1. INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE ORIGIN INSPIRATION HISTORY

2. ORIGIN God is The Author  What does this Mean?  Inspired men were moved by the Spirit  “Authentic” – authority of an Apostle  Mark – Peter’s Companion  Luke – St. Paul’s authority

3. ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE The word Bible comes from the Greek “biblion” – means book Refers to all of the books of both Testaments Interpretation of the Bible – Who is responsible? The Church (guided by the Holy Spirit) is the official guardian and interpreter.

4. CANON OF THE BIBLE Our Bible * has 73 books Vary in length from a few hundred to many thousands of words 46 (some have 45) books of the Old Testament 27 books of the New Testament Testament means pact, agreement, or “covenant”

5. DETERMINATION OF BIBLICAL CANON Confusion about which books were inspired Council of Hippo in 393 A.D. first determined the books that were part of the canon Council of Trent in 1546 formally canonized the books of the Bible Books rejected by the Council of Hippo called the APOCRYPHA

6. BIBLICAL CANON CONTINUED Protestant Apocrypha different from Catholic definition. Protestants call 7 books found in Catholic Bible the Apocrypha (not found in Protestant Bible) The 7 books are: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, parts of Esther, and Daniel

7. LANGUAGE AND DIVISION OF THE BIBLE Catholic and Protestant New Testament books are identical. Original 3 languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Aramaic- language that Jesus spoke Most of the OT written in Hebrew Most of the NT written in Greek

8. TEXTUAL DIVISION OF THE BIBLE Bible not originally divided into chapter and verse Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 13 th century divided Bible into Chapters Santes Pagninus divided OT chapters into verses in 1528 Robert Etienne, 1551, Paris, verses for NT

9. OLD TESTAMENT DIVISIONS (SEE HANDOUT) Torah (Hebrew)- Pentateuch (Greek)- first 5 Books Prophetical Books (Former and Latter) Historical Books The Wisdom Books- the “Writings” Septuagint- Greek version of the Hebrew Bible

10. NEW TESTAMENT DIVISIONS Four Gospels- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (4) Acts of the Apostles (1) Twenty one “Epistles” or letters (21) Book of Revelations or the “Apocalypse” (1)

11. INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE Holy Spirit inspired human authors to write the Scriptures in their own words. The Spirit guided or influenced them to write faithfully what they were taught Pope Leo XIII defined inspiration (page 7) Tradition confirms inspiration Council of Trent (1546) and Vatican Council (1870) confirm sacredness of canon

12. HISTORY OF THE BIBLE We have no original manuscripts Some Ancient manuscripts exist- Hebrew copy of Isaiah 2 nd century and Greek text from 2 nd century AD Important Translations- the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT- 250 BC to 100 BC) The Vulgate (St. Jerome NT into Latin 384 AD) Church approved the Vulgate at Council of Trent

13. HISTORY CONTINUED The Guttenberg bible printed in 1450, Latin Vulgate version- 200 copies Eventually numerous translations in many languages First English translation in 14 th century Famous translations- Wyclif, Douay-Rheims, King James (1611)

14. PRESENT HISTORY OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP Many Modern and Contemporary translations Pius XII ordered a direct translation from original languages in 1943 Our New American Bible (NAB) is the culmination of their efforts The NAB is a Roman Catholic translation