Teaching New Testament Introduction

After a lull of a couple of years with declining numbers, my NT Intro class this year has 38 students plus a few more auditing. So it was thrilling yesterday to see to many eager faces as we began our journey in learning the New Testament. The NT is the most important book or collection of books (Gospels and letters mainly) of the Christian church - all of our foundation doctrines are derived from the NT - The Trinity, The Salvation of Humankind through Jesus Christ, the Future Judgement, Resurrection from the Dead, Everlasting Life, etc.
I first took the class through what makes up the New Testament corpus and why the NT was written. Then I lectured on the process of canonization - how the 27 books of the NT came about to be accepted as canonical Scripture alongside the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It was an exhilarating class as the students this year were enthusiastic and I could see that they were all ears when I spoke as if every word was taken with extreme seriousness. It is serious business learning the Word of God.