1. Scripture The Bible is our story. It contains God’s word, God’s truth. Through the centuries, people have written the Bible, but the words are INSPIRED by God. Scripture is ALIVE!!!

2. Sacred Scripture– Sacred Writings Scripture means “writings” Muslims have the Qur’an or Koran Hindus have the Bhagavad Gita Confucians have the Analects (writings of Confucius)

3. Old Testament and New Testament  Bible comes from a word meaning “book.”  The Catholic Bible contains the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Testament.  The Hebrew Scriptures is the same as the “Old Testament.” The Jews look to the Hebrew Scriptures with great reverence.  Testament is another word for “covenant.”  All of the books of the Bible were written under God’s guidance, as the inspired account of God’s people and God’s relationship with them.

4. Covenants with God’s People The covenant in the Hebrew Scriptures is between God and the Israelites. The covenant in the Christian Testament is the bond between God and all humans through Jesus’ sacrifice.

5. Library of Books In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are forty-six books in five major sections:  The Pentateuch  The Historical Books  The Biblical Novellas  The Wisdom Books  The Prophetic Books

6. The Pentateuch Pentateuch means “five books.” The Jewish people call this The Torah, which means “instruction” and “law”. This is the heart of the story of Israel and of the writings for the Jews.

7. Continued…. The first book of the Pentateuch is Genesis, which means “origin.” Genesis includes the story of creation, the flood, and the call of Abraham and Sarah. The Pentateuch contains the book of Exodus and the Israelites escape from slavery. It ends with the Israelites just about to enter into the Promised Land of Canaan.

8. The Historical Books The Historical Books start with the Israelites coming into Canaan. There is a bit of legend intermixed with the history. These books cover Israel’s kings– David and Solomon (and others). It talks about the division of the kingdom of Israel and continues through the Exile.

9. The Biblical Novellas These books are stories that are told to instruct the people about God, encourage them, and entertain them. There are heroes and villains in each of the stories. The Books of Tobit, Judith, and Esther are among these.

10. The Wisdom Books The Wisdom Books include the Psalms. The books focus on life and suffering and how to live a good and upright life. It also talks about married life.

11. The Prophetic Books The prophets confronted evil situations and bad kings. The prophets continually assured people of God’s love for them and that God would never abandon them. The Prophetic Books include Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah.

12. The Christian Testament Twenty-seven books make up the Christian Testament in four major sections:  The Gospels  The Acts of the Apostles  The Epistles  The Book of Revelation

13. The Four Gospels The four Gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the four Evangelists. Evangelist comes from the Greek word meaning “good news” or “gospel.” Parts of the Gospels may have been written by other people in the name of the evangelist. The Gospels give a portrait of Jesus and are not biographies.

14. The Synoptic Gospels The three synoptic Gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. With these three Gospels, there are similarities in content and structure. Scholars believe that Matthew and Luke used Mark’s Gospel as a reference point for their own Gospels.

15. The Synoptic Gospels-- Matthew This Gospel was written between the years of 80 and 100. Matthew, a tax collector, was one of the apostles of Jesus. Matthew wrote mainly for a Jewish audience. He wanted to show the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah they waited for.

16. Matthew– continued… Matthew’s Gospel shows that Jesus is the great teacher, the “New Moses.” Matthew’s Gospel contains the Sermon on the Mount, which includes the Beatitudes.

17. The Synoptic Gospels-- Mark This Gospel was written in about 65 to 70, and it is the shortest Gospel. Mark’s Gospel is geared towards the Gentile Christians during the Roman persecutions.

18. Mark– continued… Mark’s Gospel highlights Jesus’ suffering and death to encourage the Christians that they were suffering in union with Christ and would be glorified with Him.

19. The Synoptic Gospels-- Luke This Gospel was written about the year 85. Luke initially wrote the Gospel and then wrote the history of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles.

20. Luke– continued… Luke was a physician and a Gentile. He was the only Evangelist who was a Gentile Christian. Luke wrote for the Gentile Christians, many of whom were wealthy and well educated. Luke’s Gospel showed Jesus embracing everyone, rich and poor alike. Jesus’ message is for EVERYONE!

21. John’s Gospel John’s Gospel was the last one written, between the years 90 and 100. John’s Gospel comes out of the Jewish Christian community led by John. John focused on Jesus’ divinity and his “divine Sonship.” It has a great deal of symbolism in the Gospel.

22. John– continued… John’s teachings on Jesus contains the various “I am” statements such as, “I am the vine, you are the branches,” (15:5) and “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (14:6) John’s Gospel also contains the readings for the Scrutinies during Lent. John’s Gospel also has the Wedding at Cana story: Jesus’ first miracle.

23. Acts of the Apostles Acts of the Apostles is the continuation of Luke’s Gospel. Luke shows how the Holy Spirit was alive in the early church. Peter is shown a lot in the beginning of “Acts” as the church forms in Jerusalem. Paul is shown a lot in the second half of “Acts” as he converts Gentiles to Christianity.

24. The Epistles Twenty-one letters were written to the various Christian communities or to individual people. Of those 21 letters, Paul wrote 13 between the years of 50 to 65. The other epistles were written after the year 80. The map is of the places Paul visited.

