INTR
ODUCTION T
O THE
BIBLE
OR
I GI N
I NS P I R
AT I ON
HI S
T ORY
ORIGIN
God is The AuthorWhat does this Mean?Inspired men were moved by the Spirit“Authentic” – authority of an ApostleMark – Peter’s CompanionLuke – St. Paul’s authority
ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE
The word Bible comes from the Greek “biblion” – means book
Refers to all of the books of both Testaments
Interpretation of the Bible – Who is responsible?
The Church (guided by the Holy Spirit) is the official guardian and interpreter.
CANON OF THE BIBLE
Our Bible * has 73 books
Vary in length from a few hundred to many thousands of words
46 (some have 45) books of the Old Testament
27 books of the New Testament
Testament means pact, agreement, or “covenant”
DETERMINATION OF BIBLICAL CANON
Confusion about which books were inspired
Council of Hippo in 393 A.D. first determined the books that were part of the canon
Council of Trent in 1546 formally canonized the books of the Bible
Books rejected by the Council of Hippo called the APOCRYPHA
BIBLICAL CANON CONTINUED
Protestant Apocrypha different from Catholic definition.
Protestants call 7 books found in Catholic Bible the Apocrypha (not found in Protestant Bible)
The 7 books are: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach,
Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, parts of Esther, and Daniel
LANGUAGE AND DIVISION OF THE BIBLE
Catholic and Protestant New Testament books are identical.
Original 3 languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
Aramaic- language that Jesus spoke
Most of the OT written in Hebrew
Most of the NT written in Greek
TEXTUAL DIVISION OF THE BIBLE
Bible not originally divided into chapter and verse
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
13th century divided Bible into Chapters
Santes Pagninus divided OT chapters into verses in 1528
Robert Etienne, 1551, Paris, verses for NT
OLD TESTAMENT DIVISIONS (SEE HANDOUT)Torah (Hebrew)- Pentateuch (Greek)-
first 5 Books
Prophetical Books (Former and Latter)
Historical Books
The Wisdom Books- the “Writings”
Septuagint- Greek version of the Hebrew Bible
NEW TESTAMENT DIVISIONS
Four Gospels- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (4)
Acts of the Apostles (1)
Twenty one “Epistles” or letters (21)
Book of Revelations or the “Apocalypse” (1)
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
Holy Spirit inspired human authors to write the Scriptures in their own words.
The Spirit guided or influenced them to write faithfully what they were taught
Pope Leo XIII defined inspiration (page 7)
Tradition confirms inspiration
Council of Trent (1546) and Vatican Council (1870) confirm sacredness of canon
HISTORY OF THE BIBLE
We have no original manuscripts
Some Ancient manuscripts exist- Hebrew copy of Isaiah 2nd century and Greek text from 2nd century AD
Important Translations- the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT- 250 BC to 100 BC)
The Vulgate (St. Jerome NT into Latin 384 AD)
Church approved the Vulgate at Council of Trent
HISTORY CONTINUED
The Guttenberg bible printed in 1450, Latin Vulgate version- 200 copies
Eventually numerous translations in many languages
First English translation in 14th century
Famous translations- Wyclif, Douay-Rheims, King James (1611)
PRESENT HISTORY OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIPMany Modern and Contemporary
translations
Pius XII ordered a direct translation from original languages in 1943
Our New American Bible (NAB) is the culmination of their efforts
The NAB is a Roman Catholic translation