SCRIPTURE A BACKGROUND

The Bible is a collection of books, 27 books in the New Testament and 46 books in the Old Testament The Old Testament was written before Jesus was born, and the New Testament was written after.

The Old Testament Jesus grew up learning the Old Testament Our Christian faith is rooted in the OT We can trace our roots back 4000yrs

The New Testament The story of Jesus as he shows God’s love for us through his life, death and resurrection. It also tells the story of the early followers of Jesus, and how the Holy Spirit guided the Church.

Inspiration The writers of the Scriptures were human beings inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Inspiration is not dictation, God did not force the writers hand Inspiration is not possession, where God’s spirit ‘takes over’ taking away the writers free will Inspiration informs the heart and mind of the message of God allowing the writer to express it in their own unique way.

Types of Literature Poetry Drama Song lyrics Preaching Myth Parables Stories of: Heroism Villany Calling Historical Narratives Collection of laws Wisdom literature Epistles Gospels

Our Story God’s revelation was not only to me or to you, to Moses or to Peter, but to all of us together: to God’s people. The Bible is Our Story

Truth in Sacred Scripture Read pages 215-216 in your texts How do we know what the authors intention was? What do the Psalms give us? What do the historical books let us see? What do the Gospels give us? What are the three criteria for interpreting scripture from the Catechism?