I figure that other religions shouldn’t get short shrift in my various reading projects, besides, from a psycho-sociological perspective, they’re all on equal footing in terms of my interest. Queue the folk who are going to object that I dare to impugn “the word of God”, who had no qualms over my dissection of the “Old Testament” over the last years. For the New Testament, or Christian Bible, it turns out there are a whole lot of versions of it, and they don’t all agree. I mean, not even close in some cases. I had a bit of a chat with the Claude AI and we settled on the NRSVue, or New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition for my dive.
“Formal-leaning, produced by a broad ecumenical/scholarly committee, widely used in academic biblical studies. Uses gender-inclusive language where the translators judged the original intent to be inclusive (e.g., “brothers and sisters” for adelphoi in some contexts).”
Then it became a question of what order to read the 27 books in…
“For a sociological and historical approach, the standard biblical order is not ideal because it hides how early Christian communities actually developed.
You should read the texts chronologically by composition date. This lets you track the evolution of the movement in real time: from a small, apocalyptic Jewish sect to a structured, institutionalized religion spreading across the Roman Empire.”
And then we have a four stage reading order that groups the books in that suggested order. One way or another, it covers it all, so I’m not sure that the order matters. And, away we go!
Stage 1: The First Network (c. 50–58 CE)
“Start with the genuine letters of Paul. These are the absolute oldest surviving Christian documents. They provide an unfiltered look at active, chaotic first-generation house churches wrestling with identity, social class, and boundary lines.”
Galatians – Faith over Formula
The ninth book in the traditional reading order of the New Testament, and the fourth in the “Pauline epistles”, this is arguably the earliest surviving Christian text, written around 49-55 CE, before any of the Gospels. Paul was a highly educated Jewish scholar – an insider turned revolutionary, who became the architect of early Christian theology. It’s a fiery manifesto defending Paul’s version of the gospel against rival missionaries who insisted Gentile converts must follow Jewish law, especially circumcision. He writes to the communities in Galatia (central Anatolia) to reassert that faith in Christ, not adherence to Torah, is the path to salvation. The tone is urgent and personal.
- Paul opens with fire and brimstone, chastising the Galatians for flirting with “another gospel” that drags them back toward Mosaic law. He insists his message is not human invention but divine revelation. He recounts his own past as a zealous Pharisee until the “burning bush” moment where Jesus visited him personally, an encounter that flipped his world view. From there, he positions himself as an independent apostle, not beholden to Jerusalem’s leaders, but authorized directly by God. The chapter reads like a manifesto of legitimacy: Paul as prophet, his gospel as pure, and any rival teaching as corruption.