Born in the Second Century

17. How the New Testament Was Created.

Chris Palmero

BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY presents its recurring Brighten the Corners miniseries that explains the historical background of major topics in Christian origins. Today, host Chris Palmero explores the creation of the New Testament.

Anyone who listens to this episode can learn about the theory of the theologian David Trobisch: that a single, original, and complete "first edition" of the New Testament was released in the late second century. This radical hypothesis, and its relation to the late origins of Christianity, is explained. We will consider why the early Christian theologians all immediately started taking their marching orders from this new collection as soon as it appeared. How could this be, if their religion had been developing over a period of five generations up until then?

Opening reading: Jesus' workplace harassment of the Samaritan woman from the gospel of John evokes an exploration of Simon Magus. How does this mysterious figure tie in to the beginnings of Christianity?

YouTube: @borninthesecondcentury
E-mail: secondcenturypodcast@gmail.com
Music: Pompeii Gray on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud

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