Wrap-Up

It didn’t take long to run out of time with this topic, did it? The truth is, the New Testament has so powerfully shaped so many parts of our history and our culture that we can only begin to scratch the surface in a short treatment like this. In fact, it’s hard to imagine what the world would be like today if it were not for the remarkable book that is the Bible.

Some of the examples of biblical influence were more obvious—paintings, sculptures and buildings, works of music and literature, stage and screen, as well as religious traditions that sprang from the Bible and crisscrossed the globe. Some of the examples are less obvious, like social and political movements, or values and ideas that informed our science, our medicine, our philanthropy. And some are abstract but still remarkable: the ways we think of time and history, human nature and the divine.

As we proceed now into the New Testament itself, we’ll take note of some of those influences and what they tell us about people, like ourselves, who live in front of the text.