As I’ve never sat down and read the New Testament, I recently went and bought myself a copy.
I’m not looking for a revelation, I’m not looking for faith or Jesus. I do, however, recognize the Bible as an important piece of literature. As such, I’d like the Official Doper Opinion on what your favorite parts of the New Testament are, for whatever reason. Beauty, humor, inspiration, anything at all.
I’ll eventually read it all the way through, but for now I’d like to hit the highlights, so to speak.
We bought a copy of The Picture Bible scripted by Iva Hoth and illustrated by Andre Le Blanc for our young daughter. It’s like a comic book, beautifully illustrated.
It’s the easiest way we’ve found to read and enjoy the stories of both the Old and New Testaments.
The only thing I can read in the New Testament is (are) the gospels. I don’t find the letters interesting and Revelations is just too bizarre most of the time.
I prefer the Old Testament myself. As a story, I can pretty much read it straight through until about the split of Israel into two separate kingdoms.
It is kinda tough to read the NT as a “stand-alone” piece of work. Within the first 20 minutes of reading, there must be over 100 references to something that went on in the OT. Without the OT, much of the NT’s impact is muted.
Anyway, that being said, I really like Paul’s letter to Philemon. As literature, it is a delightful example of a persuasive and tactful letter. John’s first letter scores pretty high on the inspiration scale.
My first read-through of the NT left me a little bewildered, but gradually some of the connections came together. Happy reading!
My favorite book of the NT is The Acts of The Apostles. It’s almost like a step-by-step instructional on how to start up a religion. Of interest also was how the early Christians interacted with other people of the ancient world (especially those philosophizing Greeks!)
The new testament is required reading for the Great Books course at the University of Michigan. That where I finally got around to reading the whole thing. It definately has value as literature apart from the religon thing.
Mark is a good place to start. An action filled book hitting the highlights of Jesus’ life.
John and the 3 letters of John are useful for getting the feelings behind the works and actions.
Acts is like an exciting history type thread on the Dope. Starting with Peter, going on to the speech of Stephen, and detailing the ministry of Paul and friends.
The letters are filled with lots of doctrine (or doctrine in practice) but are still interesting in places. Esp James, Philemon, and Jude.
Of course, to learn Christianity, you would want to read it all, but as literature, this should help keep it fun.
IANAC (or should that be “IANAX”?), but this is one of my favorite New Testament quotes:
1 Corinthians 13: 11-13 (King James Version)
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
I just love the imagery of the “now we see through a glass, darkly” part. When you are young, you don’t always see the whole picture.
The whole chapter is good, though. “Charity” is often translated as “love” in other versions of the Bible, so the beginning of the chapter is often read at weddings.
The Gospels were my favourite part to read because they reminded me of Rashomon (to a lesser extent, obviously)…I like the idea that they were telling the same story in four different ways.
I don’t find the letters nearly as interesting, and sometimes they actually make me angry, just because the apostles seem to be espousing so much that just was never mentioned in the four accounts that supposedly summarized the main points of Jesus’ religious/social philosophy.
And, of course, Revelation is great before bed. You want twisted dreams…