The 27 books of the New poetic tone.

It also contains
Testament are grouped into accounts that are not found in
categories/parts: the synoptic Gospels .
1. Gospels (4) The Gospels
are the books of Matthew,  Acts of the Apostle (1)
Mark, Luke, and John. The Acts of the Apostle
They announce the Good News describes the early spread
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They of the Good News to the
were authored by writers known world and the formation
as an evangelist, of the early Church

a term derived from the Greek Letters (21)

word euangelion, which means The twenty-one Letters in the
“announcement of the good Bible are called EpistlesFourteen
news.” Among the New of these are attributed to St.
Testament books, Paul:
 Romans
GOSPELS  1 Corinthians
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark,
 2 Corinthians
and Luke are known as the
 Galatians
Synoptics or Synoptic Gospels.
 Ephesians
Synoptic is from the Greek  Philippians
words syn and optic which,  Colossians
when combined, mean “to see  1 Thessalonians
together.”  2 Thessalonian
The three Gospels are called  1 Timothy
synoptic because they share  2 Timothy
many similarities and thus can  Titus
be studied together or alongside  Philemon
one snother.  Hebrews
The Gospel of John, however, is
different from the three. It is
longer and written in a more The remaining Letters
  James Stage 1: Jesus’ earthly life in
 1 Peter Palestine (1 – 30 A.D.) 
 2 Peter
 The Gospel presents the
 1 John works and words of
 2 John Jesus of Nazareth. As the
 3 John son of Mary Jesus was
 Jude born probably between 6
B.C. and 4 B.C.
are attributed to other apostles.
All the letters are concerned  during the reign of
with how Christians should Herod the Great and was
crucified on a Friday in
apply Jesus’teachings, His Good
30 A.D. 
News of Salvation, to their daily
lives  Jesus proclaimed the
Revelations (1)  Good News of our
salvation. After the
Resurrection, the
The Book of Revelation, also apostles preached that
called the Apocalypse, is the Jesus Himself is the
only prophetic book in the New Good News for in Him.
Testament. It is a highly
symbolic and visionary account
of the decisive struggle of Christ
and His followers against Satan
and his forces.

Stage 2: Oral Tradition (30 -

THREE STAGE IN THE 64 A.D.) 
FORMATION OF GOSPELS
  This period immediately New testaments
followingJesus’
Resurrection constituted  Jesus Christ’s birth,
the Oral Tradition stage in teachings, passion, death,
the formation of the and resurrection are
Gospels.
narrated and proclaimed
 The Good News was
spread only by word of in the New Testament.
mouth.  Whereas the Old
 The original Testament covers God’s
proclamation of the various covenants with
apostles after Pentecost is Israel, especially the Sinai
called kerygma or the act covenant mediated by
of proclaiming the Good Moses, the New Testament
News of Salvation covers God’s definitive
through Jesus Christ covenant with all people
mediated by His incarnate
Stage 3: Written Gospel (65 -
Son, Jesus Christ.
100 A.D.) 

 The Gospels were written

over a period of 30 to 40
years, from about 65 – 100
A.D. Three
 There is nothing quite like
them in the world of Categories of
religious or secular
literature. They are faith
old Testament
testimonies of the Life,
1.Torah (Law) – five books
Death, and Resurrection of
Jesus written by believers  Jews regard this as the
to guide fellow believers holiest part of
and inspire new ones the Tenakh (the Jewish
 Bible). The word ‘torah’ how the Jewish people
means ‘instruction’ in worked through this. The
Hebrew (the oldest Jewish three
language). longer prophetic books
 The Jewish Bible is mainly are those of Isaiah,
written in Hebrew. The Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Torah is known as the Five
Books of Moses and it is 3. Ketuvim (Writings) – 11
within this that the Ten books
Commandments are
found.  The purpose of this
collection, as with the
2. Nevi’im (Prophets) – eight Nevi’im, is to record the
books history of the Jews and
their actions within the
 These books describe the covenant relationship with
history of Judaism after God.
the death of Moses. They  The books are very varied
tell of the Jews’ and deal with different
relationship events and themes. For
with Yahweh and their example, the story of Job is
history. about a righteous man
 They show who is seriously tested by
the covenant relationship God. 
with God in action and
Gospels THREE STAGE IN THE
FORMATION OF GOSPELS


MATTHER
MARK
STAGE 1- Jesus’ earthly life
 LUKE in Palestine (1 – 30 A.D.) 
 JOHN
STAGE 2- Oral Tradition
Letters
(30 - 64 A.D.) 
 Romans
 1 Corinthians STAGE 3- Written Gospel
 2 Corinthians (65 - 100 A.D.) 
 Galatians
 Ephesians Three Categories of
 Philippians old Testament
 Colossians
 1 Thessalonians  Torah (Law) – five books
 2 Thessalonian
 1 Timothy  Nevi’im (Prophets) –
 2 Timothy eight books
 Titus  Ketuvim (Writings) – 11
 Philemon books
 Hebrews
 James
 1 Peter
 2 Peter
 1 John
 2 John
 3 John
 Jude