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A Survey of the New Testament CHAPTER FOUR ASurvey of the New Testament Lovemore Togarasei, Introduction T he place of the New Testament (or the Bible in general) in African Christianity cannot be overemphasized. Writing about the place of the Bible inAfrica, South African theologian, Gerald O. West says, “— the Bible is meaning and powerful both opened and closed.”1 Indeed the Bible is used in all spheres of African life. Statements or teachings supported by biblical passages are considered more authoritative. Even in political discourses it is not uncommon to hear people quoting from the Bible. Knowledge of the Bible and particularly the New Testament is therefore indispensable in Africa. This chapter surveys the New Testament (NT). It serves as a good introduction not only for those who want to study the Bible academically but even for those who want to read it for devotional purposes. There are various ways of studying the NT. First is a synthetic approach where one takes an overview of the NT as a whole in order to gain its overall message. Second is an analytic approach where one makes an in-depth analysis of the various verses that make up the books of the NT. Athird is the thematic approach where one focuses on the various themes of the NT. These three are the most common approaches. As this chapter is mainly meant for those beginning NT studies, we find the synthetic approach appropriate for our purposes. It enables the beginner to grasp the whole picture of NT studies thereby providing the stepping-stones for further studies. The chapter is divided into seven sections. The first section discusses the meaning, origin and world of the NT. It is followed by a discussion of the methods used to interpret the NT. The third section discusses the origins and purposes of the four gospels including the Acts of the Apostles. The fourth section focuses on the Pauline letters. It is followed by a discussion of the Deutro-Pauline and the Pastoral letters. Section six looks at the Catholic letters. The final section discusses the apocalyptic book of Revelation. It is not possible to consider all the books of the NT in detail __________________________________________ 1 Gerald. O. West, The Academy of the Poor: Towards a dialogical reading of the Bible, Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2003:vii. Biblical Studies, Theology, Religion, and Philosophy because of the limitations of space. For each category of books we shall therefore just select one book and discuss it in the light of the whole category. The Meaning, Origin and World of the New Testament Meaning The NT is the second part of the Christian Bible, which is generally divided into the Old and the New Testaments. The word ‘testament’ is derived from the Greek word diatheke, which means covenant, will or agreement. The concept of covenants is well known in Africa. The Shona of Zimbabwe call it sungano, the Zulu/Ndebele of South Africa/Zimbabwe call it isivumilano while the Tswana of Botswana call it kolagano. In all cases covenants hold sacrality and cannot be broken without serious consequences . The two Bible covenants hold the same meaning. Whereas the old covenant (the OT) is about God’s dealings with the Jews, the new covenant (the NT) is about God’s dealings with the whole of humanity. NT study therefore covers the history of God’s dealings with people during the formation and early development of Christianity. Origin The twenty-seven books that now make our NT were not the only books written and used in the early church. There were many books in circulation before the early church settled for these twenty-seven as its canon. The process by which the NT books were accepted as authoritative while other books were rejected is known as canonisation. The Greek word kanon was formed from the Hebrew kaneh which means a reed or a rod used for measurement or alignment. The early church first used the word with reference to rule or norm (Gal. 6:16 and 2Cor.10:13-16). Later it referred to the official list of books it recognised as authoritative in its teaching and practice. The canonisation of the NT was a long and probably corrupt process that took almost four centuries. But what were the reasons for the canonisation of the NT? What the church now possesses the 27 books as the “New Testament” to which it refers on matters of its life and thought is something that the...

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