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===What is in the New Testament?===

The Christian New Testament is not written by one single author. Instead, the New Testament is made up of several unique and distinct texts, written by a variety of Christian disciples or scribes. First, the New Testament includes four narratives of the life of Jesus Christ, traditionally named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Though throughout Christian history it was believed that each of these narratives was authored by Jesus’ disciples or their close followers, many contemporary critical scholars have concluded that the texts may have been written by scribes who were familiar with the Greek language. Many have reached this conclusion because it is unlikely that Jesus’ followers knew how to write in Greek, considering their modest background and upbringing. It is more likely that they dictated the information to scribes that translated their accounts into Greek to reach a more vast audience.

In addition to the four Gospel narratives, the New Testament also consists of The Acts of the Apostles, a number of epistles written mostly by Paul of Tarsus to various early Christian communities, and the Book of Revelation. The book of Acts is believed to be written by the same author who constructed Luke’s gospel narrative. Both books are addressed to the same person, Theophilus. Scholars are unsure whether Theophilus was an actual person or if the name is a metaphor for “friends of God,” which is the meaning of the name in the Greek. The book of Acts recounts the activities of the early church from Pentecost (when the disciples received the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem) to Paul’s missionary journeys throughout the Mediterranean. Next, the epistles were letters written to early Christian communities as words of encouragement or theological instruction for moral living. A majority of the epistles are written by Paul of Tarsus, affectionately known as St. Paul in the Christian tradition. Among Paul’s most famous and recognized epistles are his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians (essentially those letters written to the churches in Rome, Italy and in Corinth, which is in modern day Greece). In addition to Paul’s letters there are also two letters from Peter, two letters from John and one letter from James. Lastly, the book of Revelation is an account of a dream of the beloved apostle, John. In this dream, or revelation, John explains his vision about the apocalypse or the end of times. The book of Revelation is understood as the most notoriously difficult to interpret, due to its symbolic and metaphorical complexity.

===Inclusion Criteria===

[[File:A_Voyage_through_the_New_Testament.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|<i>A Voyage Through the New Testament</i> by Catherine Cory]]