The Epistles

 I first came across the word "epistle" in church. In its original Latin form epistola means "a letter," and the Greek ἐπιστολή (epistolé) means "message, letter, command, commission." However, the word was acquired into Old English around the year 1200 directly from Latin, with the specific meaning of "letter from an apostle forming part of canonical scripture."

 That last meaning is what is intended in the case of the New Testament books known by that name. There is some debate as to whether they are actual letters from one person to a community or communities, or literary compositions in the form of a letter designed to convey apostolic teaching.

 Of course, there is a lot of debate about authorship. The generally applicable consensus is that they were either written by a particular apostle, or in his style by his followers, for the purpose of conveying the apostles' response to issues as they arose.

 This is why the context is hugely important. To understand what is meant, one needs some sense of the author, actual or attributed, but also the intended audience -- which, as with everything biblical, is not 21st century Christians of the West.

 Of the 27 NT books, 22 have the form of a letter -- even Revelation, or the Apocalypse of John, begins with an epistle's classic greeting and ends with a closing salutation. For these purposes, I'll exclude Revelation, which is in a genre all its own.

 Of the remaining 21 books, 13 are attributed in the text or by tradition to Paul. These break into two sets.

 First are 9 letters to Christian communities in the Mediterranean that knew of Paul or were known by him. These include a letter to the Romans, two to Corinthians, one each to Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and two to Thessalonians. These have in common that they address particular issues in these communities and assume that the reader knows to what he is referring.

 Four additional letters, are addressed to individuals, are the two letters to Timothy, one to Titus and one to Philemon. Again, we are reading a communication between two people who know each other and also know the circumstances that prompt the letter.

 The Epistle to the Hebrews, is anonymous but has long been counted as Paul's, although scholars as far as St. Jerome, who produced the 4th century Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, have doubted Pauline authorship. Moreover, it is not really in the form of a letter.

 All of these 15 letters were written, according to scholarly consensus, between the years 48 and 67 of our era -- or about 18 to 37 years after the crucifixion, if one accepts the year 30 for that event.

 An additional seven epistles are known as "catholic" letters because they are not addressed to any particular community or person. Thus they are universal letters to all Christians of the time.

 These are the letter of James (often identified with James, called the brother of Jesus), two of Peter (who headed the original 12), three ascribed to John (the Apostle), and one by Jude (called the brother of Jesus and James).

 Questions of authorship and date do not affect the traditional Christian doctrine that these letters are inspired Scripture and accurately convey the teaching of the Apostles. I will read them in that spirit.