Foreword / George R. Beasley-Murray -- Part I: he literary world of the New Testament -- General considerations -- The Hebrew scriptures -- The Septuagint (LXX) -- The Old Testament Apocrypha -- The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha -- The Dead Sea scrolls -- Greco-Roman literature -- Part II: The Gospels -- Jesus of Nazareth -- The formation of oral tradition -- From oral to written gospel -- The gospel genre -- Summary -- The fourfold gospel collection -- The need for a collection -- The stages of collection -- The authority of the written gospels -- Part III: The Pauline literature -- Paul -- Paul and Greco-Roman literature -- The form of Paul's letters -- The content and context of Paul's letters -- The writing of Paul's letters -- The collection of Paul's letters -- The canonicity of Paul's letters -- Part IV: Other New Testament literature -- The Acts of the Apostles -- The catholic letters -- Part V: The criteria of canonicity -- The authority of Jesus -- Apostolicity -- Usage in the church -- Orthodoxy -- Inspiration -- Excursus: The arrangement of the New Testament books -- Part VI: Writing, copying & transmitting the New Testament manuscripts -- Paleography -- Materials for writing -- The form of books -- Writing New Testament manuscripts -- Transmitting the New Testament -- Part VII: Textual variants & the practice of textual criticism -- Unintentional variations -- Intentional variations -- Evaluating the evidence.