Introduction
The Bible; for some the Bible is a
place of solitude, a healing book, a book with answers, a reason for hope, for
some the Bible is a weapon, and for others the Bible is simply a book with no
significant value. Regardless of how the
Bible is used or revered, it is still a book and is considered a culmination of
separate writings and remembrances of spoken traditions that span hundreds, even
thousands of years. In fact, the
finished version of what was later known as the Bible – to include the Old
Testament and the New Testament – took over four-hundred years to be
completed. Prior to the finalization and
approval of the Christian Bible, the Old Testament was used for worship. According to a time-line released by editor
Harold Attridge et al, the beginning of biblical history pre-dates the
Chalcolithic period of 4500 B.C.E. (Attridge, 2006, pp. xxxiv - xxxv) . Nevertheless, why did the process take so
long? How were the Old and New
Testaments formed into the version we know as the Bible today?
Defining the Bible: Old Testament and New
Testament
There are several definitions for
the Bible. One of the better definitions
for the Bible was outlined by Fant et al
when they published An Introduction to
the Bible. They describe the Bible
as a religious community’s “Canon” and the canon was described as “writings
that are regarded as authoritative for a religious community …” (Fant,
Musser, & Reddish, 2001, p. 28) . In a book titled The Old Testament Story, the following definition is given that also
provides a good description of the Old Testament, “The Old Testament is
actually a library of books, produced over a period of more than a thousand
years (1200-200 B.C.E)” (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 1) . Essentially, a Canon was used to determine
right from wrong in the eyes of God.
Fant et al, also continues their discussion by saying the word Bible is
also considered – by definition – a general term for many religions. Incidentally, the word Bible is translated
from Greek to mean ‘books’, which based on the information just revealed, is
exactly what the Bible is, a collection of books (Fant, Musser, & Reddish, 2001) . Unassumingly because the Bible contains several
sections spoken or written at different times throughout biblical history.
The Bible starts with a depiction of
the beginning of time with the creation of Heaven and Earth and slowly moves
through time recanting historical events that helped to shape the world
today. Towards the end of what some
people consider the climax of the story, the prophesized return of the New
Testament protagonist and with him the apocalypse or end of the world as we
know it (Metzger, 2003) .
The Old Testament
As was indicated in the introduction, the Bible is the result of separate
writings and remembrances of spoken traditions collected over hundreds, even
thousands of years. The current version
of the Christian Bible is separated into two main sections, the Old Testament
and the New Testament. The Old Testament
is considered to be the Canon of the Israelite and depending on the point of
view, the Old Testament contains either twenty-four or twenty-nine books (Dr. Outland, 2013) . The cause for this variation actually depends
on which religious group you are referring to.
The Israelites – also referred as Hebrews, Jewish, or Jews – combined
many of the books contained within the Old Testament where as the Christians
did not. The content of the Old
Testament remains the same in either case.
There are three main sections found within the Hebrew Bible. The first section of the Hebrew Bible is known as the “Torah” and is considered as law and is authoritative; the second section or the “Neb’im” is a collection of narratives and writings presented to the Israelites by Prophets between 875 B.C.E and 440 B.C.E(Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 7) . The last section of the Hebrew Bible contains
writings or “Kethubim” and contains the story of Job, Psalms (songs), and other
books considered important to the Hebrew Canon (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 8) .
There are three main sections found within the Hebrew Bible. The first section of the Hebrew Bible is known as the “Torah” and is considered as law and is authoritative; the second section or the “Neb’im” is a collection of narratives and writings presented to the Israelites by Prophets between 875 B.C.E and 440 B.C.E
In contrast to the formation of the New Testament, the Old Testament was
organized and formed in a different way.
Unlike the New Testament, the information regarding the history of the
first seventeen scriptures found in the Old Testament appears to be in
chronological order. Starting with
Genesis and ending with the writings of Esther it is estimated the
documentation process of the Hebrew Bible lasted around five-hundred years;
starting in the canonization started in 400 B.C.E and was finished with the
introduction of the Kethubim in 100 C.E. (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, pp. 7 - 8) .
The chronological order of the Old Testament did not continue with the
remaining sections. The next four books written in no certain order, contained a writing style used throughout many books in the Bible. Poetry was used as a literary tool to convey
information or tell a story. The Old Testament books
of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon were all written in
a poetic format (Dr. Outland, 2013) .
The remaining seventeen books of the Old Testament contain information
regarding the Prophets. The Prophets
were selected by God and appeared to be a replacement for their predecessors; Judges. The Prophets were sent to the nations of
Israel as a way to warn people of pending judgment when they violated covenants
with God (Dr. Outland, 2013) .
The information of the Prophets documented in the Old Testament was
either converted text from orally communicated prophetic words or from
documents produced from the Prophets themselves (Tullock & McEntire, 2006) .
In addition to the variations previously mentioned, the Jewish people do
not recognize the New Testament or the manner in which the Christian Bible was
arranged. Because of these variations
and disagreements, the Jewish people use the Hebrew Bible and the Christians
use the Christian Bible (Fant, Musser, & Reddish, 2001) .
