Books about the Bible & Other Sacred Texts

The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament. The New Testament is sometimes called the Greek New Testament or Greek Scriptures, or the New Covenant.

The original texts were written by various authors sometime after c. AD 45, in Koine Greek, the lingua franca of the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Its books were gradually collected into a single volume. Although Christian denominations differ as to which works are included in the New Testament, the majority have settled on the same twenty-seven book canon: it consists of the four narratives of the life and death of Jesus, called "Gospels"; a narrative of the Apostles' ministries in the early church, probably by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, which it continues; twenty-one early letters, commonly called "epistles" in Biblical context, written by various authors and consisting mostly of Christian counsel and instruction; and an Apocalyptic prophecy. More »