Engaging Christian Scriptures - Lesson 2 - How did we get the Bible? Biblical Transmission and Translation

Manuscripts

Copies of copies of biblical texts. Preserved by writing and rewriting them.

Autographs

Earliest version of biblical text. Most scholars prefer manuscripts because they are available

Oral Tradition

Transmitting texts by mouth

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The oldest Hebrew Manuscripts originating from the 3rd-1st century BCE

Masoretic Text

Hebrew manuscripts from the medieval period (ca. 500-1000 CE)

Septuagint (LXX)

Early Greek Translations of the Hebrew Bible originating around the late-3rd century BCE

It includes the Deuterocanonical books and serves as the basis for the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testament canons

Codex Sinaiticus & Codex Vaticanus

The oldest complete New Testament canons from 4th century CE. They also include the Greek Old Testament

NT Papyri

Consists of papyrus texts (2nd-3rd century CE) containing New Testament and preservation of the end of Luke and beginning of John.

Formal Correspondence

Prioritizes accuracy over easily communicating the entire meaning.

Dynamic Equivalence

Prioritizes communicating the overall message instead of word-for-word replication.

Dictation Theory

God dictated every detail while human writers assisted

Dynamic Inspiration

God inspired the core concepts and stories, humans were allowed to write and express it in their own words.

Partial/Limited Inspiration

God inspired certain parts of the Bible, other sections represent purely human ideas and articulations.

Non-inspired Theory

God has no role; the Bible is a human creation.

Authority

Determines ownership of a text through historical accuracy, theological consistency, postmodern relevance, or personal reading experiences.

Inerrancy

Without error

God

The source, literal dictator of details in the Bible

Luke and John

Featured as Gospel writers whose text endings/beginnings are preserved in the ancient P75 papyrus manuscript

Gentile Christ-Followers

Early non-Jewish Christians in Acts 10 who struggled over the authority of Old Testament laws like circumcision