Introduction to the New Testament Volume 1, Parts 1-2

Introduction To The New Testament by Johann David Michaelis. This English presentation of Michaelis’s eighteenth?century German critical project (Part I) includes the Translator’s Preface and the opening chapters on the title, authenticity, and inspiration of the New Testament. The translator explains why the English edition uses a faithful but not strictly literal rendering, moves marginal references, and adds supplementary notes drawn from German sources, inviting readers to offer corrections. The excerpt covers Chapter I on the naming conventions of the New Covenant vs. New Testament, Chapter II on the authenticity of the New Testament, and Chapter III on the inspiration of the New Testament, highlighting a rigorous historical?critical method that relies on patristic testimony, early Christian writers, and the examination of Jewish, Gentile, and heretical witnesses. It emphasizes linguistic features such as Hebraisms and Syriac influences, and explains how external and internal evidence are weighed in determining authenticity. Set within an 18th?century German scholarly milieu, the work defends the NT’s antiquity and inspiration while acknowledging scholarly debates. The excerpt ends as Chapter III introduces the doctrine of inspiration.