What's in a Name? Book Titles in the New Testament

This article follows up two earlier articles that surveyed Old Testament book titles. Four possible functions of a title have been differenttiated by Gérard Genette, and these categories are used to analyse and interpret the assigned titles of the books of the New Testament. The post-authorial titles of the books of the New Testament are in effect a valuable but fallible commentary on the literary texts to which they are attached, constraining interpretation, sometimes in ways that are in tension with the texts themselves. Seeing that titles may guide or misguide readers, they require the critical attention of those who read and try to make sense of biblical texts.