The New Testament for Medievalists: General Information, Useful Tools, Further Resources

The following resource page is under preparation by Dr. Jonathan Henry as he teaches New Testament and Christian Origins at Princeton University. Dr. Henry earned a PhD in Late Antique Mediterranean Religion from Princeton, where he continues to research and write on Christianity's first thousand years.

This resource is somewhat distinct from many New Testament overviews in its attenuation to methods and themes that are relevant to Late Antique and Medieval scholarship. The materials are primarily intended for use by students, teachers, and scholars in all history-and-text-based disciplines, but all interested readers are invited to access this page!

The structure of the resource is planned as follows:

  1. General introduction to the New Testament
    1. Backgrounds (~500 BCE-1 CE)
    2. Formation of the New Testament
    3. Impact of the New Testament
  2. Textual criticism of New Testament manuscripts 
    1. Ancient composition and copying
    2. Medieval manuscript studies and New Testament text
  3. The emergence of Christian scripture and its impact
    1. Complexities of "reception history" (Nachleben and Wirkungsgeschicthe)
    2. Christian textual interpretation
    3. Artistic representations in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
    4. Pseudepigraphal and apocryphal texts
    5. The New Testament and Anti-Jewishness
    6. The New Testament in an Islamic milieu 
    7. The New Testament in Medieval Ethiopia
    8. The New Testament in Europe and European colonies
  4. Useful tools for studying
    1. Overviews, backgrounds and parallels
      1. Maps
      2. Manuscripts
      3. Languages and regional expressions (Syriac, Coptic, etc.)
    2. Tools for studying Pauline literature
    3. Tools for studying Historical Jesus 
      1. Five Gospel Parallels (incl. some Paul)
    4. Tools for studying Gospels
  5. Online media and resources
    1. Religion for Breakfast
    2. Bart Ehrman 
    3. Bible Odyssey
    4. Etc.
  6. Offline media and resources
    1. Commentary lists and evaluations
    2. Online reviews of print resources
  7. Ways to learn more (Antique, Medieval, or Later!)
    1. Archaeology opportunities
    2. Library/archival research
    3. Options for further study