History and Sources The Creation of the Holy Bible

HISTORY BEGINS WITH… 2 B.C. = Before Christ A.D. = Anno Domini (Nostri Iesu Jesu Christi) "In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ"

WHY IS THE BIRTH OF CHRIST IMPORTANT? 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Gal. 4:4-5) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son… (Hebrews 1:1-2) 3

THE LIVING BODY Christ Himself wrote nothing, but furnished endless material for books and songs of gratitude and praise. The living Church is His book. 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Cor. 3:2,3) 4

WHAT IS TRADITION? Tradition – “the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example or by writing from one generation to another.” 1 John 1:1-5

SCRIPTURE VS. TRADITION The church Wrote the scriptures Kept the scriptures Interpreted the scriptures Sola scriptura (Latin "by scripture alone") is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. 6

7 TRADITION Christ gave Apostles preached Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils preserved, protected and reaffirmed Orthodox spirituality is meant to be passed down from generation to generation.

MAP OF EARLY CHURCH Note: Galatians= Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe

ORAL vs WRITTEN EVIDENCE Those who saw and heard Jesus shared their experience: 12 Apostles 70 Disciples, 500+ who saw Jesus after the resurrection 1Cor 15:6 The problem of collecting and documenting written experiences came on when church realized that witnesses are dying Jesus’ life ~0-33AD Miracle & Parable Oral transmission ~33-50AD

ORAL vs WRITTEN EVIDENCE, cont’d Early church joined in meals and lived communally Often discussed life, works and words of Jesus BUT… Memories fade, and peaople who witnessed the events eventually die Written documentation became necessary St. Mark’s Gospel ~70AD St. Matthew Gospel ~80AD St. Luke Gospel ~80AD St. John Gospel ~90AD

NEW TESTAMENT TIMELINE

COMPILING AND VALIDATING NEW TESTAMENT: A FLUID PROCESS Gospels, epistles, Didache, & other Christian writings Gnostic gospels written, need to determine accept vs. reject? Test for Inclusion: Apostolic connection? Eye witness corroboration? Early date: was it near the time of the event? Sound theology? Phase 1 ~50-100AD Phase 2 ~ AD Each region had its own collection of books and epistles, each different Church had no councils or meetings to compile an approved list of apostolic writings Each church used and read the documents that they had Phase 3 ~70-200AD Partial canonization: early church fathers start to diverge on agreed new testament scripture, but it is incomplete Phase 4 ~ AD Emperor Constantine becomes Christian, orders 50 bibles Eusebius (1st church historian) compiles a list: not complete St. Athanasius of Alexandria solidifies the list of 27 books that make up our current New Testament, in his Papal Easter letter Heresies

WHY FINALIZE THE NEW TESTAMENT? Mark out what is included and what is excluded More clearly identify heresies HERESIES CHRISTIAN TEACHING Clearly identify what believers should be taught and agree on Describe to believers how to live in the Christian faith Encourage the church to witness and persever in the face of persecution JESUS Document the life and works and words of Jesus Christ accurately Corroborate across several sources (4 gospels)

ST. ATHANASIUS THE APOSTOLIC "Let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic [Universal] Church from the very beginning, which the Logos [Jesus Christ] gave, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers preserved. Upon this the Church is founded.”

MAJOR EVENTS IN 1 ST CENTURY ~30-33AD Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord, Pentecost ~32-35 Martyrdom of St. Stephen and conversion of Saul of Tarsus 35 Birth of St. Ignatius. His letters to churches and to St. Polycarp are widely quoted in the early church ~48 1 st Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) 51 The Jewish persecution of Christians in Rome becomes so disruptive that the Jews are expelled from the city NT written between ~50 - ~95 15

MAJOR EVENTS IN 1 ST CENTURY 64 Emperor Nero blames the fire that destroys much of Rome on the Christians. He persecutes the church ruthlessly, and uses Christians as candles to light his garden. St. Peter and St. Paul martyred during this persecution 68 The end of Nero's reign 69 Birth of St. Polycarp (disciple of St. John the Apostle) 70 destruction of Jewish temple (Matt. 24:2, Mark 13:2, Luke 21:6) 16

MAJOR EVENTS IN 1 ST CENTURY 81 Domitian becomes Emperor. As Emperor, he persecuted both Jews and Christians 96 The end of Domitian's reign and death of St. Clement of Rome. He wrote influential epistles to Corinth. 98 Trajan becomes Emperor. Trajan eventually instituted a policy toward Christians that stayed in effect until the time of Aurelius. His policy was not to seek Christians out, but if they were brought before the authorities they were to be punished, usually executed, for being Christians 100 St. John the Apostle dies 17