The New Testament
The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The New Testament – also
nicknamed the New Covenant – was compiled and finalized over four-hundred years
after the death of Jesus. Some estimates
consider the death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection to be around 30
C.E. (Metzger, 2003) . Other estimates indicate it was not until 50
– 140 C.E. that events surrounding his life, ministry, death, and resurrection
were documented (McGraw Hill , 2013, p. 23) . The delay in documenting these events can be
attributed to some measure of being unsure of Jesus’ return. If Jesus were to return within the same
generation as his resurrection, oral traditions would probably have continued
and the need of documenting information would have been realized much
later. However, as is known today, the
return of Jesus is still considered an unfulfilled prophecy. The New Testament contains prophetic
writings, parables, songs, and reverberated knowledge from the Old Testament
most of which is focused on one person, Jesus Christ and his ministries.
As previously mentioned, the length of time it took to finalize the New
Testament was a pain staking four-hundred plus years (McGraw Hill, 2013). In the
decades prior to the formation of the Christian Bible – which includes the Old
Testament and the New Testament – many Christian worshipers and their churches
used what was at the time acceptable for their faith (McGraw Hill, 2013) .
Christian churches used the existing Hebrew Bible for worship and
guidance along with other writings that may have eventually found their way
into the New Testament. According to a textbook
published by McGraw Hill, much of what people see in the Bible was in fact
written and collected between 50 C.E. and 140 C.E. to be combined later with
the Old Testament to form the Christian Bible (McGraw Hill , 2013, pp. 23 - Chap. 2) .
The New Testament consists of the following: Gospels, History, Letters, and Prophecy (Dr. Outland, 2013) . There are four Gospels and each reveals a
similar story about the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. These Gospels were the “primary
sources of information” regarding Jesus (Fant, Musser, & Reddish, 2001, p. 297) . The second section of the New Testament
refers to the history of the church and the Apostles. The “Acts of the Apostles” was written by
Luke and is the only section of the New Testament that reveals stories about
church activities and events (Attridge, 2006, p. 1855) . The third section of the New Testament
contains letters also known as Epistles.
These letters appeared to have been written specifically for churches
and discuss what types of religious doctrine should be followed in their
respective areas. The final section of
the New Testament contains only one book and prophesizes the return of Jesus
and the pending apocalypse (Attridge, 2006) .
Conclusion
The Christian Bible is the culmination of historical events, teachings, poetry, songs, and prophecies that occurred or
were spoken thousands of years ago. The
Bible itself took hundreds of years to develop, document, and then later publish. All the while the contents of the Bible were
debated repeatedly for centuries. Still
today, people debate the meanings and information found in several sections of
the Bible (i.e., the Synoptic Gospels and others) while others use the Bible to
further their non-biblical agendas, and still more people try to use it as a
means of celebration. The Bible stands
on its own as a book that changes and influences people’s lives. By emotional connections to the words,
events, and phrases found either within the Bible or by the factual events that
occurred, the Bible has affected people.
The formation of the two main
sections of the Bible were assembled by one nation and yet there appeared to be
many cultural differences between the Israelites of the Old Testament and the
Jews from the New Testament. From the
time of the Exodus to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, centuries had passed
and yet the same message may be found throughout both testaments;
be good to God and he will be good to you.
be good to God and he will be good to you.
One opinion as to the formation of
the Bible is as follows: even though the
Old Testament was written to historically record the beginning of civilization,
one might see this arrangement of the Bible from an individualistic point of
view. The chronological order of the Old
Testament seems to repeat the same theme repeatedly. From the time of Adam and Eve, people have
failed to maintain promises or covenants with God. All that God asks is that people do or do not
do something yet repeatedly people would violate God’s trust. It was not until the New Testament that God
finally sent his own son to take away his worshiper’s sins so that people might
be saved and yet all that was needed is to ask for forgiveness. From an individualistic point of view, one will
see a pattern of sin and forgiveness.
Forgiveness that was either requested or given freely by God. This type of pattern is repeated in people’s
lives as well as in the Bible. What this
could mean is the arrangement or formation of the Bible was purposeful so that
people could better relate to God’s message.
This theory is a long shot but it allows people to see the possibility
of a bigger picture (Chris Coviello’s theory).
References
Attridge, H. W. (2006). The Harper Collins Study
Bible Fully Revised and Updated. New York: HapperCollins Publishers.
Dr. Outland, R. (2013, November). Introduction to
The Bible. REL 215 - Class Lecture. New Bern, NC, USA.
Fant, C. E., Musser, D. W., & Reddish, M. G.
(2001). An Introduction to the Bible. Memphis: Abingdon Press.
McGraw Hill . (2013, November 15). McGraw Hill -
Higher Education. Retrieved from McGraw Hill - Higher Education:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073535826/932559/Chapter_3.pdf
McGraw Hill. (2013, November 15). McGraw Hill -
Higher Education. Retrieved from McGraw Hill - Higher Education:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073535826/932559/Chapter_2.pdf
Metzger, B. M. (2003). The New Testament: Its
Background, Growth, & Content. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Tullock, J. H., & McEntire, M. (2006). The Old
Testament Story. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
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