Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 1. Beginnings of Christian Scripture
Christianity began as a religion of the book
In short
- 1.Paul's letters are situational documents written to specific churches about specific disputes.
- 2.They were read aloud to largely illiterate congregations, then copied and passed on.
- 3.No author of a New Testament book knew he was writing 'the New Testament'.
- 4.The collection took shape over roughly three centuries of use, argument and selection.
The claim being examined
The New Testament is often imagined as a single volume delivered to the early Church.
The Islamic position
The Qur'an was recited, memorised and written in the Prophet's (SAW) lifetime under his supervision; the New Testament writings were occasional letters and narratives circulated among scattered congregations.
Analysis
Chapter 1 sets out how central texts became to Christian identity — more so than to any other religion of the Roman world — while simultaneously showing how uncontrolled their earliest circulation was. Letters were carried by hand, copied by whoever in a congregation could write, and read aloud in assembly. There was no scriptorium, no authorised exemplar and no mechanism for checking a copy against the author's original.
From the Qur'an
وَأَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًۭا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ ۖ
wa-anzalnā ilayka l-kitāba bil-ḥaqi muṣaddiqan limā bayna yadayhi mina l-kitābi wamuhayminan ʿalayhi
And We have revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming what came before it and as a criterion over it.
From the Bible
Greek: anagnosthe
And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans.
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