The aim of this book is to help you read more competently and so experience more richly the New Testament Letters as helpful catechetical resources both for maturing in your discipleship relationship with Jesus and for building up your Christian community today.

Part 1, The World of the Early Christians, provides some necessary background material about their urban social world and worldview that will allow you to understand better the historical situation in which the Letters were composed and what the authors, in particular Paul whom we know most about, were experiencing as they created and sustained their new Christian identity in a non-Christian world.

Part 2, The New Testament Letters, offers a brief Reading Guide to each of the Letters, first those of Paul, then those of his followers and finally those of the other authors, focusing especially on the selections chosen for reading at Sunday Masses to help you become familiar with the Letters and discover what each offers us today.

Part 3, Reading Others' Mail, offers several helpful resources that will help you use these Letters for:

- maturing in your own spirituality and building up your community

- further reading and study (including a handy glossary of helpful terms)

- personal reflection and small-group sharing