Why did the earliest Christians, who already had the Hebrew scriptures, produce scriptures of their own? The author deals not only with hoe the New Testament books came to be written, but with the idea of a new set of scriptures. Why did occasional letters and gospels written for particular communities become scriptures for all Christians? Why were these chosen and other left out? How are the texts preserved, and when did the various Christian communities accept this new Testament? Joseph F. Kelly addresses these questions of apostolicity, authenticity and canonicity. He considers the factors-historical, cultural and theological which have contributed to the appearance of the individual books and to the canon as a whole.