The 27 books shared by every Christian tradition — explored through a lens of honest scholarship and common faith.
Hover over any book to reveal its common essence — the one truth every tradition holds dear.
The threads woven through every book, every tradition, every century of faith.
From the birth of Christ to the moment all 27 books were confirmed as the shared foundation of every Christian tradition. Click any event to read more.
Jesus is born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of Herod the Great. The event that divides world history. Every NT book is written in response to this life.
"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger." — Luke 2:7
Jesus is baptised by John in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descends as a dove and the Father's voice is heard. This marks the start of roughly three years of public ministry across Galilee and Judea.
"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." — Matthew 3:17
Jesus is crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, and rises bodily on the third day — witnessed by hundreds. He ascends to the Father forty days later. This is the event at the heart of every book in the NT canon. All traditions affirm it without exception.
"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said." — Matthew 28:6
The Holy Spirit descends on the disciples in Jerusalem. Peter preaches to a crowd of thousands; 3,000 are baptised in a single day. The Church that will produce, collect, and canonise the 27 books comes into existence.
"They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues." — Acts 2:4
Paul of Tarsus writes 13 letters to churches across the Roman Empire — from Corinth to Rome to Colossae. Written before any Gospel, these are the oldest surviving Christian documents. They establish the theological framework that all later writings build upon.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine." — 2 Timothy 3:16
The general epistles — James, 1 & 2 Peter, and Jude — are written during a period of fierce Roman persecution under Nero. They address suffering, false teaching, and the call to holy living. Peter is martyred in Rome around 68 AD; his letters survive.
"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." — 1 Peter 5:7
Rome destroys the Temple in Jerusalem, scattering the Jewish-Christian community. Scholars date Mark's Gospel — the earliest, shortest, most urgent — to this period. The urgency of proclamation intensifies; recording the life of Jesus in writing becomes critical.
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." — Mark 1:15
Matthew writes for a Jewish audience, grounding Jesus in the fulfilment of Hebrew prophecy. Luke, the physician, writes a careful historical account for Gentile readers and follows it with Acts — the only history of the early Church in the canon.
"That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed." — Luke 1:4
The Apostle John, the last surviving eyewitness, writes his Gospel from Ephesus — the most theological of the four. His three letters and Revelation follow. Revelation, written in exile on Patmos, closes the canon with an apocalyptic vision of the Lamb's victory. The 27 books are all now in existence.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." — John 1:1
Marcion of Sinope, a wealthy shipowner, proposes his own radically reduced canon — rejecting the Old Testament entirely and keeping only a truncated Luke and ten Pauline letters. The Church declares him a heretic. His challenge forces early Christians to articulate clearly which books belong and why.
Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon argues there can only be four Gospels — no more, no less — just as there are four winds and four corners of the earth. His work Against Heresies is one of the earliest systematic defences of the NT texts as authoritative Scripture.
The Muratorian Fragment — a damaged Latin document discovered in Milan in 1740 — lists most of the books now in the NT as accepted by the Roman Church. It is the earliest known canonical list. All four Gospels, Acts, Paul's letters, and several others are included. The shape of the canon is recognisable.
Emperor Constantine convenes the first ecumenical council at Nicaea with ~300 bishops from across the Roman Empire. The council does not formally settle the canon, but it represents the high-water mark of Christian unity — Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions all trace their theology to Nicaea's creed, which draws entirely from the 27 books.
In his 39th Festal Letter, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria lists exactly the 27 books now in the NT — the first time any document does so explicitly and completely. "In these alone," he writes, "the teaching of godliness is proclaimed." This letter is the canonical watershed.
Under Pope Damasus I, a council in Rome confirms a canonical list matching all 27 NT books. Jerome is commissioned to produce the Latin Vulgate — the translation that will carry these books across Western Christendom for a thousand years.
The Council of Carthage, with Augustine present, formally confirms the 27-book NT canon for the Western Church. The decree matches the Eastern lists exactly. For the first and last time in history, all streams of Christianity agree on the same 27 books — before the great divisions begin.
Rome and Constantinople excommunicate each other, splitting Christianity into Catholic West and Orthodox East. The theological dispute centres on authority and the filioque clause — not the canon. Both traditions continue with the same 27 NT books, unchanged.
Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg door. The Protestant Reformation fractures Western Christianity into hundreds of denominations. Luther briefly questions a handful of NT books (Hebrews, James, Jude, Revelation) but his final canon is the same 27. Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox remain united on the NT canon to this day.
"The word of God shall stand for ever." — Isaiah 40:8, cited in 1 Peter 1:25
2,000 years after Pentecost, 1.6 billion Catholics, 300 million Orthodox, and 900 million Protestants hold in common the same 27 books. Divided by history, theology, and practice — united by the canon that predates every schism. These are the 27 books this site explores.
Every verse across all 27 books. Find the word you are looking for.