What is the Old Testament and the New Testament and the Bible? Also, what are the Gospels?
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There are 39 books that make up the collection of the writings of Hebrew prophets before Jesus. Christians call this collection of Hebrew prophetic writings the Old Testament. It is believed that Moses wrote the first five of the 39 books of the Old Testament. Those five books are also known as the Torah and include: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
In addition to the Torah, the other 34 books of the Old Testament contain the Psalms and the writings of many other prophets including Daniel, Jeremiah, and King Solomon. In Turkish some people refer to the entire Old Testament as the Tevrat and attribute all these prophetic writings to Moses. But Moses did not write them all. Some people refer to only the first five books (Torah) as the Tevrat. So when conversing on these subjects in Turkey one needs to be careful about how someone is using the terms.
There is likewise confusion in Turkey regarding what writings constitute the New Testament. Many people in Turkey, when they refer to the New Testament, are thinking about the four stories about Jesus’ life that were written by four of his followers. These four books were named after the authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are known as the four gospels. Each gospel describes the life and ministry of Jesus from their perspective and include the actual words that Jesus spoke. If you read through a New Testament you will notice that it also contains letters written by other followers of Jesus who received revelations from God. These include Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. In total, there are 27 books in the New Testament.
In a modern translation of the Old and New Testaments called the Kutsal Kitap, it sometimes says on the cover: Tevrat, Zebur and İncil. The reader should understand that the Kutsal Kitap contains all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. They are not restricted to the books of Moses (Torah) and the four gospels. The reader should be aware of these differences in terminology. In this writing when we say, "Tevrat, Zebur and İncil" we are refering to the complete collection of Old and New Testament prophetic writings. We also call these the Bible (Kutsal Kitap) or the holy scriptures. In Turkish there is an older translation of the Old and New Testaments called Kitabı Mukaddes.
In addition to the Torah, the other 34 books of the Old Testament contain the Psalms and the writings of many other prophets including Daniel, Jeremiah, and King Solomon. In Turkish some people refer to the entire Old Testament as the Tevrat and attribute all these prophetic writings to Moses. But Moses did not write them all. Some people refer to only the first five books (Torah) as the Tevrat. So when conversing on these subjects in Turkey one needs to be careful about how someone is using the terms.
There is likewise confusion in Turkey regarding what writings constitute the New Testament. Many people in Turkey, when they refer to the New Testament, are thinking about the four stories about Jesus’ life that were written by four of his followers. These four books were named after the authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are known as the four gospels. Each gospel describes the life and ministry of Jesus from their perspective and include the actual words that Jesus spoke. If you read through a New Testament you will notice that it also contains letters written by other followers of Jesus who received revelations from God. These include Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. In total, there are 27 books in the New Testament.
In a modern translation of the Old and New Testaments called the Kutsal Kitap, it sometimes says on the cover: Tevrat, Zebur and İncil. The reader should understand that the Kutsal Kitap contains all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. They are not restricted to the books of Moses (Torah) and the four gospels. The reader should be aware of these differences in terminology. In this writing when we say, "Tevrat, Zebur and İncil" we are refering to the complete collection of Old and New Testament prophetic writings. We also call these the Bible (Kutsal Kitap) or the holy scriptures. In Turkish there is an older translation of the Old and New Testaments called Kitabı Mukaddes.