Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	61/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Pitchfork	6.7/10
The Guardian
AllMusic
Consequence of Sound	B-
musicOMH
NME	6/10
Pretty Much Amazing	B-
Culture Collide	83/100
The Line of Best Fit	6/10
Earbuddy	7.9/10

A New Testament is the second album recorded by former Girls lead vocalist and guitarist Christopher Owens. It was originally released on September 30, 2014, on the Turnstile Music record label.

In March 2014, Owens shared the track, "It Comes Back to You", writing that the song was "from a new album I've made with dear friends". Then in May, Owens followed this up with "Stephen", saying, "I think it's a song unlike anything I've ever worked on." In July, Owens shared the album cover and track listing plus a video for the single, "Nothing More Than Everything To Me", directed by Max Minghella, announcing that A New Testament would be released at the end of September accompanied by a North America and UK tour.

In a statement accompanying this announcement, Owens wrote that A New Testament was "inspired by the fundamentals of American music—Gospel, Country, R&B," and was a demonstration of "honest, earnest, simple songwriting—'three chords and the truth'". He also shared that he worked on the album with many of the musicians from Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011), including guitarist John Anderson, drummer Darren Weiss and keyboardist Danny Eisenberg, and Lysandre producer Doug Boehm.

In an interview with Pitchfork in July, Owens shared that A New Testament was strongly influenced by the music he grew up with: the simple, country-influenced guitar music he played in the Children of God, and the AM radio he heard while working for the late Stanley Marsh 3 in Amarillo, Texas. Owens also commented on the more "lighthearted" nature of A New Testament, saying that he is "happy. And if some of that came out on the record, that's good. I don't want to be afraid to show that. People like me for being this down-and-out character, but I’m sorry, I'm not your Jesus. Don't hand me that cross. I refuse to play along." Owens attributed his relative contentment to the stable, long-term relationship he is in with Dominant Legs singer Hannah Hunt, and the improved relationship with his estranged father, who he refers to in the song "Stephen".

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Wikipedia