History of New Testament Literature and Scholarship

Abstract

The paper is a journey through the historical development of the New Testament. It first of all defines New Testament literature and scholarship as it differs from that of the Old Testament. The tradition of Jesus characterized by oral preaching of the Gospel is shown to be the basic method of evangelization in the early Church. The development of the New Testament from the Hebrew scripture is discussed. The paper further looks at the existence of certain traditions about Jesus that constituted the bedrock for the formation of the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. Apostolicity, Palestinian coloration, orthodoxy and others are the things that guided the selection of the Gospels. The paper discusses the independent existence of the New Testament epistles before they were collected together to form Pauline, Johnanine or Catholic epistles. It points out that the fixation of the New Testament canon was a process ignited by heretical teachings, Christian persecution, voluntary distribution of copies of scripture, Christian unity and so on. It discusses Historical documents indicating evidence of the canon of the New Testament. The paper highlights the completion of the New Testament canon as the exercise emerged from the Greek, Syrian and got completed in the Latin Church. Finally, the paper considers apostolic origin, catholicity and divine inspiration as the norms for the selection of the New Testament writings.