. First Epistle to the Thessalonians
  14. Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
  15. First Epistle to Timothy
  16. Second Epistle to Timothy
  17. Epistle to Titus
  18. Epistle to Philemon
  19. Epistle to the Hebrews
  20. Epistle of James
  21. First Epistle of Peter
  22. Second Epistle of Peter
  23. First Epistle of John
  24. Second Epistle of John
  25. Third Epistle of John
  26. Epistle of Jude
  27. Book of Revelation

Additional Writings

The following writings have been considered for inclusion into the canon, but have been disregarded by popular Christian denominations. Though, some denominations still consider them canon.

Criticisms

Canon

Christians argued for a couple centuries over which writings should be considered their biblical canon. Each major branch of Christianity has independently decided upon a canon, and, while the majority of them eventually agreed upon the same list, there is still disagreement among the less-popular denominations to this day.

Authorship

There is much conjecture and debate about the authors of the books in the New Testament canon. Excluding letters attributed to Paul, most of the authors don't identify themselves, but church tradition has assigned authors to each work regardless. Among the 27 books, there are only four distinct authors who explicitly identify themselves, however Christian tradition generally accepts nine, but there is disagreement among the various denominations. Historians, however, have a very different approach to the New Testament, and believe that the majority of the books are not written by either the church-assigned authors or the the authors named in the books, and suggest around 15-20 different authors. The table below lists each book, if the author identifies himself and how they do, the traditionally attributed author, what historians generally say, and, assuming the historians are accurate, what it means for the authorship.

Book Author From Book Traditional Author Historian's Opinion Verdict
Gospel of Matthew None Matthew the Apostle Unknown, unlikely Matthew Tradition is probably wrong.
Gospel of Mark None Mark the Evangelist, Saint Peter Unknown, unlikely Mark Tradition is probably wrong.
Gospel of Luke None Luke the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely Luke, probably same author as Acts Tradition is probably wrong.
Gospel of John None John the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely John Tradition is probably wrong.
Acts of the Apostles None Luke the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely Luke, probably same author as Luke Tradition is probably wrong.
Epistle to the Romans Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
First Epistle to the Corinthians Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Second Epistle to the Corinthians Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Epistle to the Galatians Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Epistle to the Ephesians Paul Paul the Apostle Maybe Paul Maybe a fraud.
Epistle to the Philippians Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Epistle to the Colossians Paul Paul the Apostle Maybe Paul Maybe a fraud.
First Epistle to the Thessalonians Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Paul Paul the Apostle Maybe Paul Maybe a fraud.
First Epistle to Timothy Paul Paul the Apostle Unknown, unlikely Paul Probably a fraud.
Second Epistle to Timothy Paul Paul the Apostle Unknown, unlikely Paul Probably a fraud.
Epistle to Titus Paul Paul the Apostle Unknown, unlikely Paul Probably a fraud.
Epistle to Philemon Paul Paul the Apostle Paul the Apostle Probably accurate.
Epistle to the Hebrews None Paul the Apostle Unknown, unlikely Paul Tradition is probably wrong.
Epistle of James James James the Just Several people named James, maybe one. Maybe accurate.
First Epistle of Peter Peter Saint Peter Unknown, unlikely Peter or author of II Peter Probably a fraud.
Second Epistle of Peter Simon Peter Saint Peter Unknown, unlikely Peter or author of I Peter Probably a fraud.
First Epistle of John None John the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely John Tradition is probably wrong.
Second Epistle of John None John the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely John Tradition is probably wrong.
Third Epistle of John None John the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely John Tradition is probably wrong.
Epistle of Jude Jude James the Apostle Maybe Jude Maybe accurate.
Book of Revelation Unclear John the Evangelist Unknown, unlikely John Tradition is probably wrong.

Links