New Testament Books
NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS
The New Testament, comprising 27 books, forms a unit of literature that complements the Old Testament and completes the written record of God's revelation to mankind (see old testament literature). The present division of New Testament writings is by no means chronological. Under the influence of the Old Testament division of historical, didactic, and prophetical works, a similar division was made in early Christendom for the New Testament writings, and this became stabilized at the Council of Trent (Enchiridion biblicum 59). Thus, for the historical section there are the four Gospels and Acts; for the didactic section, the 14 Epistles of Paul, the 2 Epistles of Peter, the 3 of John, the Epistle of James, and the Epistle of Jude; and for the prophetic section, the Book of Revelation (a.k.a., the Apocalypse) of John.
See Also: The Articles on the Individual Books of the New Testament.
Bibliography: j. n. sanders, "The Literature and Canon of the NT," Peake's Commentary on the Bible, ed. m. black and h. h. rowley (New York 1962) 676–682. a. wikenhauser, New Testament Introduciton, tr. j. cunningham (New York 1958). r. e. brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York 1997). j. s. kselman and r. d. witherup in New Jerome Biblical Commentary 1130–1145.
[b. a. lazor]