1. Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews
The Dawn of Christianity
Between the Testaments
and the Early Church Age
Lesson 3
The Sacred Writings
Steve Plaster

2. Lesson Structure
Clash of Cultures: Judaism and Hellenism
People of the Book
The Sacred Writings
Apocryphal Literature, Messiahs, and Resurrection
The Essenes and the Maccabees
The Herodians, the Romans, and the Prophets
Trials and Tribulations of Jesus
Resurrection and the Birth of the Church
Paul’s Missionary Journeys
Paul’s Letters and Trials
Jewish Revolt Groups and the Temple Destruction
How We Got the Bible

4. The Old Testament canon is comprised of the 39 books which are considered “authoritative,” the “normative” which are the literature of the oral tradition, and the “extraneous” which are outside rabbinical literature. The Torah (Pentateuch) was completed between BC and in general use by 200BC. The Prophets were collected and completed between BC. The Writings were completed about 165BC and included the Book of Daniel. By 90AD, the Old Testament canon was closed at the Council of Jamnia by the rabbinic School of Hillel.

5. The Torah was translated into Greek in 250BC, the Prophets were translated into Greek in 132BC, and the Writings which were fluid were available in Greek by 50AD. The “normative” literature is comprised of the oral tradition identified with a group known as the Sopherim and passed on until the time of Hillel and Shammai in 90AD. This process of codifying the oral tradition became the Midrash containing the Halakah on the civil and religious law and the Haggadah or the biblical stories and ethics.

6. The outside rabbinical literature known as the “extraneous” consisted of the Old Testament apocrypha written from 132BC-90AD. Any book written originally after Daniel in the Persian period is considered no longer as prophecy nor canon.

7. The Dawn of Christianity
Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews
The Dawn of Christianity
Between the Testaments
and the Early Church Age
Lesson 3
The Sacred Writings
Steve Plaster