25. The Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible. This book is also referred to as the Apocalypse, which is the Greek word for “revelation.” The author of Revelation is John, but he is probably not John the Evangelist (Gospel writer). The Book of Revelation was probably written at the end of the first century, when the Romans were still persecuting the early Christians.

26. Revelations– continued… The Book of Revelation has many symbols that refer to the end of time. Some believe that the symbolic language used in Revelation was a secret code among the Christians regarding the persecutions by the Romans. The message of “Revelation” is to call Christians to be faithful in the midst of persecutions and to trust in God.

27. The Canon The Canon is the official authoritative list of Sacred Scripture. Church leaders, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, decided what books belonged to the canon. They believed certain books expressed the truth of God’s message.

28. Canon…continued By 400 A.D., the official books of the Christian Testament (New Testament) were decided. All 27 books are the same for the all Christian churches.

29. Canon—continued… The Catholics and the Protestants disagree about the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures. Catholic Bibles contain 46 books in the Hebrew Scriptures. Protestant Bibles contain 39 books in the Hebrew Scriptures. Protestants follow the canon set by the Jewish authorities in 90 A.D.

30. Canon– continued… The seven books included in the Catholic Bible were written late in the Jewish history, about 200 years before Christ. These seven books were preserved in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic.

31. Canon– continued… These books are referred to as the “Apocrypha”, meaning “unknown” or “of doubtful origin.” “Deuterocanonical” is another term used by Catholics to refer to these seven books as well.

32. Development of Scripture– The Process The five step process— – 1. Events– People have experiences of encountering the Sacred Mystery. People experience God through events in their lives such as Moses encounter with God or the Apostles’ interactions with Jesus (witnessing His death and resurrection.)

33. The Five Step Process– continued… (1. Events) – 2. Oral Tradition– People pass on the stories over years (decades and centuries) about how God was present in their experiences. The stories are passed on from generation to generation. – 3. Written Pieces– The oral tradition is eventually written down.

34. The Five Step Process– continued… (Written pieces– continued) An example of this is the Song of Miriam in the Book of Exodus. The Song of Miriam is probably the oldest piece of writing in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is a song of joy about how God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh. The rest of Exodus was written at a later time.

35. The Five Step Process– continued… – 4. Edited Books– People collected the various stories and put them together in a book. Sometimes there were different versions of the same story. The people used scrolls of parchment for their paper, similar to the writings found on the Dead Sea Scrolls. During the Exile, the Jews edited many of the books that are in the Hebrew Scriptures today. Editing books occurred with the Christian Testament as well.

36. The Five Step Process– continued… – 5. Canonical Status– These books are recognized by the community of faith as being inspired by God and revealing God’s truth. These books enter the official canon. Not all books achieve this status. Not all the books of the Bible underwent all of the steps. For example, Paul’s letters did not have an oral tradition. Instead, they were written, edited, and sent as letters. The letters were so important to the Christian community that they were included in the canon.

37. God’s Role in the Process God was present in the telling of the stories through the years. God guided the process. God breathed life into the process. Inspiration– means “to breathe into;” The human writers wrote in their own language, but through inspiration, they wrote what God intended and nothing more.

38. God’s Role– continued… The two authors of Sacred Scripture are the Holy Spirit and human authors. Because God has revealed these truths, the Bible is free from error. Through Scripture and Tradition, God reveals Himself to us. Revelation, then, is God revealing Himself to us and his plan of goodness. Scripture gives us religious truth: all creation comes from God, and it is GOOD!!!

39. Other Cool Points… The Catholic insight looks at the audience that the Scripture authors were writing to. Matthew and Luke had two versions of the Nativity Story because they were focused on different audiences.

40. Different Audiences and the Nativity Story In Matthew’s version of the Nativity story, Magi (the three wise men) visited Jesus. This was to show that foreigners recognized Jesus as the King. In Luke’s version, shepherds were the first to visit Jesus. This was to show that the poor and lowly were (and are) welcomed by God.

41. Heart of the Bible’s Message 1. God is the source of goodness, life, and creation. 2. God made us in the divine image, out of love, to have a relationship with Him. 3. God gave us free will to choose between good and evil. 4. God will never abandon us; He is always ready to forgive. See full-size image. www.annerpi www.annerpi Remove Frame Remove Frame I m a g e R e s u lt s » I m a g e R e s u lt s » Below is the image in its original context on the page: eishazinnerworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/lub-dub...eishazinnerworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/lub-dub...

42. Heart of the Message– continued… 5. The meaning of life is to LOVE!!! Love God, self, neighbor and creation. 6. God sent Jesus to show us the way to live in God’s love and how to live a life of love. 7. Jesus’ death and resurrection SAVED us! 8.Through the Holy Spirit, the Church carries on the mission to bring the Reign of God in the world.

43. JESUS CHRIST IS THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S REVELATION!!!

44. Sources Allaire, Barbara and Thomas Zanzig. “Chapter 7-- The Scriptures: Hearing the Inspired Word of God.” Understanding Catholic Christianity, pages 165-191, Saint Mary’s Press: Winona, MN, 1997. The Catholic Youth Bible, Third Edition: New American Bible, Revised Edition, pages 562- 563, Saint Mary’s Press: Winona, MN, 2012.