Letter of Jude

Book Written:  Baker says the date  is around 70 A.D.  HC only notes that this book could be among the earliest NT writings.

Time Period/Setting:  Where Jude writes from or to whom is a bit murky, but HC places Jude in Palestine as a leader of Jewish Christians. 

Title:  Jude seems to be the agreed-upon author.  He is held to be the brother of James, author of the letters and the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and so a cousin of Jesus.

Jude is warning the Christian community (probably Gentile Christians according to Baker, but see above) of the dangers of giving in to "certain intruders" (v.4) who distort the gospel.   These "waterless clouds," these "trees without fruit" are "blemishes on your lovefeasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves" (v. 12).  Pretty damning language.

This book includes the beautiful doxology:

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Letter of John, 1, 2 and 3

Book Written:  For all three letters, HC places the date at 100 A.D., Baker at 90 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  HC believes these three letters to have been written in Ephesus.  For the audience, the "little children," see below.  The "elect lady" of  2 John is a particular church, though which one is not known. 3 John is addressed to Gaius whom Baker identifies simply as an important person in the church to which the letter is addressed.

Title:  Once again and no surprise, HC calls into question John the apostle and author of the fourth gospel as the writer of these chapters.  He identifies the author as perhaps the "elder" in letter 2 or a member of the same early Christian community of the fourth gospel.  Baker has no such qualms and identifies the apostle as author of all three letters.   Both Baker and HC agree that 1 John is not an actual letter but 2, 3 John are. 

Concerning 1 John, HC explains that this speech or sermon may have been written to counter those in the Christian community who were claiming that Jesus was pure spirit and not a physical human being.  Baker says the theme in 2 John is remaining faithful to the early teachings of the apostles.  The theme of 3 John, a very short letter,  discusses administrative matters.  All three letters echo the language of the fourth gospel.

Letter of Peter, 2

Book Written:   Baker gives the date as around 70 A.D. (though how that could be if Peter is thought to have been killed in 64 A.D. see below).  HC puts the date considerably later in the 80s or 90s A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Peter is writing to all Christians of the time, no particular group intended.

Title: Though Baker notes that authorship of this book is controversial, he recognizes its author as Peter.  HC does not.  He attributes authorship to someone who wrote in Peter's name as, again, HC rather categorically places Peter's martyrdom in the year 64/5 A.D.  Baker says this is not actually a letter.

Peter reminds his audience not to revert to pagan ways (HC explains that Christians of this time were caught in a "twin transition from a Jewish to a pagan environment. . .. " He also writes of the Parousia.  And the author, whoever he may be, emphasizes the truth of his message because he is one of the "eyewitnesses of his majesty"  (Ch.1, 16-18).

Letter of Peter, 1

Book Written:  Baker simply gives a date of 64 A.D. while HC explains that the letter has to be written after Paul traveled through Asia Minor in the 60s, but before the 90s because there's no mention of Roman officials charging Christians with disobedience to the emperor.

Time Period/Setting:  Peter is writing to Christians in five Roman provinces in Asia Minor:  Asia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Galatia and Pontus.    HC explains that these Gentile Christians faced considerable animosity towards them on the part of the Greco-Roman society in which they found themselves.

Title:  Written by Peter, the apostle and first bishop of Rome though HC calls that into question by saying that the fine quality of the Greek may mean otherwise.  HC also says (2 Peter) that Peter was martyred in 64/5 A.D. so HC would conclusively be saying that this letter couldn't have been written by Peter if in fact the letter was penned between 70 A.D. and 90 A.D.   The format is considered to be an actual letter.

Peter is urging his readers to be faithful and good servants of Christ and not to revert to their earlier, heathen ways.  Just to make things perfectly clear I suppose, Peter enjoins his readers not to consort with those lousy Gentiles whom he denounces as immoral low-lifes in  Ch. 4, 3-5.  Such riff-raff lives in "licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing and lawless idolatry."  Can't get much worse than that!

Letter of James

Book Written:  According to Baker, 57 A.D., according to HC, before 70 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  James is thought to be addressing a live audience if you will, thus this isn't really a letter in the literal sense.  His audience is Jewish Christians.

Title:  The author is considered to be James, "brother" of Jesus (not James, brother of John and sons of Zebedee, that James having been martyred in 42 A.D.).  This James led a Christian church in Jerusalem. 

In this book of the Bible James makes the "faith not works" argument which as Baker points out is only an apparent contradiction to Paul's message about faith in Romans Ch. 3, 19 to Ch. 5.  As I understand it, Paul was admonishing the new Christians that their righteousness would not result from following every jot and tittle of Jewish law, but rather through their faith in Christ as the risen Messiah.  James, it seems, is saying nothing that different.  He admonishes his audience not to forget that their faith consists also of demonstrable acts based on love of God and trust in him, much as Abraham was willing to offer up Isaac (Ch.2, 21). 

