Sacred Scripture

 Christians believe the Bible contains no error; called Biblical inerrancy  Divine Inspiration: authors inspired by Holy Spirit to write words of God The story of Jesus Christ, was transmitted to the faithful in two distinct phases: – The Oral Tradition- – The Written Gospels

 The Biblical Canon is the official list of Books of Scripture- 46 O.T. books 27 N.T. books  Canon (gk) measuring rod / rule  Canon of Scripture was based upon the Septuagint (Greek version of O.T.) and accepted N.T. writings

 Church followed certain criteria if a writing was worthy to be included in Scripture:  1. Apostolic Origins  Eyewitness or person close to eye witness  2. Universal Acceptance  Accepted by the various Christian communities  3. Liturgical Use  used in early Christian liturgy  used for teaching the faith

 Scripture is not always clear  Interpreting Scripture – one must discover original meaning intended by the author.  Church entrusted handing on the message of God  The interpretation guided by the Church is a necessary part of Biblical interpretation  Thus, all Scripture in light of the living Church = Christ  Christ is the interpreter of scripture  Biblical Exegesis scholarly way interpreting scripture  Through Church Tradition / wisdom of Saints  Purpose of Exegesis – find fullest meaning of Scripture  Exegesis allow a person to engage scripture & apply it to his life

 Since scripture contains a variety of writing styles, there are a variety of meanings in Scripture  Literal Sense :  words are directly from the text  Basic surface level of meaning- “what the words say”  Spiritual Sense :  Allegorical/ Type  People/events in history suggest future things about Christ  Moral –  portrays stories of heroes showing us how to act justly  Anagogical-  how events in Scripture point to what will be in Heaven

 46 books, written over 1400 years  Books are arranged according to 4 Types  Law  History  Wisdom  Prophecy

 The Old Testament Bible was already written when Jesus was born in two translations  Hebrew  Greek translation  (Septuagint) 200 B.C.  Jewish Council of Jamnia 100 A.D.  Decided to excluded 7 books & parts of Esther & Daniel  These 7 books are called deuterocanonical  Christians continued to use complete canon of O.T.  New Testament books written A.D.

 All the teachings of our faith are in unity  Fit together and support one another  Like a 3 dimensional puzzle  It is important to read the Bible as a whole & to take its teaching as a whole, & not to isolate one part from the whole

 Jewish tradition, first 5 books most important  Genesis: beginning of creation & nation of Israel  Exodus: escape Egypt “10” wandering in desert  Leviticus: book of laws of religious observances  Numbers: story of 40 years in the desert  Deuteronomy: new laws how to live in promised land

 Story how Israel conquered Land of Canaan  The formation of the Nation to its division  Northern Kingdom – Israel  Southern Kingdom – Judah ( Jerusalem)  Joshua1Chronicles *  Judges2 Chronicles*  RuthEzra  1 SamuelNehemiah  2 SamuelTobit*  1 KingsJudith*  2 Kings Esther* *religious instruction

 Several different kinds of books in this section  Most are written in verse  Some books, like many of the Psalms, are poems in praise of God  Other books, like Proverbs, tell us how to face everyday problems

 Job : long poem asking a hard question: Why does God let bad things happen to good people  Psalms: poems or songs (King David)  Proverbs: collection wise sayings (King Solomon)  Ecclesiastes: meditation on vanity / worldly things  Song of Solomon: love poem (Christ’s love for us)  Wisdom: poem in praise of wisdom  Sirach: how to live for God without compromise

 Prophets were sent by God to bring his words to his people.  Often the prophets warned Israel of disasters to come if people did not return to the True God.  When disasters came, God sent his prophets with messages of comfort, promising that he would save the people.  Many prophets predicted the coming of the Messiah, God’s anointed one.

Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees

New Testament is hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New – Law - The Four Gospels – History - The Act of the Apostles – Wisdom - The Epistles – Prophecy - The Revelation to St. John 21

 O.T the Pentateuch (Law) - story of the founding of Israel.  N.T. the Gospels - the New Law and the story of the founding of the Church, which is the new Israel.  Gospels - heart of all Scriptures source on the life and teaching of Jesus  The Evangelists ( author of Gospels) written A.D.  Matthew & John were disciples and eyewitnesses.  Mark and Luke, were disciples of the Apostles.

 Four Gospels supplement never contradict  3 Gospels tell the story in a similar way  “synoptic” – Matthew, Mark, Luke  St. John’s Gospel  written in more theological language

 St. Luke wrote the Gospel & Acts  Physician & historian  Documenting 1 st Christians in early Church  Wrote detailed history of Jesus’ childhood  Gospel of the Holy Spirit

 The Epistles (1 st books written in N.T.)  Most Epistle letters were written by St. Paul  He traveled to many places & started communities

 St. John writes the book in O.T. symbols & images  Revelation is apocalyptic literature  Conveys its message thru symbols, allegories, & metaphors  Vision of the trials at end of World  Many tribulations but God will preserve & bring to heaven

 The original language – Hebrew  Babylonian exile ( Aramaic ) common language  The Conquest of Alexander the Great ( Greek )  3 languages in books of O. T.  Large part was Hebrew  New Testament  All of N. T. was written in Greek - except  Gospel of Matthew ( Aramaic)

 Old Testament translated into Greek  Septuagint  O.T. & N.T. translated into Latin from Jerome  Called Vulgate Bible (St. Jerome)  Vulgate comes from the Latin vulgus “common”  1 st English print 1525, King James version  Catholic versions of the Bible  Catholic Revised Standard Version  New American Bible  Jerusalem Bible