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Chapter 1
An Overview of the New Testament
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Key Topics/Themes
New Testament: twenty-seven documents
Four Gospels
A church history Letters
An apocalypse
Other Christian documents Diversity of early Jesus movement
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What Is the New Testament?
The New Testament as scripture
Appreciating the cultural world of the NewTestament A society far different from ours
The Jewish world of Jesus: Palestine
An agrarian, peasant society
Interaction of Palestinian Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures
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The Septuagint
Written in Alexandria, Egypt
Beginning about 250 BCE
Legend in the Letter of Aristeas
Abbreviation: LXX
Standard biblical text for Jews in NewTestament period
Version most frequently quoted in NewTestament
6 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
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Language and Literature
of the New Testament Koin Greek
New Testament literary forms
Gospel Church history
Letters, or epistles
Apocalyptic literature
Subgenres within New Testament books
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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
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Other Early
Christian Literature Struggle for orthodoxy and contents of the
New Testament
Diverse interpretations of importance ofJesus in Gods plan
The Gospel of Thomas
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Scholarly Approaches to
the New Testament Scholarly vs. devotional approaches
Development of analytical methods for
biblical research Biblical criticism
Coordinating critical methodologies andspiritual concerns
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The New Testament Read from
Different Social Perspectives A readers individual experience and
viewpoint inform the meaning.
Much of our biblical heritage containsdisparate elements that are almostinextricably blended.
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Summary
New Testament
Greek documents
Written c. 50-140 CE
Hebrew Bible (Tanak)
Other Christian documents
Diversity of early Christianity Importance of scholarly analysis
12 2009 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.
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