Introduction to the Bible - 1

Catholic and Orthodox View

texts are part of the old testament canon for roman catholics and eastern orthodox christians

general revelation

god showing finger prints - nature!

special revelation

text and scripture itself

Background

Protestant bibles contain 39 OT books and 27 NT books, for a total of 66 books. Add the apocrypha, and you have the catholic bible!

protestant view = bible is ancient, parts of OT completed 1000 and 1800 years before Christ, and NT was created no later than 200 years after Christ’s birth.

OT original language

Hebrew

NT original language

Greek

old testament writers

reported that they were conveying the word of god (internal reasoning)

new testament writers

believed that the OT words were the “word of god” and were inspired

Jesus

describes scripture as inspired using the words of god (OT stories) in his teaching “it is written.” the NT writers believed their message was from the authority of god.

archeology

external and subjective reasoning - there is archeological evidence of the bible, it makes sense, stood the test of time, culture, socioeconomic classes, and testimony.

13th century

each book gets a name and is divided into chapters, not original Hebrew or greek language. OT books began as oral tradition, then recorded into writing and gathered as a formal collection much later (6th C BC)

dead sea scrolls

manuscripts discovered in ancient caves, scholars found fragments of OT books with no changes proving that no message from the OT changed.

TANAK

the hebrew bible

• what christians refer to as the OT

• stands for Torah (teaching) Nevim (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings)

canon

the officially accepted list of books, canonizing OT books was a formality. Inspired and then decide to protect the group of books and formally classify them

• believed they were important already

• the museum of the bible

• “lets make them official”

old testament canon

matches jewish book in content but has different books

• 70 - AD council of Jamnia: closing the books of the TANAK/hebrew bible/OT

NT canon

• 27 books

• needed because there were heretical and false teachings entering the church and persecution of apostles

criteria for NT entrance

1. written or based upon testimony of an apostle

2. consistent with other books (OT)

3. used by the people of god

councils finalized the NT canon

• 367 AD: complete list of 27 athansius of Aexandria suggested - list was presented

• 393 AD: Synod of Hippo - Canon affirmed

• 397 AD: synod of Carthage - canon accepted

apocrypha

bible the apostles uses

1st translation of hebrew OT is the greek septuagint

the greek translation of Hebrew bible (OT) 39 OT books and the apocrypha. this sets an example that message is relatable to others

followed by latin vulgate - latin translation of old testament, based on og hebrew OT canon. 5th C AD.

1384 John Wycliffe = 1st bible in english

1456 printing press

1611 king james version - 47 people worked on translation

1973 NT

1978 whole bible

common language

finding a common language is attempted in order to translate

best meaning

teams collaborate to find the best meaning based on manuscript to translate

best manuscript

writers decide which manuscript to start (hebrew, greek, latin vulgate) to translate

textual criticism

the attempt to determine as closely as possible which copied tect most accurately represents the orignal using external and interanl evidence

external evidence

the age and quality of the text

• the older the better

internal evidence

• copyists and authors

• scribal habits

Fee and Stuart’s take

we bring denominational backgrounds, our personal experiences, and our modern culture as we approach the biblical text.

original language

the language that one is translating from (hebrew, aramaic, greek)

receptor language

the language one is translating into (english)

historical distance

this has to do with the differences that exist between the original language and the receptor language (words, grammar, slang)

theory of translation

how far should one go in order to bridge the gap between the original and receptor language

literal

The attempt to translate by keeping as close as possible to the exact words and phrasing in the original language, yet still making sense to the receptor language.

free

The attempt to translate the ideas from one language to another with less concern about using the exact words of the original (paraphrase)

dynamic equivalent

the attempt to translate words, idioms, and grammatical constructions of the original language into precise equivalents in the receptor language

• formal/literal: hard to read and understand yet closest to the original language

• dynamic equivalent: mixture; everyday language

• free: almost like a kids story; straight foward

eternal revelance

though the bible was written a very long time ago, its value and influence remains as relevant today as it did the day it was written.

historical particularity

the books of the bible are each conditioned by the particular culture and time in which they were originally written.

exegesis (step 1)

the careful, systemic study of scripture to discover the original intended meaning; being curious

hermeneutics (step 2)

the process of seeking the contemporary relevance of an ancient text

Illegitimate totality transfer

a communication and reading mistake where a person takes every possible meaning or background idea of a word and forces it into a single sentence, ignoring the actual context

• instead the reader must investigate for authors meaning