Here’s a little peek into what we’re up to at Wicker Park Grace. We’re spending two weeks of Spiritual Practice at the Sunday Gatherings focused on Bible Basics. Why? Because people have been asking questions like the ones included here.
These two weeks are just a brief introduction, but Sarah Ross will be teaching a Thursday evening class throughout Lent, beginning Thursday Feb 25, which will go into a lot more depth on all of this!
January 31st was Week 1, and first we discussed in pairs our basic reactions to these questions:
“What is the bible?” (There is a range of beliefs about the bible)
* the stories of people’s relationships/experiences with God throughout time?
* the infallible word of God?
* a literal historical account of events relating to God?
What do you think the bible is?
(a novel, a history book, a tool of oppression, a rule-book, an inspirational guide for life, the Word of God in the words of people, a philosophical treatise, a theological reflection, the Word of God transmitted infallibly through human beings, any of the above listed, or anything else…)
So take a moment now and think about what your answer to that question is. If you were present at the Gathering, remember what you said…
Okay. After that, we went through a few basic factoids about the Bible. Here they are!
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Bible Basics 1
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“Bible” = from Latin and Greek words for “book,” biblos.
“Canon” = from Greek word meaning “rule” or “standard.” A list of writings considered authoritative within a certain tradition.
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The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, TNK) is the authoritative text for the Jewish community, and came to be called the Old Testament by Christians. But some continue to refer to it as the Hebrew Bible, or Hebrew Scriptures, or The First Testament, as a sign of respect to the Jewish community.
It was the early church fathers, Tertullian (ca. AD 160-230) and Origen (ca. AD 185-254) who first referred to the Hebrew Scriptures as “Old Testament,” and called the “New Testament” by that name.
The Hebrew Scriptures include:
T = Torah, Five Books of Moses, collected mid-6th to 4th cent BCE
N = Nevi’im, Prophets, collected around 1st century AD/CE
K = Ketuvim, Writings, collected after mid-1st century AD/CE, after 1st Jewish War against Rome (66-70 CE) (This includes the Psalms and history books like 1st & 2nd Kings.)
By the end of the 1st century AD/CE the Hebrew Bible included what it includes today and was considered authoritative. Samaritans and Saducees may not have accepted the Prophets or the Writings as authoritative at that time. The scriptures were written on scrolls.
Which books are included in the Old Testament varies between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant versions of the Bible. Study Bibles often include comparative lists in the front.
Protestant versions tend to be the least inclusive, having 39 books. Catholic bibles include 46 books, and most Orthodox bibles include about 49 (it’s hard to count, because some books are renumbered and/or renamed in the different versions.)
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Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonical Books
The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, included new books written originally in Greek by Hellenistic (Greek speaking) Jews prior to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
Although not included in Jewish scripture, some of these new books were later kept in Christian Orthodox and Catholic and Anglican bibles as “Apocrypha” or “hidden” books. They were granted “deutero,” or secondary canonical status by some denominations. There has never been a complete consensus about which ones are authoritative and so bibles today continue to contain different books. In Protestant bibles the Apocrypha are sometimes included in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments, or at the end of the New Testament.
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The New Testament (Greek)
Along the lines of calling the “Old Testament” the Hebrew Scriptures, some people refer to this book as the Greek Testament, or the Second Testament.
Most but not all churches accept a 27-book New Testament. The earliest list of these 27 books is by Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 AD.
The chapter and verse divisions were established by Cardinal Hugo de San Caro in 1248 AD, or an earlier archbishop of Centerbury, Stephen Langton. (Before that, the text was not broken up into numbered sections.)
The New Testament includes:
Gospels = Life of Jesus: Mark (70 AD), Matthew (85 AD), Luke (80-90 AD), John (80s or 90s AD)
Acts of the Apostles = History of the early church (after 70 AD, before 200 AD. Same author as Luke?)
Paul’s letters = Life of the early church: 7 or 10 believed to really be written by Paul. There are 13 (not 133 which was a typo in the handout!) attributed to him in the bible. (1st Thessalonians was earliest, written in 50 AD)
General letters = seven letters written to a general audience or an individual (late 1st century)
Revelation = Vision of ultimate future, or coded message to the churches under persecution (ca. 95 AD)
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New Testament Apocrypha
Books in this category are not included in any versions of the bible. These were written by early Christians but are “extra-canonical” books, books outside the canon of Christianity (i.e. not deuterocanonical). This genre includes books like those called “The Gospel of Thomas” and “The Gospel of Mary.”
Although they are not considered authoritative “scripture” they do shed much light on the practices and beliefs of early Christian communities. Interest in these books has grown since the discovery in 1945 of 13 bound “codexes” or bound books, (as opposed to scrolls), in the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt.
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Vulgate
St. Jerome (d. 420) wrote a Latin translation of the Old and New Testaments. He did not include the apocrypha in his translation.
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END OF FACTOID SECTION…
Then we broke into three small groups, each group focusing on one of the following questions for discussion. It was a lively conversation going on simulataneously!
Group 1
How factual is the bible? (what’s the role and purpose of the bible?)
What do we accept as literal and why?
For example, in the New Testament (and specifically Jesus) says to:
* give away all your belongings
* never charge interest on loans
* cut off your hand if it leads you to sin
Group 2
How important is cultural context when making ethical decisions?
For example, when Jesus condemned divorce, which only men had the power to do in his time, consider the role of women in society and Jesus’s strong concern for the socially outcast and lost, widows, orphans, and…yes, possibly divorced women. In contemporary society divorce functions differently. Does this make an ethical difference?
Group 3
What is an appropriate way to deal with people who differ from us in their understandings of the bible?
In this group we considered both when others judge and diminish our perspectives, as well as the impulse to judge and diminish others. Can we agree to disagree and still love one another? Can we maintain a strong sense of core self in the face of others diminishing us and our perspectives? What are strategies for doing that?
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This week, February 7, we’ll move on to Bible Basics 2!
More on canonization, differences in translation, & the nature of God in the text (wrathful? loving? compassionate?)
Stay tuned!