Welcome to "A Year In the New Testament"!

As 2016 ends and 2017 begins, I plan to read carefully through the New Testament in the course of this year, roughly one chapter a day, forcing myself to read the text by (lightly) blogging on each chapter.

I've organized the New Testament readings so that I will read through each of the four gospels at different times of the year, roughly once every three months, with various other New Testament books read in between, following a theme or a historical order.  We will begin with the gospel of Luke in January, followed by the book Acts, providing a nice overview of the ministry of Jesus and the young first century church.  Along the way, we will look at the letters of Paul to the Galatians and to the church in Thessalonica. After looking at several more letters by Paul, we will return to the gospels, taking up the Gospel of Matthew in April and May.  Eventually we will read the Gospel of Mark in mid-summer and the gospel fo John in October and November.

Each blog post will include the text of the chapter, along with a few notes and comments.  Sundays will not include new material but will be a time to catch up; On Sundays I will post a summary blog or outline some passages to come.

The New Testament has 260 chapters.  Most chapters have fewer than 40 verses but a few have as many as 80 verses.  We will go through the 260 chapters usually at a rate of one chapter a day; occasionally we will split up a longer chapter and take several days to cover it.  This allows us to break the New Testament into 312 chapters or partial chapters, covering a 6 passages a week for 52 weeks.  On Sundays we will take a break from the chapter-a-day routine and look at some concepts related to the chapters covered or give a brief summary of the covered New Testament book.

I hope to post a new chapter, with a few observations, every morning. In my posts I will often include links to other resources or to related Bible passages. (These are usually marked in bright pink so that it is clear that this is a hyperlink different from the text.)

Will you join me in A Year in the New Testament?  Feel free to follow the blog and comment -- or not -- as you see fit.  You may write me by sending email to KenWSmith54 (AT) gmail (DOT) com.