The Origin of the New Testament
Overview
In this short work, Wrede presents a higher critical view of how the New Testament Scriptures came to be. Originally delivered as lectures to laypeople, this concise work is straightforward and accessible. Wrede argues that Paul’s writings are the earliest of the New Testament. This, of course, fits well with the thesis of his other work, Paul, in which he argues that the apostle was the second founder of Christianity and even drastically reshaped it after Jesus left the scene. After a discussion of the Pauline Epistles, Wrede goes on to discuss the Gospels and then the remaining books of the New Testament. Finally, Wrede presents a theory of how the individual books of the New Testament were eventually compiled into the form of the New Testament as we have it today. His conclusion is this: “The whole history of the Canon palpably teaches us, therefore, that it is the Church which created the New Testament. And the Church is by no means the community of all believers, but in truth the governing theologians and bishops, it is they who were the proper framers of the canon.” In many ways, this short but significant work anticipated the recent writings of Elaine Pagels and Barth Ehrman that have become so popular.
Top Highlights
“No, the books of the New Testament were not, as was once thought, literally dictated to the human authors by God Himself; rather were they written by men in a way entirely human; in a word, it is a question of historical origins, memorials of a religious history, the history of Christianity at the epoch of its commencement.” (Page 3)
“Such expressions have led to the untenable opinion that this gospel was intended specially for Jewish Christians” (Page 55)
“whose speciality properly consisted in the fact that they saw in Jesus the Messiah” (Page 8)
“A Christian society existed at least two decades before the first of the New Testament writings was written” (Page 9)
“the question as to the origin of the New Testament is a historical, and a purely historical question” (Page 3)
- Title: The Origin of the New Testament
- Author: William Wrede
- Series: Harper’s Library of Living Thought
- Publisher: Harper & Brothers
- Print Publication Date: 1909
- Logos Release Date: 2013
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. N.T. › History; Bible. N.T. › Introductions
- Resource ID: LLS:ORIGNTWREDE
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T04:57:45Z