The New Testament Canon

The Epistle to the Hebrews — Authorship, Canon, and the New Testament's Greatest Sermon

Hebrews—anonymous, disputed, indispensable. Its three-century canonical battle and the theology that shaped Catholic worship.

The Gospel of Matthew — The Church’s Gospel and Its Journey to Canon

Few books shaped early Christianity as deeply as Matthew. Explore its authorship debates, composition, theology, and canonical status.

2 Peter — The Most Contested Letter in the Canon

Few New Testament books faced more persistent doubt than 2 Peter. Its disputed authorship, weak patristic attestation, and long road to the canon.

The Shepherd of Hermas: The Book That Almost Made It Into the Bible

The most popular Christian text you've never heard of — and how the Church discerned that the Shepherd of Hermas belonged to Tradition, not Scripture.

The Gospel of Mark — Peter's Witness and Its Journey to Canon

The shortest Gospel was tied to Peter from the earliest testimony, yet read least in antiquity. A Catholic examines Mark's authorship, abrupt ending, and path to the canon.

The Epistle of James — Faith, Works, and the Letter Luther Called “Straw”

The one New Testament book a Reformer tried to demote. A Catholic on the Epistle of James—its disputed road to the canon, its authorship, and the faith-versus-works fight.

The Apocalypse of Peter — Heaven, Hell, and the Book That Almost Made the Bible

The earliest Christian tour of heaven and hell was nearly canonized — read in church, defended by Clement of Alexandria. Why the Apocalypse of Peter was left out.

The Epistle of Jude — The Letter That Quoted Lost Books

Jude runs twenty-five verses, quotes two books outside the canon, and nearly did not make the cut. A Catholic reads its authorship, its apocrypha, and its road to Scripture.

1 Peter — The Apostle’s Letter of Hope in Suffering

The First Letter of Peter is the one catholic epistle the early Church never doubted. A Catholic reads its author, its ‘Babylon,’ its theology of suffering, and the riddle of the spirits in prison.

2 John — The Elder’s Letter to the Chosen Lady

The Second Letter of John runs thirteen verses, signs itself only ‘the Presbyter,’ and tells a church to shut its door on false teachers. A Catholic reads its author, its ‘chosen Lady,’ and its long road into the canon.

The Book of Romans — Paul's Masterwork and Its Road Into the Canon

A Catholic on the Book of Romans — the one letter no critic could deny, the most tangled text in the New Testament, and why it stands first among Paul's epistles.

The Gospel of the Hebrews — A Lost Gospel and the Canon It Never Joined

The Gospel of the Hebrews survives only in scraps quoted by the Fathers — the risen Christ appearing to James, the Holy Spirit called his mother. A Catholic reads the fragments and asks why it never entered the New Testament.

The Gospel of Luke — The Evangelist of Mercy and Its Journey to Canon

Luke, the Gentile physician and companion of Paul, wrote the longest Gospel — and the one Marcion tried to hijack. A Catholic examines its authorship, sources, theology, and path to the canon.

The First Letter to the Thessalonians — The Earliest Christian Writing and Its Journey to Canon

1 Thessalonians is most likely the oldest surviving Christian writing. A Catholic examines its date, the parousia, the misread “rapture,” and its path into the New Testament canon.

The Acts of the Apostles — The Birth of the Church and Its Journey to Canon

Luke's second volume tells how the Church went from an upper room in Jerusalem to the heart of Rome. A Catholic examines the authorship, the 'we' passages, the historicity debates, and the path of Acts to the canon.

The Book of Revelation — The Bible's Most Contested Book and How to Read It

A Catholic on the Book of Revelation — who wrote it and when, why the Christian East nearly threw it out, and the four ways Christians have read its visions, from preterist to futurist.

3 John — The Elder, Gaius, and the Man Who Loved to Be First

The Third Letter of John is the shortest book in the Bible, never names Jesus, and records a real first-century church quarrel over hospitality. A Catholic reads Gaius, Diotrephes, and its long road into the canon.

The Acts of Paul — Thecla, the Baptized Lion, and the Forger Who Loved Paul

A presbyter in Asia forged the Acts of Paul 'out of love for Paul'—and was deposed for it. How the book gave the Church Thecla, the baptized lion, and 3 Corinthians, and why it was still left out of the canon.

The Gospel of John — The Spiritual Gospel and Its Journey to Canon

John's is the highest Christology in the New Testament — the Gospel the Gnostics loved and a few of the orthodox feared. A Catholic examines its authorship, the Alogi, and its path to the canon.

The First Letter to the Corinthians — The Oldest Words in the New Testament and Its Road Into the Canon

A Catholic on 1 Corinthians — the quarrelsome church whose letter preserves the oldest creed and the earliest Eucharist in the New Testament, and its road into the canon.

The Second Letter to the Corinthians — The Letter No One Doubted and No One Can Agree Is One Letter

A Catholic on 2 Corinthians — Paul's most personal letter, its power-in-weakness gospel, and the integrity debate behind a book the Church never doubted.

The Epistle to the Galatians — The Undisputed Letter at the Heart of the Canon's First War

Galatians was never doubted—yet Marcion put it first, the church fought over it, and Luther called it his own. A Catholic reads its road through the canon.