The Catholic Epistles (or “General Epistles,” or “Catholic Letters”) are a group of letters written to Christians in the early church. Christian leaders believed these books were extremely useful for understanding and applying the teachings of Jesus in real life. So over the centuries, they eventually came together to join the canon—the group of books that make up the Bible.
In this video, we take a high-level look at the seven traditional Catholic Epistles of the Bible:
- James
- 1 Peter & 2 Peter
- 1 John, 2 John & 3 John
- Jude
You’ll see why these letters are called “Catholic” (even though Protestants and Orthodox Christians love them, too), and you’ll get a little bit of insight into the controversies surrounding these books’ authorship.
Want a closer look at that whiteboard (without me in the way)? Check out the full-size image below.
Hi, I really am enjoying your videos and they are good, though I have to contend that Hebrews was not written by Paul and most scholars today do not think so either. Hebrews does contain much Pauline theology and thought but does not follow Pauls format of greeting and identifying himself as the author. General consensus is that the letter was authored by one of Paul’s disciples, maybe even Priscilla, wouldn’t that throw a kink in the idea that the bible discriminates and is against female scholarship. Keep up the good work and may our saviour continue to Bless you.
Thanks, Chuck! True, most scholars don’t think Paul wrote it (I don’t think I personally know anyone who thinks Paul wrote Hebrews.) But a thousand years of assuming he did write it dies hard when it comes to the names of groups of letters.
I’ve read a bit on the Priscilla hypothesis, which is a fun one. I think the candidacies of Barnabas and Apollos tickle my fancies most, though. ;-)
(In case you’re wondering, this is gonna have a whole video to itself. That’ll be a fun one!)
I like your videos. You are an excellent teacher (for me). The full image of the catholic letters, if you are able, i would like to be able to enlarge for obvious reasons.
Wow, thank you! Ah, good catch—you should be able to click the image to see the full-size version now. =)
Enjoy!