Letter to the Hebrews

Abraham and Melchizedek
Dieric Bouts

Book Written:  Between 60 A.D. and 95 A.D. according to HC, but Baker gives 70 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Authorship was for a long time ascribed to Paul, however, that is now an outmoded view.  Possible authors are Barnabas, Apollos or Priscilla.  HC suggests the intended recipients of the letter may be in Rome.

Title: Called a letter, HC says the Book of Hebrews is really more like a sermon though it does conclude with correspondence-type greetings and farewells to the audience for whom the sermon-letter is intended.  HC speculates loosely that the audience is probably Jewish and Christian (does that mean Jewish Christians?).

Baker calls the letter a "treatise on Christology" and HC reminds of the very Greek style of writing (also the language in which it was written?).  The discussion of Melchizedek in Chapter 7 and the following discussion of Christ as the high priest are intriguing though mysterious.  I happened to read a bit about Melchizedek here.

Years ago I took a class with the Presbyterians on Hebrews.  Memory could be playing tricks on me, but what I recall of the class was a series of meditations on various passages of Hebrews with some kind of recorded New Age type music playing at intervals.  It was the most unenlightening class on the Bible that I've ever taken, probably due in no small part to the fact that I knew nothing about Christianity or the Bible at the time.  It's unfortunate that this association with Hebrews persisted.  The class left the impression of Hebrews as being an utterly inscrutable piece of theology to be avoided if possible. Actually, it's a rather beautifully written book with accessible ideas.   

Philomen

Book Written:  Baker gives a date of 61 A.D. to 63 A.D. while HC rules out a date earlier than 54 A.D. (see below)

Time Period/Setting:  The authorship of this letter is attributed to an imprisoned Paul, but which prison and where is not certain.  HC questions Rome as a location, preferring Philippi or Caesarea as more likely.  For that reason HC fixes an earlier date to the letter.   Paul was writing to a wealthy Colossian, Philomen, whose slave, Onesimus, had run away and come to befriend Paul (in Rome according to Baker), undergo a conversion to Christianity and remain as Paul's friend or servant.

Title:  see above

Paul is writing to Philomen to say that, though Onesimus is a valued companion and friend, he is sending Onesimus back to Colossae to his master.  Paul urges Philomen  to treat Onesimus with  respect and kindness and perhaps even grant him his freedom.

Letter of Paul to Titus

Book Written:   Baker gives a date of 65 A.D. while HC gives 90 A.D. to 110 A.D. as he did for the letters to Timothy

Time Period/Setting:  Paul is thought to have written this letter while in Macedonia (per Baker) to his friend Titus who had been left in charge of a church in Crete.

Title:   HC casts doubt on Paul as the author.

The content and tone of this letter is very similar to the Timothy letters.

Letter of Paul to Timothy, 2

Book Written:   Baker gives the date of 66 A.D., but HC holds to the later 90 A.D. to 110 A.D as was the case for 1 Timothy.

Time Period/Setting:  This letter is thought to have been written by Paul from a Roman prison.  Both Baker and HC describe this letter as a kind of last will and testament from a man about to die.

Title:   As with 1 Timothy, HC casts doubt on Paul as the author.

Baker in particular finds these letters to be filled with thoughtful advice delivered in a warm and loving way to a pastor faced with the demands of leading a congregation.

Letter of Paul to Timothy, 1

Book Written:   65 A.D. according to Baker but HC puts the date later at 90 A.D. to 110 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Paul is thought to have written this letter from Macedonia to his friend and colleague, Timothy, who was in Ephesus leading the Christian church there.

Title:  HC is considerably more circumspect than Baker about the authorship of this letter as well as 2 Timothy and Titus. 

The problem that Timothy faces is primarily false teachings about Christ.  Paul gives advice on church leadership and has some more comments about the submission of women, Chapter 2, and the role of young widows, Chapter 5 which are kind of interesting.  Baker describes the letter as "a marvelous blend of practical advice from the Apostle of the Gentiles."  HC emphasizes more the Hellenistic influences in the writing.

Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, 2

Book Written:  50 A.D. or 51 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:   Paul wrote this book from Corinth to the Gentile converts in Thessalonica, a culturally Greek city in the Roman province of Macedonia.

Title:  Self-explanatory

Baker says that in this letter Paul is concerned with explaining that the Parousia  (Second Coming) has not occurred and only God knows when it will occur.  In Chapter 2, Paul explains that the "lawless one" will be revealed before the parousia, the lawless one being an evil, Satanic force.

The Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, 1

Book Written:  50A.D. or 51  A.D.  The oldest book in the New Testament.

Time Period/Setting:   Paul wrote this book from Corinth to the Gentile converts in Thessalonica, a culturally Greek city in the Roman province of Macedonia.

Title:  self-explanatory

This letter is geared toward a non-Jewish audience heavily influenced by Greek culture.  The Gentile Christians are being persecuted by Jews.

Letter of Paul to the Philippians

Book Written:  54 A.D or the early 60s A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Paul wrote this letter from prison, though exactly which prison and where is unclear.  HC says possibilities are Ephesus, Corinth and Caesarea.  Baker says Ephesus.  Philippi is a port city in Macedonia, a Roman province.

Title:  self-explanatory

Paul is very fond of the Philippian community as they are of him.  The letter has a warm and joyous tone as Paul writes that no other church has been as kind to Paul as the Philippian church.

Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

Book Written:  61A.D. to 63 A.D. according to Baker, but anywhere from 60s A.D. to 95 A.D. according to HC

Time Period/Setting:  Baker says Paul wrote this letter from a Roman prison, but HC says place of authorship is unknown.  Paul  is writing to Gentile Christians.

Title:  Paul is not necessarily the author.  According to HC, the author is more likely a student of Paul's who wrote after Paul's death.

This letter may not necessarily have been written to the church in Ephesus, but was rather a more general letter to all churches.  Baker says Paul wrote to combat a "challenge to the primacy of Christ in all creation."  HC talks about Paul's audience as "experiencing a radical transformation of their personal and social identity." 

Chapter 5 contains the familiar verses about the relation of husbands to wives being that of  Christ to the Church. Chapter 6 speaks of the relation of children to parents and slaves to masters along with the verses about putting on "the whole armor of God" in order to withstand evil.

Letter of Paul to the Galatians

Book Written:  54 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Written by Paul from Ephesus. Galatia was a Roman province near the present-day city of Ankara.  Ephesus is at a distance of some 200 miles to the east.

Title:  self-explanatory

Paul founded the Galatian Christian churches and is writing to dissuade gullible Galatians from listening to Jewish Christian teachers who are countering Paul's teachings about the new faith, particularly regarding circumcision.  HC says these rebellious teachers wanted new converts to Jesus "to undergo circumcision as a sign of their inclusion in God's covenant."  Whether they also wanted converts to adhere to Jewish food laws is unclear, but Paul again discusses food in Chapter 2 though his lengthier discussion of food appears in Chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians.

Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 2

Book Written:  Between 54 A.D. and 56 A.D. per HC, but in 57 A.D. per Baker

Time Period/Setting:  Written from Macedonia to the same Corinthian community of his first letter.  2 Corinthians is considered to be more disjoint and fragmentary and HC discusses four theories concerning its make-up.

Title:  self-explanatory

Just to keep the un-chronology going, HC says that this second letter is actually Paul's fourth letter to his fellow Christians in Corinth.

In this letter, Paul defends himself against a nay-sayer, apparently a particular though un-named individual, who has besmirched Paul's legitimacy as an apostle.

Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 1

Book Written:  54 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Written by Paul from Ephesus to the Gentile Christian community  in Corinth, a bustling city with a diverse population, in Achaia, a Roman province

Title:  self-explanatory

This letter of Paul, called first, is actually Paul's second letter to the Corinthian community per HC.  Paul had founded this Christian community and he's writing to them concerning problems that have arisen:  leaders proclaiming themselves to have special knowledge, adultery, fornication, prostitution, the persistent problem of clean and unclean food along with the matter of circumcision and resurrection to name a few.  Really, Paul covers the spectrum from head coverings to law suits.  He was a tireless crusader for the faith certainly and a relentless apologist for it as well, always stressing Christ and his message as the extension of God's covenant with Abraham and the Law.

There are many passages in First Corinthians that read a bit more poetically than those where Paul hammers away at the disobedient Corinthians.  Chapter 12 tells of the Church as being many members but one body, and Chapter 13 is the entirely beautiful passage about love (the Greek word used for love here was agape).    He writes of the resurrection of body in Chapter 15 as the "perishable body" putting on "imperishability." 

Paul does dip in to some dangerous territory by modern-day standards in Chapter 14 much more so than his comments on marriage in Chapter 7.  Women, he says, should not speak in church! Oh well, perhaps it would be easier all around if we did keep quiet, along with everyone else who may really have nothing whatsoever to say. 

Letter of Paul to the Romans

Book Written:  58 A.D.  Paul is thought to have dictated the letter to Tertius and to have asked Phoebe to take it with her to Rome. 

