ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a baker's dozen of "frequently asked questions" that arise when reading the New Testament and attempting to make sense of the myriad interpretations of its contents. Aramaic was the first language of most residents of the Galilee in which Jesus was raised. It is therefore remarkable that almost nothing written by Christians in that language has survived from the first century. The New Testament is replete with depictions of and references to astonishing events that go against the normal order of things, usually called "deeds of power" or "signs". Virtually everything written by Christians in antiquity technically falls under the heading "non-canonical", since only a tiny fraction of the literary output of the ancient church was canonized. For understanding the New Testament, the value of the non-canonical writings is not primarily historical. The possibility that they yield any reliable information about the life of Jesus not already found in the canonical gospels is quite small.
