1. God’s new covenant with God’s people The New Testament Writings The New Testament Writings

2.  4 Gospels  Acts of the Apostles  9 letters from Paul to churches  4 letters from Paul to specific people and their communities  Hebrews  7 letters by other people (“catholic letters”)  Revelation 27 Writings

3.  Not ordered chronologically  Titles do not necessarily indicate authorship, but tradition and trajectory  Luke-Acts = two volumes by one author  Letters ordered from longest to shortest  “Apocalypse” is the Greek word for “Revelation” Organization of the Writings

4.  Leader writes a letter or gospel  Community reads aloud in worship together with Torah, prophets, and psalms  Communities copy and share writings with other churches  More churches copy and share writings  Churches begin to collect some writings to read together with Torah, etc.  Leaders begin to list important writings  Lists expand and contract over time Development of the “Canon”

5.  Oral to written  Expansion: add to what exists Copy writings Augment writings Edit writings (combine oral and written) Write new writings (in names of early apostles)  Contraction: condense what exists Leaders prefer “known” apostolic writings Leaders list writings connected to earlier traditions Basic Trends in the Development of the Christian Canon Basic Trends in the Development of the Christian Canon

6.  Text criticism  Archeology  Sociological criticism  Cultural anthropology  Historical criticism  Source criticism  Form criticism  Redaction criticism  Narrative criticism  Rhetorical criticism  Reader-Response criticism  Ideological criticism  Deconstruction Critical Methods of Study (tools used by biblical scholars) Critical Methods of Study (tools used by biblical scholars)

7. explication of the text.

8. philosophical reflection on the process of interpretation.

9. In New Testament study, we use hermeneutical tools in our exegesis of the text.