The Origin of the New Testament by William Wrede

Author:William Wrede [Wrede, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781341413339
Google: gr2yDAEACAAJ
Amazon: B005BFF3V0
Goodreads: 24518753
Published: 1909-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

THE REMAINING BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE two groups of New Testament writings which I have so far treated, the thirteen epistles which bear the name of Paul and the four gospels, doubtless include the most important books of the New Testament. Nevertheless, the ten additional writings not yet discussed present for our consideration just as rich and interesting material. If we but to some extent want to exhaust it, it appears advisable to come to the point without digression, and all the more, as I have still to carry out a promise given at the beginning, and that is to sketch in brief outlines how the separate writings were gradually incorporated into a collection of canonical importance, into a New Testament canon.

The first book to which we have now to devote attention is to be the one which stands closest to the gospels, by its character as a narrative and also from its author, I mean THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, which undoubtedly is the work of the same person who wrote our third gospel, that of S. Luke.

In the last chapter I touched upon the fact that there were more than four gospels in existence, that this special literature of the gospel had rather a wider diffusion. The same thing is true of the Acts of the Apostles. The Greek title of the book means accurately acts or deeds of the apostles. Accordingly there were books entitled the Acts of Paul, of Peter, of Andrew, of Thomas, also produced under the name of ” Travels ” or ” Miracles ” of this or that apostle. In the Church these were frequently valued as edifying reading books, particularly with the less educated classes, on account of their miracles. In value as a source of information, not one of them can be even distantly set in comparison with our New Testament Acts of the Apostles. But was our Acts of the Apostles the first example of this sort ? It is hardly safe to speak positively ; it is not impossible that it had predecessors. Of course the sources which have been used do not quite give us the right to make this assertion.

However that may be, we may in any case assume that this class of literature of Acts of Apostles did not arise until there were already gospels in existence. It is to be regarded as a kind of pendant to the gospel or as a shoot from the gospel stock. Acts of Apostles were first written when the apostles were already surrounded with a halo of higher sanctity than was the case during their lifetime ; when already a special religious interest was taken in the persons and deeds of the apostles, who were looked upon as the classical witnesses of Christ and the classical representatives of Christianity, in other words, when the term apostle had already got a dogmatic colouring. To some extent the apostles now appear as men set to complete or continue the teaching of Christ.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.