Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity

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Religion 125 Introduction to Christianity

• Dr. Donald N. Penny

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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 Gods 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.

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• Major Divisions of the Bible
• Old Testament three versions (BPJM, p. xiii)
• Protestant OT 39 books
• Testament covenant Gods 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 27 uniquely Christian books
• Same 27 for Protestants and Catholics not in
  Jewish Bible.
• Gods 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.

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• 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)
• Pauls 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

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• 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.