Factors Influencing The Collaboration Of The New Testament

The New Testament (NT), in my opinion, has positively influenced the history of the world. One good example would be laws. All, if not most, of the laws of every Western nation has the same laws that were first introduced during the Old Testament. Every nation has laws regarding crimes like murder and theft, which originated with the Ten Commandments. When the Romans occupied Israel, they integrated many of the Jewish judicial practices into their own system of law and order, which in turn helped shape the legal systems around the world. During the time of Moses, God’s laws were given to Moses so he may spread it to the rest of the Hebrew people so that they may understand what not to do and what they should do. From there, various amendments were added as to how punishment was to be dealt. For example, in the book of John, chapter 8, verses four and five, we see that Jesus was confronted by people and is asked what he thinks should be done to the woman accused of adultery. Verse five then says, “In the Law Moses commanded to stone such a woman…” Though not all punishments were specifically mentioned for each crime, we can at least infer that because of the Ten Commandments, the Jewish legal system became complex, which in turn shaped the foundations of the judicial systems of the world. Many nations

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.

Christianity, or religion in general, has come under immense amounts of criticism. Especially in modern times where science has been growing beyond our imagination, and, now, individuals might downplay the relevance of religion. However, even thousands of years ago Christianity was met with criticism. One of the notable critics, and focus of this paper, was Celsus. He was A philosopher during the second century, had his writings complied into The True Word that housed his critiques on Christianity. From these critiques, it is possible to identify the characteristics Celsus might identity with a true religion. Moreover, the second focus of paper is Mark’s gospel, more specifically, Jesus. Having read Mark’s gospel, would his depiction of Jesus and his movement be considered valid in the eyes of Celsus? In this paper, I will argue that the depiction of Jesus and the Jesus movement in Mark’s Gospel would not be considered a true religion due to the fact it conflates with many of Celsus’s criticisms of Christianity.

There is a close relationship between Christianity and Judaism both from a theological and historical perspective. The similarities between these two religious platforms emanates from the notion that Christianity arose and protested from Judaism. However, it is worth noting that Christianity is not a continuation of Judaism as some people perceive. Both Jesus and most of his disciples, who pioneered the earliest Christian churches, were Jews. Particularly, Jesus’ family practiced and followed Jewish beliefs, and He frequently referenced the Hebrew bible. On the contrary, the disciples believed that Jesus was the one and only Messiah, which is predicted in the Jewish Bible. While the creation narrative is still mysterious to many people, most individuals are still obsessed with the attempt to discover how everything came to existence. The primary purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the basic ideologies of Christianity and Judaism (Neusner, 76).

Hagner, D., Hengel, M. & Barrett, C. (1999). Conflicts and challenges in early Christianity. Harrisburg, Pa: Trinity Press International.

In his recent article for the October 7th issue of Commonweal magazine, David Bentley Hart highlighted how different the Christians of the New Testament are from modern day Christians. Hart’s article, titled “Christ’s Rabble; The first Christians were not like us”, argues that the first Christians were so different than present day Christians that we would have a very hard time getting along with one another if we meet today. Hart, a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies, came to this conclusion after in-depth study of the text of the New Testament in its original koine Greek. His work translating the New Testament for Yale University painted a clear picture of the character of the first Christians and underscored how far from the original meanings of the text we have come.

When we look back at Christianity over the years, there are several people who are remembered for their impact on the religion. The first most important figure was Jesus Christ. However, if we travel forward a bit, into the 4th Century we come across Constantine. Historians agree that Constantine served as an important component in the spread of Christianity. Although he spread the religion in a massive way, others wonder if his methods were more harmful then anything. In this paper I will be discussing Constantine in his rise to power and his impact on Christianity. Constantine provided a mean for the word of God to be spread, which is a major benefit. However, He also used violence and hate as

God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of

The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.

The history of the Church has seen key event and movements that influenced the New Testament canon. The way by which the New Testament cannon was formed as it was is a subject of debate to this day. To truly know and begin to understand God, one must be able to understand that Scripture is God-breathed. This is crucial for Christ followers in order to be sanctified and mature in their walk with Christ. In order to best understand the canon, one must be able to

The history of how the Bible came into existence has been explored for centuries and is an active area of study today. There are many facets to the Bible and each has its own set of unique characteristics and teachings. The Old Testament is considered a contemporary guide for daily living, even though it was composed hundreds of years ago. Where did the Old Testament come from? What are some of the influences that shaped the Old Testament? What are the significant events of the Old Testament? In order to gain a better understanding of the Old Testament and its message to Christians, special consideration is given to its historical and cultural context, and to the major milestones in its development. Personal application of the teachings offered in this section of the Bible should be the aspiration of all Christians today.

By royal decree, Antiochus IV made possession of the Holy Scriptures a capital offense. He abolished observance of the Sabbath and festivals of the Lord and forced the Jews—under penalty of death—to eat foods prohibited by the Scriptures. In this article, I discuss how the modern church has willingly adopted each of the prohibitions Antiochus IV used to brutally persecute God's

Before the gospels and Pauline epistles, early church Christians related to the Old Testament as Scripture and viewed their Christian walk as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel from the Old Testament, which foretold of the coming age of the Messiah. The first New Testament Christians understood the importance of the Old Testament; it was their “Bible” they preached from. Just as in the early church, Christians today need the Old Testament for preaching and in which to reference and understand Christ’s purpose for why he came.

In this article Harold Attridge examines Luke’s background, the scriptures Luke wrote, Jesus’s values, the context and purpose of Luke’s gospel and the treatment of Christians at the time of Luke’s writings. The article expresses that Luke’s Gospel was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and at a time when Christians were being persecuted for practicing their faith so consequently the purpose of his Gospel was to show an ethical example and imply that Christians could be good citizens. This source is relevant to the topic as it suggests the purpose of Luke's Gospel and the treatment of Christians before the fall of Jerusalem. A limitation of the website is that it has not been recently published, it’s publish date is April 1998 so it may not be up to date with the latest, accurate information. Nonetheless, this source is very beneficial and appropriate to the task as it provides facts and research on the chosen sacred text. This source will not be the cornerstone of my research but will add a good understanding to the purpose of the sacred text.

The New Testament is a collection of books which contains the writings concerning the significant events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. These books appeared after the physical death of Jesus Christ. In this regard, Jesus had left no records concerning him, and all that is written about him depends wholly on what other people have written about him. The first four books of the New Testament are part of the several biographies of Jesus which were written by the end of the first century of the era of Christianity. Then before any of these biographies have been drafted, there were Christian communities which were being instructed through epistles on how to live like Jesus and how to solve their problem like Christians. A good number of these letters were written by a man called Paul. After Paul death, some other new leaders of the Christian movement continued to write letters to the churches to encourage and strengthen them. As Christians grew in number persecution arose, and some letters have been drafted to support them and also to counter the false doctrines. These letters are part of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were selected from the list of writings in that period (Bruce, 1988)