Three areas present themselves for examination: the early Christian communities As Scripture, in Scripture, and of Scripture.  Three questions guide us: 1) What does Christian Scripture as a whole tell us about the early Christian communities that produced the texts?  How is the variety of understandings present among the early Christians expressed as Scripture?  2) What do specific books and passages of the New Testament tell us about the communities described in Scripture?  What can we learn about the community described and about the community implied in the text?  3) What do specific passages tell us about the relationship of these communities to Scripture?  How do we see the early Christian communities being shaped and influenced through their interactions with Hebrew texts to become communities of Scripture?