1. Introduction to the Bible

2. Objectives
Describe how the Bible was transmitted, translated, and gradually recognized as authoritative by religious communities from antiquity to the present

3. Why Study the Bible? Millions are influenced by its teachings.
Language, art, music, literature, etc.
Various religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.

4. What’s In It For Me You can gain a better understanding of the Bible.
You can understand more of just about everything that you see, hear, or read!
The Bible is like a code key for symbols, figures of speech, and plot lines, of art, literature, and popular culture!

5. What’s In It For Me
You might be able to better participate in society. Many of the hottest political and social issues today involve arguments made from the Bible.
You can get images, metaphors, and literary styles that can help you with your own writing and self expression.

6. “I have always said, I always will say, that the studious perusal of the sacred volume will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.”
– Thomas Jefferson ( ), 3rd President of the United States.

7. Literature East of Eden (Steinbeck) Paradise Lost (Milton)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
Old Man and the Sea (Hemmingway)
A Tale of Two Cities
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe)
Anything by Shakespeare or Milton

8. Art
DaVinci
Michelangelo
Raphael
Etc.

9. Movies The Passion The Matrix (Allusions) Star Wars (Themes)
Apocalypse Now (Title)
Chariots of Fire (Title)

10. In America
Supreme Court, Money, Declaration of Independence, etc.

11. Speeches
“We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop… And I’ve looked over. And I‘ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land!”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

12. Speeches
Lincoln: Against the policy of dividing free states and slave states (House Divided Speech)
Luke 11:17- “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house.”

13. Language Ambitious Cucumber Puberty Bald Head Eat, Drink, and be Merry
Scapegoat
Beautiful
Holier than Thou
Sex
Blab
House Divided
Two-edged Sword
Brother’s Keeper
Left Wing
Under the Sun
Busy Body
Liberty
Wordy
Castaway
Network
Wrinkle

14. In the World B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini)
Although now to be “Politically Correct” it is technically B.C.E and C.E.

15. Discussion
What are some other ways that we see the Bible’s influence in culture?

16. Objective
Describe how we came to have the Bible in the English language.

17. Translations Written by Scribes Later On…
Monks, rabbis, or skilled artists
500 by 500 AD

18. Translations 4th Century: *Saint Jerome*
Translated into Latin (vernacular)
“Vulgate” means of the people or common
Becomes only legal translation for a 1000 years.

19. Translations 14th Century: *John Wycliffe*
First in English (from Vulgate)
Condemned a heretic for disobeying the Pope
English translations were outlawed (capital offense)
Dies before he is prosecuted

20. Translations (Century Later…)
William Tyndale**
Felt called to translate from original languages into English
Worked with Martin Luther who was translating the Bible into German

21. Translations Tyndale (cont.)
Tyndale showed up on Luther's doorstep in Germany in 1525, and by year's end had translated the New Testament into English. Tried, condemned to death by strangling and then burning

22. Translations Tyndale (cont.)
Last words: “Lord open the King of England’s eyes”
1 year later Henry VIII allowed English Bible to be distributed.

23. Bible Translation Timeline
1382: Wycliffe translates from Vulgate
1522: Luther German New Testament
1525: Tyndale’s New Testament, revised 1534
1560: The Geneva Bible-added verse numbers
1568: The Bishop’s Bible (KJ adapted from this)
1611: King James Bible (originally had 80 books, Apocrypha removed in 1885)
“writings of uncertain origin”
Various “Apocrypha” based on sect
Ethiopian Orthodox, Catholic, N.T. Apocrypha

24. Bible Translation Timeline
1782: Aitkin's Bible (1st in America KJ without Apocrypha)
1791: 1st Illustrated (America)
1901: The American Standard Version
1970: The New American Standard Version
1971: The Living Bible paraphrased
1978: The New International Version
1982: The New King James Version
1989: The New Revised Standard Version
1996: The New Living Translation
2002: The Message

25. Translations Matter Spanish: “Juan tiene frio”
Literal English: “John has cold”
? John is cold?
?John has a cold?
Spanish: “Juan me cae bein gordo”
Literal English: “John me falls well fat”
Not a comment about weight, actually means “I don’t like John very much”

26. Translations Matter! Genesis 1:4
NKJV: “And God saw the light, that it was good”.
NRSV & NIV: “And God saw that the light was good”.
Message:  And light appeared.  God saw that light was good

27. 1st Ed. King James (1611): "For God so loued the world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life."

28. Tyndale (1534): "For God so loveth the worlde, that he hath geven his only sonne, that none that beleve in him, shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe."
Wycliff (1380): "for god loued so the world; that he gaf his oon bigetun sone, that eche man that bileueth in him perisch not: but haue euerlastynge liif,"

29. Geneva (1560): "For God so loueth the world, that he hath geuen his only begotten Sonne: that none that beleue in him, should peryshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe."
Great Bible (1539): "For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer beleueth in him, shulde not perisshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe."

