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The Bible

The Bible. Review:. The Truth of the Bible – The Catholic Church’s Stance. 1. The truth of the Bible is one of the effects of inspiration – the belief that the authors of the Bible were led or influenced by God.

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The Bible

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  1. The Bible

  2. Review: • The Truth of the Bible – The Catholic Church’s Stance

  3. 1. The truth of the Bible is one of the effects of inspiration – the belief that the authors of the Bible were led or influenced by God. 2. Truth equals inerrancy. There are no mistakes or false ideas in what is revealed of God. (This is open to debate – but a position taken by the Church at various times) 3. The truth of the Bible is religious truth. It is only incidentally concerned with facts, dates, geographical or scientific details, all of which may reflect the limited world view of the writer. 4. The truth of the Bible is interpreted and amplified by tradition, which means the ‘loved experience of the Church handed on from generation to generation’. 5. Tradition is itself a channel of Revelation and is safeguarded by the Catholic Church. 6. Biblical truth must be seen in conjunction with: • The intention of the author • The literary form or genre • The type of truth concerned in each book (eg. Biblical history concerns a person’s or nation’s (Israel) relationship with God, not necessarily the political or economic development of a country).

  4. Questions to ponder…. • What is a text? • What is a pretext? • What is context?

  5. What is a text? • Text refers to any printed or visual image that communicates a message

  6. A text out of context is a pretext. • When you read something in which you do not understand the time, place, cultural circumstance in which it is written, you are most likely to interpret it incorrectly and therefore it could be actually a lie.

  7. What happens when the context of a text is not known? • Context: the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc • The text becomes a pretext. • Pretext: a lie that cannot be trusted.

  8. Sacred Texts • Religions have texts

  9. Buddhism • Buddhism – Pali Canon (or Tripitaka meaning three baskets) • Theravada Buddhism has the Tripitaka • Mahayana Buddhism also accepts additional documents called the Shastras • Vajrayana Buddhism also has its own sacred writings additional to the Pali Cannon (Tibetan Buddhism)

  10. The Bible • Christianity- Bible, Greek term biblia meaning ‘books’ • Old Testament: 39 Books (Law, history, poetry and prophecy) • New Testament: 27 Books ( Gospels, letters, history and revelation • Apocrypha: an additional twelve books accepted by Catholic and Orthodox Churches as part of the Old Testament

  11. Hinduism • Hinduism: Made up of hundred of writings but two main categories and can be referred to as the Vedas • Sruti: revealed writing including the Vedas and Upanishads • Smrti: remembered writing of Epics – Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita

  12. Qur’an • Qur’an: recorded revelations of Allah to Muhammad over a 23 year period • Arranged in 114 suras or chapters from longest to shortest • Muhammad is not the author of the Qur’an, but its receiver • The Hadith: recording of the doings and sayings of the Prophet as written in the Qur’an focusing on the law system from judging criminal cases to comments on washing.

  13. Biblical Texts & History

  14. The Bible • The bible is a record breaker • Sells approximately 100 million copies or partial copies each year • The best selling novel in history has only sold 30 million in more than 20 years • WHY??????

  15. The Bible The word “bible” comes from a Greek word bibliosmeaning simply ‘writings’. The Bible is not one book but is a compilation of 66 separate books written by many different people.

  16. Getting to know the Bible Turn to the inside cover of the Bible: • How many different ‘groupings’ of books are there in the Old Testament? • How about in the New Testament? Turn to page A-9: • Name the 4 different versions of the Old Testament • Identify some differences between them in terms of structure and number of books.

  17. Turn to page A-8 • Who wrote the Bible? • When were the first Bible stories told? • When were the stories first written down? • Who wrote the 4 Gospels based on eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ life? • When were they written? • When was the New Testament as we know it today recognized by the Church?

  18. Where do the Hebrew Scriptures come from? Read p.10 of your handout from “The Hebrew Scriptures” • From which group of people does the Bible come from? • At what time were the first written documents made? • What were probably the first written documents?

  19. Writing the Bible Oral Stage • Stories handed down through the generations by word of mouth. The more important stories were memorised and told on special occasions.