MAJOR EVENTS IN 2 ND CENTURY 107 St. Ignatius led to Rome and martyred 115 b. Ireneaus, author of Against Heresies, a treatise against the gnostics 130 Conversion of Justin Martyr. One of first apologists 144 Marcion excommunicated for rejecting the Old Testament, rejecting most of the New Testament, and teaching that Christ only appeared to be human (Docetism). 150 Birth of St. Clement of Alexandria. Apologist who used Plato to support Christianity, and tried to reach gnostics by showing that only the Christian had real "gnosis." He helped establish the allegorical method of interpreting scripture. 155 St. Polycarp was martyred in Smyrna by being burned to death. St. Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?" The only known writings to survive are parts of letters he wrote to the Philippians 18

MAJOR EVENTS IN 2 ND CENTURY 156 Possibly the beginning of the Montanist movement. They were an aescetic movement with apocalyptic visions. They claimed the Spirit spoke directly through their prophets and prophetesses 160 Birth of Tertullian. 161 Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor. He abandoned Trajan's passive approach and actively sought Christians to persecute them throughout the empire 165 St. Justin is martyred 185 Birth of Origen. Pupil of St. Clement of Alexandria, he further develops the allegorical method. 19

MAJOR EVENTS IN 3 RD CENTURY 202 Septimus Severus tries to unite the empire under one religion, the worship of the Unconquered Sun. Both Jews and Christians refuse and are vehemently persecuted 202 St. Irenaeus is martyred 216 Birth of Mani, founder of Manichaeism. He fused Persian, Christian, and Buddhist elements into a major new heresy 225 Death of Tertullian 245 Conversion of St. Cyprian 247 St. Cyprian becomes Bishop of Carthage 20

MAJOR EVENTS IN 3 RD CENTURY The reign of Decius. He ordered everyone in the empire to burn incense to him. Those who complied were issued a certificate. Those who did not have a certificate were persecuted. Many Christians bought forged certificates, causing a great controversy in the church. St. Cyprian went into hiding during the persecution and ruled the church by letters 251 birth of St. Antony 254 death of Origen 258 St. Cyprian is martyred 263 birth of Eusebius of Caesarea. He was the first church historian. Many works of the early church survive only as fragments in Eusebius's writing 284 The beginning of the Diocletian persecution 286 birth of St. Pachomius, Egyptian pioneer of cenobitic (communal rather than solitary) monasticism ~300 birth of St. Athanasius, the defender of Orthodoxy during the Arian controversy of the fourth century. 21

NEW TESTAMENT AUTHENTICITY

RECORD ACCURACY IN NEW TESTAMENT Observation: If St. Mark was not accurate in his record of events there would have been opposing views recorded Conclusion: The proximity of records to the event is much closer for the new testament than for other writings of that era Accuracy is closely correlated with timeline proximity

HOW DID WE GET OUR CURRENT NEW TESTAMENT? English Bible: First translated to English by Wyclif: 1382 First printed by Gutenberg in latin in 1456 King James of England would eventually order first English printing of Bibles 99.5% Accuracy of transmission from our current NT to original writings Original Languages= Hebrew & Greek 24,000 partial and complete manuscript copies found in various types & languages Document types: papyrus, parchment, scrolls, etc. Old Latin- 4th to 13th centuries Old Syriac- 2nd to 5th centuries Coptic- 4th century Compared against over 86,000 quotations from early church fathers and early lectures Accuracy of copies to the quotations yielded 99.5% accuracy Wealth and antiquity of comparator documents establish trustworthiness of their transmission Portions of NT are textually uncertain, which is noted in margins of modern Bibles

KING JAMES VERSION King James Translation 1607: King James commissions a group of 54 to translate the Bible to English Could only use Hebrew & Greek text- over 5,000 manuscripts reviewed Translation was to be literal: word for word, no interpretation Divided into 6 groups 3 groups worked on Old Testament 2 groups worked on New Testament 1 group worked on Apocrypha/deuterocanonical books (later dropped) When completed, a separate group reviewed their work and added words to make text flow better in English Currently italicized words in our modern Bibles Then sent to a 3rd group for review Full process took over 3 years

CURRENT ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS Not all Translations are created equally...