30. Dead Sea Scrolls
Found in late 1940’s and early 1950’s in 11 caves around the Dead Sea
Dated as being made before A.D. 100.
At least one document dated about 21 B.C.
The Dead Sea manuscripts exhibited virtually identical readings to their counterparts
They proved that the many scholars who expressed doubts concerning the accuracy of Biblical texts were unfounded

31. Dead Sea Scrolls Also found with the scrolls were
Non-Biblical writings
commentaries on the OT
paraphrases that expand on the Law
rule books of the community
war conduct
thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions
wisdom writings

32. Culture in Biblical Times
Dating an event was done by who was ruling the country.
Their Main Concerns:
Meanings of Events
Dynamics and Conflicts of People
Relationships between generations
North American evangelicals read the Bible—and the world—through Western eyes. Indeed, all human beings come to the Bible with cultural habits, deeply ingrained patterns of interpreting the world that inevitably shape—and sometimes warp—our interpretation and understanding of Scripture. This insight is now commonplace in discussions about biblical interpretation in popular and academic circles.
To read Scripture well, we must read ourselves and our culture well. Picture an iceberg looming in the distance as a metaphor for our worldview. How much of an iceberg do we actually see? Well, as the captain of the Titanic sadly experienced, very little. The tip pokes up through the water, announcing its presence to all with eyes to see, but the iceberg's immensity lurks undetected in the depths. Similarly, our perceptions of our own culture's patterns and pressures is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of our cultural patterns lurk below the surface, outside our realm of awareness.
Me-Centered Approach
Clearly, our experiences shape our reading of the Bible. We are all wearing tinted glasses, lenses that help us to see some things very clearly but distort our vision elsewhere. Think, for instance, of the parable of the Prodigal Son. When 100 North American students were asked to read the parable and retell it, only six mentioned the famine the prodigal experiences away from home. In a word, American readers tend to be "famine-forgetters," perhaps because most Americans simply have not experienced terrible famine. Compare the response of 50 Russian readers to the very same parable: 42 out of 50 mentioned the famine. Why? The cultural history of famine in World War II has deeply embedded itself in the Russian consciousness, and this cultural lens influences what Russian Christians see in a biblical text.
Or consider an additional example: How often have you sat in a Bible study, looked at a passage with other group members, and then had the leader of the group ask, "What does the passage mean to you?" A minute or two passes in silence; slowly individuals begin to respond: "To me this passage is saying" this, or "to me this passage means" that.
Of course, to ask what a passage means is praiseworthy. But to make the individual Christian the starting point for interpretation and the center of a text's meaning—the Western pattern—is problematic. Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien in Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes point to at least two immediate dangers.
First, if I make myself the center in my search for meaning in the Bible, I will naturally mine the Scripture for passages that I sense are immediately relevant to my life, and ignore swaths of texts where I don't discern immediate applicability. "This," the authors say, "leaves us basing our Christian life on less than the full counsel of God."
Second, and perhaps more seriously, a me-centered approach to the Bible confuses application with meaning. Simply put, I am not the focus of the Bible's meaning; Christ is. Yes, as God's image-bearers, we play an important role in the Bible's story. Christ has come to save us, and much of the Bible's story explains the wonder of how he has done just that. But if the first question I ask of a biblical text is how I can apply that text to my life, I leapfrog over meaning to applicability. I place myself at the center of the universe, a tendency especially prevalent among American Christians

33. Background Info Old Testament: Hebrew New Testament: Greek
Leather scrolls, papyrus
Books= 39
New Testament: Greek
Papyrus
Books= 27

34. Background Info *Torah* *Pentateuch* Hebrew word for Teaching not law
The 1st 5 books of the O.T., the central teachings of Judaism
Creation, Ancestry, and Celebrations
*Pentateuch*
Greek word for Five parts

35. Organization of Hebrew Scriptures (O.T.)
Pentateuch (The Teachings)
The Historical Books
Wisdom Literature/Writings
The Prophets
Major Prophets
Minor Prophets

36. Pentateuch
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

37. Historical Books Joshua Judges Ruth I and II Samuel I and II Kings
I and II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther

38. Wisdom Literature
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon

39. The Prophets Major Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Minor Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Major
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel

40. Characteristics of Hebrew Literature
Importance of the Word
Symbolic Word Choices
Parallelism and Repetition
Origins in oral tradition, so many are like poetry with musical rhythms. (No rhyming)
Figures of Speech
wordplay (simile, metaphor, exaggeration, irony, and personification)

41. Importance of Names In Hebrew Culture Names Have Great Power
Yahweh: vocalized to Moses
Could only be spoken in the Holy of Holies
Adonai, Jehovah, or Ha-Shem (the name)
Jacob to Israel
Saul to Paul
Sarah to Sarai
Question: "Why did God sometimes change a person's name in the Bible?"
Answer: When God changed a person’s name and gave him a new name, it was usually to establish a new identity. God changed Abram’s "high father" name to “Abraham,” "father of a multitude" (Genesis 17:5) and his wife’s name from “Sarai,” “my princess,” to “Sarah,” “mother of nations” (Genesis 17:15). We know from history that the descendants of Abraham and Sarah formed many nations, including the Jews’ and Muslims’.
God changed Jacob’s "supplanter" name to “Israel,” “having power with God” (Genesis 32:28). He changed Simon’s "God has heard" name to “Peter,” "rock" (John 1:42). Why did Jesus occasionally call Peter “Simon” after He had changed His name to “Peter”? Probably because Simon sometimes acted like his old self instead of the rock God called him to be. The same is true for Jacob. God continued to call him “Jacob” to remind him of his past and to remind him to depend on God’s strength.
Why did God choose new names for some people? The Bible doesn’t give us His reasons, but perhaps it was to let them know they were destined for a new mission in life. The new name was a way to let them in on the divine plan and also to assure them that God’s plan would be fulfilled in them.