Bible

The Bible is a library of books containing the scriptures of two religions. The Hebrew scriptures have been adopted by Christians and labeled the Old Testament. These thirty-nine books were written before the birth of Jesus. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the product of the Christian movement following the birthday of the church on the day of Pentecost, sometime around 30-33 ce.

The names "Old" and "New" Testaments come from the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 8, which in turn quotes the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 31:

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant [testament] with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Then follows an editorial comment by the Christian author of Hebrews: "By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete."

Christianity was, at first, considered a reform movement of Judaism. All of its first converts were Jewish. But when the apostle Paul freed Gentile converts from the Jewish requirements of circumcision and kosher food restrictions, they began to think of themselves as the "new" Israel, related to Abraham not by blood but by spirit. The only scripture familiar to the new Church was the Hebrew Bible, and it was quoted freely in their writings, which, when brought together some three hundred years later, would be called the New Testament. (The process is explained under the entry on Apocrypha).

The Story of the Bible

The Bible, written by many authors over the course of more than one thousand years, tells a single story. The individual books are divided into chapters and verses for easy identification. Genesis 3: 15-18, for instance, means that the passage quoted is from Genesis (the first book of the Bible), chapter three, verses fifteen through eighteen. With so many different translations and editions, identification by page number is simply not feasible. This refinement, however, was not found in the original manuscripts. It is the result of an editorial decision made in the Middle Ages.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis contain a prologue to the main story:

Chapters 1 and 2: Creation.

Chapter 3: The Fall. Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden.

Chapter 4: Cain murders Abel and goes forth to populate the earth.

Chapters 5 through 9: As evil spreads throughout the earth, God destroys humankind with a great flood.

Chapter 10: The Table of Nations. An explanation of how each human race descended from one of the three sons of Noah.

Chapter 11: The Tower of Babel. An explanation of why different races speak different languages.

In chapter 12 the main story of the Bible begins. Abraham answers the call of God, who tells him to "leave your country, your people and your father's household to go to the land I will show you." By following this command to migrate to the land now called Israel, Abraham sets in motion the long story of his descendants that occupies the rest of the Bible. Genesis tells the story of how Isaac, his son, becomes the father of Jacob and Esau. Jacob's name is changed to Israel when he wrestles with an unknown antagonist all night. His sparring partner is finally revealed to be none other than God. Israel means "he struggles with God." Jacob, now called Israel, fathers twelve sons. Their descendants, known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, are forever after called bene Yisrael, "children of Israel."

Their occupation of the land promised them by God, the Promised Land, is interrupted by a four-hundred-year captivity in Egypt (described in the book of Exodus). But under Moses they finally break free and begin their journey to the place they will forever call home (See Passover). If the Hebrew race began with Abraham, it can be said that the Jewish religion began with Moses. In the forty-year period of desert wandering following their escape from Egypt, the Hebrews were given the Law at Sinai and developed Tabernacle worship. The children of Israel became a unified people with a clear goal (detailed in Exodus through Deuteronomy). Their conquest of the Promised Land (Joshua through Ruth) began a long journey leading to great heights of glory under David and Solomon and great depths of despair in captivity in foreign lands (Samuel through Nehemiah; see Babylonian Captivity). Wisdom was acquired at a great price and expressed beautifully by many different writers (Job through Solomon's Song). The Hebrew prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) would time and again call upon the people to return to the path of God begun by their ancestors so many generations earlier.

The New Testament finds the Jews living in Israel, now called Palestine, under Roman rule. Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem. His story is told in four Gospels, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (See Gospel). His followers come to believe he is the Messiah anticipated by the Hebrew prophets, and they are soon called Christians. They proceed to spread his message throughout the Roman empire (described in the book of Acts). The first great Christian missionary, the apostle Paul, writes epistles, or letters, to the many churches he establishes (Romans through Philemon). Other letters written by different apostles (Hebrews through Revelation) follow these.

Taken together, Christians understand the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to tell the story of the human race. In the beginning, the first human parents are cast out of the Garden of Eden to keep them from the Tree of Life. Eating its fruit in their sinful state would have opened the doors to an eternity of evil. But that evil is addressed by God and paid for at Calvary (See Christ/Jesus of Nazareth). The way to the Tree of Life is opened once again. The final chapter of the Bible pictures the tree now standing in the New Jerusalem, "come down from heaven as a bride prepared for her bridegroom … and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse" (Revelation 22:2, 3).

Biblical Interpretation

What divides Bible scholars today is interpretation. How should the Bible be read? Who really wrote it? Is it a history textbook? Is it a book of ethics? What does it mean when Paul claims that "all Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16)? Are Christians bound by the cultural patterns of the authors? If so, slavery and subjugation of women seem to be ordained by God, since both seem to have Paul's approval (Ephesians 6:5 and 1 Corinthians 14:34). And what about the stories of rape, murder, and incest committed by people who seem to have God's blessing? Are they in the same category as the texts that outline moral behavior?

Answers to these questions form the basis of a great divide in the Church today. How scholars approach the subject of biblical interpretation immediately labels them. Dr. Gabriel Fackre of Andover Newton Theological School has prepared the following chart to help explain basic Christian theological positions in regard to biblical interpretation:

Biblical View Definition Popular Label

Oracular "The Bible was dictated by Extreme fundamentalism God to human authors."

Inerrancy "The autographs of the Bible Fundamentalism/ are without error in all matters evangelicalism/charismatic about which it chooses to speak."

Biblical View Definition Popular Label

Infallibility "The Bible is the authority in Moderate evangelicalism all matters pertaining to faith and life."

Conceptual "We are not to be concerned Liberal evangelicalism/mainstream with the words of the Bible but rather with the ideas they convey."

Historical "The Bible reveals what God Mainstream/liberal did and does, not what God said."

Christological "The Bible is a medium for Liberal knowing Jesus Christ."

The matter of scriptural interpretation continues to divide not only the Christian community, but Muslims and Jews as well. Whenever a holy book is read, assumptions have to be made. What was in the mind of the original author? Is the author even who he claims to be? Does the intention of the author determine our interpretation, or is the author being used by a Higher Power? Are secrets or even codes planted within scripture that are intended to remain hidden until the time arrives to which they apply? Are doctrines based on eternal truth or culturally conditioned behavior?

(See also Apocrypha; Literary Criticism/Historical Critical Method; Tanakh)

Sources: Fackre, Gabriel. The Christian Story, Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Erdmans, 1986. Helms, Randel McCraw. Who Wrote the Gospels? Altadena, CA: Millennium Press, 1997. Kirsch, Jonathan. The Harlot by the Side of the Road. New York: Balantine Books, 1997. May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.