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THE BIBLE

ORIGIN, TRANSLATIONS AND INTERPRETATION

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THE BIBLE IS A UNIQUE BOOK

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Most popular book ever

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It greatly influenced civilization, a source of Western culture

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A treasure chest of wisdom and inspiration, contains some of the

most profound insights on life and has changed many lives

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Hebrews 4:12

12 Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Heb 4:12). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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2 Timothy 3:16-17• 16 † † All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for

refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,• 17 so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for

every good work.• † [16–17] Useful for teaching...every good work: because as God’s

word the scriptures share his divine authority. It is exercised through those who are ministers of the word.

• † [16] All scripture is inspired by God: this could possibly also be translated, “All scripture inspired by God is useful for...” In this classic reference to inspiration, God is its principal author, with the writer as the human collaborator. Thus the scriptures are the word of God in human language. See also 2 Peter 1:20–21.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (2 Ti 3:16). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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A library/collection of OT and NT books mysteriously woven into a

single theme of man’s redemption

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46 Old Testament books 27 New Testament books

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Written in thousands of years with various authors of different background

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The oldest writings are about 1300 BC and the latest ones

are about 100 AD

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Above all, it is God’s Word,

a revelation of Himself

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ORIGINAL AND MANUSCRIPTS (COPIES)

OF THE BIBLE

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Original writings were either destroyed or perished through wear and tear

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Manuscripts or copies of the bible are authenticated

through ‘Textual Criticism’

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CLASSES OF SACRED WRITINGS

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#1 Protocanonical(universally accepted)

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#2 Deuterocanonical(disputed writing )

• Such as the so-called ‘seven added books’ of the Old Testament and the books of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2nd and 3rd letters of John, Hebrews, and Revelation of the New Testament)

• Disputed books of the OT: Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Judith, Baruch, Tobit, 1st Maccabees, 2nd Maccabees and part of Daniel and Esther

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#3 Apocryphal

(writings which are not considered inspired such as the gospel of Peter, the gospel of

Thomas, the letters of Barnabas and Clement, etc.)

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ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE

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Putting together in writing the experiences of God’s people, the warning of their prophets, and the beliefs they developed.

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The authors were ‘divinely inspired’ (‘Theopneustos’ or God-breathed) The bible is an inspired interpretation of God’s deeds and self-revelation, the “Word of God in the words of humans.”

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“ God so moved and impelled them to write. He was so present to them, that they first rightly understood, then willed faithfully to write down, and finally expressed in apt words and with infallible truth the things which He ordered and those only.”

(Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Providentissimus Deus)

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Writings were canonized

by the Catholic Church

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The process of canonization went through several stages in different Church Councils, namely:

– Council of Rome in 382 AD– Council, Hippo in 393 AD– Council of Carthage in 397 AD– Council of Trent in 1545

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The Church’s authority

in canonizing the bible

was universally recognized.

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History of Canonized Scriptures

The 7 disputed OT books were first rejected by the Jewish rabbis in the Council of Jamnia (110 AD) alleging that no original manuscripts of said books were found. They also found these books “too Christian” and acted consistent with their rejection of Christ. This is known as the “Palestinian/Hebrew Canon.”– However, research into the Dead Sea Scrolls found at

Qumran in 1947 has discovered ancient Hebrew copies of these disputed books, making their rejection unsupportable

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Protestant Canon adopted the Palestinian/Hebrew Canon finding it consistent with their rejection of the

doctrine of purgatory which is supported by 2nd Maccabees

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TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE

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The Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language and then translated into Greek (“Septuagint”) by about 70 translators around 285-246 B.C. This came to be known as the “Alexandrian/Greek Canon.”

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Bible scholars believe that the Septuagint was the translation used by

Jesus, Greek being the common language at that time.

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The New Testament quotes about 350 passages from these disputed books.

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The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language and later

translated to Latin (“Vulgate”).

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Catholic English translations:

Douay-Rheims

New American Bible (NAB)

etc.

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Protestant English translations:

Tyndale

King James

RSV

etc.

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The Word can be “lost in translation”

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Romans 3:28

28 For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Ro 3:28). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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John 1:1

1 † † In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Board of Trustees, Catholic Church. National Conference of Catholic Bishops, & United States Catholic Conference. Administrative Board. (1996, c1986). The New American Bible : Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources and the revised New Testament (Jn 1:1). Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.

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Look for “Imprimatur” or “Nihil Obstat”

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GUIDES TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE

BIBLE

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What the Bible Is

It is a book of faith! It reflects the beliefs and experience of God’s people, a people God chose to be his own and to whom he manifested himself in very special ways. The Hebrew Scriptures are the expression of faith of the Children of Abraham; the New Testament is an expression of faith of the followers of Jesus.

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What the Bible is Not

The bible is NOT

a science treatise

series of predictions

history book

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Not a Science Treatise

The writer of the bible did not intend to teach exactly what happened in the scientific accounts he wrote as he is not a scientist. He is simply using a vehicle in which to convey the truth that he was conveying.

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In the Book of Genesis, the writer did not intend to teach exactly what happened but he was simply trying to teach a profoundly true religious lesson, i.e. that everything comes from God and has a special place in God’s plan.

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The literary form of the stories in the first eleven chapter of Genesis might be classified as “myth”. In this sense, myth does not mean false, rather it is a means of teaching a profound truth by means of a story.

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The person of science can be a person of faith. Faith is concerned with ultimate reasons and purpose: science is concerned with immediate or proximate causes and effects. There is no conflict between the truth of real science and the truth of revelation. Apparent conflicts are usually the result of an attempt on the part of either scientists or theologians to invade the territory where they are not competent.

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The doctrine of creation and the theory of biological evolution do not necessarily contradict each other. Evolution is not a doctrine, hence one does not “believe in” it. Evolution is a scientific theory which has significant support in the scientific community but has never been proven.

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We can accept the theory of evolution if the evolutionist is also willing to admit that God began the evolutionary process and then personally intervened when a creature had reached that perfection which was fit to receive an immortal soul.

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The doctrine of Creation does not say just how or when God made man’s body “from the dust of the ground” and the Theory of Evolution does not say how souls were made. Souls leave no fossils.

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The Bible is NOT a Series of Predictions

All “predictions” of the future in the Bible have already happened except one: the glorious return of Jesus Christ. Bible Prophesy is not predictions; rather it is “speaking God’s message”.

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The Bible is NOT intended to be a history book

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Rules of Interpretation laid out in the Catechism

– CCC 109– CCC 110– CCC 111– CCC 112– CCC114– CCC 119 – CCC 126

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CCC 109

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.

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CCC 110

110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."

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CCC 111

111 … "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written." The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.

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CCC 112

112 … Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture." Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity…

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CCC 113

113 … Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church."

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CCC114

114 … Be attentive to the analogy of faith. By "analogy of faith"  we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

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CCC 119

119 … For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."

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CCC 126

126 … The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up…"

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