1 / 5

Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity

Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity. Dr. Donald N. Penny. Topic 1 Introduction to the Bible. What is the Bible? A collection of ancient writings produced by ancient Israelites and early Christians. Not a single, unified book but an “anthology” of 66 (or more) separate writings.

salena
Download Presentation

Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity Dr. Donald N. Penny

  2. Topic 1 Introduction to the Bible • What is the Bible? • A collection of ancient writings produced by ancient Israelites and early Christians. • Not a single, unified book but an “anthology” of 66 (or more) separate writings. • Reflects many different authors, time periods, cultural backgrounds, literary forms, etc. • Scripture of the Christian church. • Sacred literature. • Authoritative for religious faith and practice • Story of God’s progressive self-revelation: • Beginning with the Creation of the world; • Continuing through the history of Israel; • Climaxing in the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  3. Major Divisions of the Bible • Old Testament – three versions (BPJM, p. xiii): • Protestant OT – 39 books • “Testament” = “covenant” = God’s relationship with nation Israel. • Inherited from Judaism; Jews and Christians share these books as Scripture. • Hebrew Bible – 24 books • Jewish Bible includes same books as Protestant OT. • Counted and arranged differently (Torah – Prophets – Writings). • Roman Catholic/Greek Orthodox OT – includes 12-15 “extra” books and parts of books • Based on Septuagint (LXX) – an early Greek translation of Jewish scriptures which included more books than Hebrew Bible. • Protestant reformers removed them because not in Hebrew Bible. • New Testament – 27uniquely Christian books • Same 27 for Protestants and Catholics; not in Jewish Bible. • God’s “covenant” with all who believe in Jesus Christ. • Protestant Bible: 39 (OT) + 27 (NT) = 66 books. • Apocrypha (“hidden things”) • About 12-15 books (and parts of books) found in Greek Orthodox and Catholic OT, but not in Hebrew Bible or Protestant OT. • Protestants either ignore them or consider “deuterocanonical.” • Apocrypha is found in middle section of Oxford Bible; important for history of period between OT and NT.

  4. Origin of the Bible • Writing the books(accumulated over more than a millennium) • OT books – written in Hebrew by ancient Israelites (1000-150 B.C.). • NT books – written in Greek by early Christians (50-150 A. D.). • Often based on earlier oral traditions and written sources. • Many authors; influenced by times/culture of their day. • Canonization (gathering the books into recognized, authoritative collection) • Hebrew Bible • Torah (“Law”) – gathered by 400 BC • Prophets – gathered by 200 BC • Writings – not definitively gathered until about 90 AD • New Testament (see BPJM, pp. 139-40) • Paul’s letters – gathered about 100 AD • Gospels – gathered by 150-200 AD • Basic canon – looking much like ours by 200 AD • Final list of exactly 27 – first appeared in 367 AD

  5. Inspiration • Plenary verbal theory • Exact wording virtually dictated by God. • Little room for human contribution. • Inerrant even in matters of history and science. • Dynamic theory • Message inspired by God. • Author writes out of own knowledge, style, etc. • May be inaccuracies of history and science. • Theological message is reliable.

More Related