  20. Writing the Bible Writing Stage As time went on, people began to write things down. Writing was difficult and very few people could read. For hundreds of years both the oral tradition and the written word existed side by side

  21. Writing the Bible Editing Stage Material was chosen which best represented the religious traditions of the people. The oral and written accounts could have differed slightly, so editing was done to bring unity between the two.

  22. What are the Hebrew Scriptures? Turn to page 15 of your handout (“The Hebrew Scriptures”) • What were the Hebrew Scriptures for the Jews of the Dispersion? • What message did the Hebrew Scriptures give to the Jews? • What types of writing are included in the Hebrew Scriptures? • In the Jewish faith, what are the primary five books called? • What message do they contain? • What do the opening stories show?

  23. The Bible Testaments • The Bible is split into the old and new testament • A testament was a covenant or agreement • The two testaments represent two agreements between God and his people

  24. The Bible Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) • Involves the creation story • This is about God’s covenant (agreement) to the chosenpeople (the Jews) • Predicts that a MESSIAH will come • Divided into 5 groups

  25. The Bible The LAW • The first 5 books are the TORAH • Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

  26. The Bible HISTORY • Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther • Read p.16 of Handout

  27. The Bible STORIES, POETRY, WISDOM • Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon • Read p.16-18 of Handout

  28. The Bible MAJOR PROPHETS • Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel Read p.18 of Handout

  29. The Bible MINOR PROPHETS • Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi • Youtube Video

  30. History of the Bible • What? • Where? • Who? • When? • Why? • How?

  31. Where and When? • Look at your timeline • What is the first event which begins the Timeline of Biblical History? • Read your handout titled “How to Read the Old Testament” p.16 • What problem did the ‘tiny people’ (the people of Israel) have due to their geographic location? • Where is the country of ‘Canaan’ today? • Look at the map on p. 17 • List the different countries and peoples which invaded and ruled Israel (Canann)

  32. Group Reading Task – Historical Sketch of Ancient Israel Go to the 6 ‘Stations’: • The founders and the Promise (Read the Bible p. 3-9 if time) • The Israelites and the Covenant (p.10, 36-47-58) • The Nation and the Temple (p.214-) • The kings and the prophets (p. 224-) • The Babylonion Exile and the Jewish Dispersion • The people of Israel and the word of God Make a group timeline on your A3 page.

  33. Noah and the Flood • Read the story • Identify plot details – any unexpected issues? • Repetition? • Inconsistencies?

  34. The Bible In order to be able to fully understand a passage of the Bible one must be aware of: • What form it was written in (literary forms / genres) (form criticism) • What narrative themes / characteristics does it contain? (narrative criticism) • Why it was written • Who wrote it (source criticism) • When it was written • What the whole book is about (redaction criticism) • What each word means (linguistic criticism) • How it fits / is similar or different to other parts of the Bible on the same subject (textual criticism) • Therefore… more than one exegetical tool is usually used to analyse a text. One is not enough to take into account all of these questions!!!

  35. Applying Exegetical Tools • Narrative Criticism • Source Criticism

  36. Narrative Criticism • Concentrates on the story being told • Who is the narrator? Reader positioning? Values? Perspectives? • What happens in the story? Where? When? • Who is involved? Characters? Major / minor characters? • Literary devices? Metaphor? Symbolism? Repetition? • Implied readers?

  37. Chiasm • Unique repetition pattern • How does the story of Noah and the flood incorporate this chiastic narrative structure?

  38. Motif of Creation • How is the story of Noah and the Flood linked to early Genesis stories such as the story of Adam and Eve?

  39. AIMS Source criticism • Who wrote it? • Looks for evidence of written sources • Original written source often has a different character from the passage in which it is now embedded • The main question for the reader is....Why a passage with different views has been incorporated?

  40. Myths • What myth in Mesopotamian literature does the story of Noah and the Flood draw upon? • How? • Research the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. • What parallels can you find between the two stories?

  41. Who was Gilgamesh?

  42. Comparison of Gilgamesh and Noah Flood stories TASK: Access the following site and write down at least 5 points of similarity between the two stories. http://www.religioustolerance.org/noah_com.htm

  43. Authorial Sources • Priestly Source • Yawhist Source TASK: Access the websites. Find out: • Who • When • Why

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