The New Testament Structure and Style

Books of the New Testament There are 27 Books in the New Testament Different types of writings Gospels Acts of the Apostles Letters of St. Paul, St. John, St. Jude, St. Peter, St. James Revelation

Style matters Not all Scripture is meant to be read in the same way Think about a fantasy book vs. a realistic fiction book How would you read them differently? As we read Scripture we have to understand the meaning that the human author meant We have to consider the customs the audience the context e.g. St. Paul and slavery

The Evolution of the Bible The Bible stories were first passed down by story telling (oral tradition) Then people began to write the stories down What happens to a message if we don't write it down and it keeps getting passed along? Then people would continue to copy the scrolls down to preserve them

The Evolution of the Bible People were dedicated specifically for copying the manuscripts. This was a monks job Why??

The Evolution of the Bible Then the Bible began to be translated into other languages Hebrew and Greek, its original languages, were not very well known People though couldn't read, so Bibles would mainly be in the Church With the invention of the printing press in the 1500s people began to desire to read and more people became educated The Bible was often the only or one of the few books that people owned

The authors of Scripture 2 Timothy 3:15-16 What does this say? Who saves us?

Authors of Scripture Human author Holy Spirit

So what if you have read it once? Is reading Scripture once enough? Why not? How must we make reading Scripture different from reading other books?