Christianity is a religion that is based on a book called the bible. The bible is divided into two sections: the old testament and the new testament – each of which contains numerous books. For more details about the authorship of the books in those two sections, see the pages on this web site to do with the authenticity of the old and new testaments.
Most religious people believe that the bible is the word of god and that its contents have been divinely handed down in a complete and pristine form. They are wrong. The books in the bible have been edited and selected based on the decisions of mankind – always a long time after the events contained in the books, e.g. at least decades and up to 1,000 years later.
The fact that we don’t have originals of any of the writings in any of the books is not debated, not even by religious people. There must have been first editions of the books, and that leads to two main problems: firstly, which events were invented or altered between the events themselves and the first recording of the events (assuming they did happen), and secondly, which events were altered between the first editions and the editions we have today? In either case, it does seem like a foolish method for an omniscient creator to use to have his sacred words “preserved” for all time.
There’s also the complication of translation. The books of the old testament were originally written mainly in Hebrew, with a small amount written in Aramaic. The books of the new testament were all written in Koine Greek (Koine being the common Greek dialect used before about 600 CE).
Not even the various Christian religions can agree on which books make up the bible. For example, the old testament contains 24 books for Jews, 39 books for Protestants, 46 for Catholics, and upwards of 52 for the more orthodox persuasions. The first five books of the old testament are called the pentateuch and are common to Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The new testament contains 27 books although there is even debate there as to the omission of other books. For more details about how the various christian religions adopted differing sets of books, see Christian canons (a Wikipedia link).
The following is a switchboard of links to other pages (on this web site) of the most common (66) books found in the two testaments of Christianity. Entries without links are pages under construction (and coming soonish!). The links are to other pages on this web site.
| Testament | Book | Notes |
| old | genesis | In common with Islam and Judaism. Part of the pentateuch. |
| old | exodus | In common with Islam and Judaism. Part of the pentateuch. |
| old | leviticus | In common with Islam and Judaism. Part of the pentateuch. |
| old | numbers | In common with Islam and Judaism. Part of the pentateuch. |
| old | deuteronomy | In common with Islam and Judaism. Part of the pentateuch. |
| old | joshua | |
| old | judges | |
| old | ruth | |
| old | 1 samuel | |
| old | 2 samuel | |
| old | 1 kings | |
| old | 2 kings | |
| old | 1 chronicles | |
| old | 2 chronicles | |
| old | ezra | |
| old | nehemiah | |
| old | esther | |
| old | job | |
| old | psalms | |
| old | proverbs | |
| old | ecclesiastes | |
| old | song of solomon | |
| old | isaiah | |
| old | jeremiah | |
| old | lamentations | |
| old | ezekiel | |
| old | daniel | |
| old | hosea | |
| old | joel | |
| old | amos | |
| old | obadiah | |
| old | jonah | |
| old | micah | |
| old | nahum | |
| old | habakkuk | |
| old | zephaniah | |
| old | haggai | |
| old | zechariah | |
| old | malachi | |
| new | matthew | |
| new | mark | |
| new | luke | |
| new | john | |
| new | acts | |
| new | romans | |
| new | 1 corinthians | |
| new | 2 corinthians | |
| new | galatians | |
| new | ephesians | |
| new | philippians | |
| new | colossians | |
| new | 1 thessalonians | |
| new | 2 thessalonians | |
| new | 1 timothy | |
| new | 2 timothy | |
| new | titus | |
| new | philemon | |
| new | hebrews | |
| new | james | |
| new | 1 peter | |
| new | 2 peter | |
| new | 1 john | |
| new | 2 john | |
| new | 3 john | |
| new | jude | |
| new | revelation | Pretends to say something about the fate for all humans (but really doesn’t). |