Time Period/Setting:  Written by Paul from Corinth to both Jews and returned Jewish Christians in Rome.  (In 49 A.D. Claudius expelled Jews and probably Jewish Christians from Rome due to religious unrest most likely the result of Christian influence.) Christian teaching had reached Rome by  this time, but apparently not through Paul's efforts.

Title:  self-explanatory

Paul's letter to the Romans was among the last of his letters to be written but is first in order of appearance in the Bible.  The first shall be last and the last first I suppose; chronological order was apparently not important in compiling the books of the Bible. (I will come to see that the Pauline Letters are arranged in descending order according to the length of each.)  The Book of Acts ends with Paul voyaging to Rome, but the Letter to the Romans, the following chapter, was written by Paul without ever having been to Rome. 

Baker describes Romans as a "doctrinal treatise" with the theme of justification by faith.  HC points out that at the time  Paul wrote this letter, he would have had "over two decades" of teaching under his belt.  That is evident.  To me, the letter is a well-thought-out philosophical piece of writing where Paul uses a sophisticated lawyer-like style of argumentation.  He's on fire with the faith. In order to "defend the . . .validity of Israel" to the Roman Christians Paul uses plenty of OT quotations and references to Jewish law. HC says that Paul uses the "diatribe style" to present his position.  That is, he writes "as if confronting an individual with a truth that demands a response." 

The Acts of the Apostles

Book Written:  Around 65 A.D. though HC puts the date closer to 90 A.D. figuring it must have been written after the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.  The author is Luke who wrote the third gospel though see below. 

Time Period/Setting:  The early years of the Christian Church after the resurrection of Christ

Title: Of the title, HC says it "indicates the shift in content from Luke's Gospel, which is about Jesus, to Acts, which concerns the life and work of the church."  HC casts some doubt on Luke, companion of St. Paul, author of third gospel and physician, as the author.  HC also points out that this book actually contains little concerning the activities of the apostles, but rather is mostly about Paul who was not an apostle.

Acts reads like an historical adventure book and so is engaging and easy to follow.  Nonetheless, HC cautions against viewing this book as just history and reminds that it is "theological narrative." 

Baker gives six theological points to keep in mind:  1)  The Church developed through the power of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost);  2)  Peter is the protagonist in the first half of the book. He selects Matthias to replace Judas and he gives the nod to the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius.  Paul is the protagonist of the second half of the book;  3)  Jesus, no other,  is the savior of mankind;  4)  There are eighteen speeches in the book.  All tell the story of Jesus's ministry, his death and resurrection and that he is the savior of the world;  5)  The Church is an organized community with a hierarchy.  There are deacons, presbyters and bishops;  6)  At the Council of Jerusalem, the way to salvation is established as faith in Jesus Christ.

Some figures in the book to think about are Barnabas who sold his field and gave the proceeds to the nascent Christian church while Ananias and Sapphira  did similarly but held back some of their profits, Stephen and his martyrdom including the eloquent speech he makes before the Council, Simon the magician who wanted to pay Philip for the powers that Philip had, the Ethiopian Eunuch who resembles a fairy tale character, Tabitha (Dorcas) whom Peter raises from the dead, Cornelius the centurion, the magician Bar-Jesus or Elymas to whom Paul says, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy. .. .: (Ch. 13, 9), Lydia the trader of purple cloth, Apollos who is re-educated by Priscilla and Aquila (Ch. 18), the Roman officials Felix, Festus, King Agrippa and Bernice.  Paul is at the center of the action as Acts comes to a close with his hairy sea voyage to Rome as prisoner on a ship.

John

Book Written:  Somewhere between 70 A.D. and 90 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Written in either Ephesus or Antioch about and/or for a Christian group separating from the larger Jewish community to which it had previously belonged. HC says that this gospel deals with the tension between these two groups, particularly over the Christian claim that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Title: Refers to John the Apostle, brother of James.  John is the author of the book.

The gospel of John is of course the different gospel, the one set apart from the synoptic gospels.  It's also the gospel of 'onlys'--the only mention of the miracle at Cana, the only mention of Nicodemus, the only mention of the Samaritan woman at the well, the only mention of  Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, the only mention of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, the only mention of the "new" commandment to love one another as Jesus has loved them (Ch. 13,34-35), the only mention of the piercing of Jesus' side, the only mention of Roman soldiers at Jesus' arrest, the only mention of Jesus appearing to Thomas. 

Luke

Book Written:  Around 64 A.D.

Time Period/Setting:  Luke writes for a Gentile, Christian audience

Title:  Luke is thought to be a physician, a Christian Gentile,  a companion to St. Paul and the author of the gospel named after him.

Both Baker and HC point out the importance of Jerusalem in this gospel which recounts Jesus travelling to this important city and returning to the same.