1. +The Bible: An Introduction Brett Opalinski Christ Church UM

2. +Religion of the Book Judaism and Christianity are religions of a book.Judaism was the first of Western Civilization.Other religions, put more emphasis on ritual ceremonies and sacrifices. 3. +Bible Basics Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament.Library/Collection of Books (66 not counting the Apocrypha)Different authors, settings, places. 4. +Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Many books across a wide range of time.Written in Hebrew. 5. +Basic Parts of the Hebrew Bible Torah: Books of the LawProphetsPoemsWisdomHistory 6. +New Testament: Basic Information 27 Books.Written in Greek.Between the Years 50-120 CE (Earliest I Thessalonians) 7. +Types of Writings in the New Testament LettersGospelsHistorySermonsApocalyptic Literature 8. +Basic Dates for Early Christianity 6-4 BCE Birth of Jesus10 CE Birth of Paul29 CE Death and Resurrection of Jesus31-33 CE Pauls Transformation50-60 CE Letters of Paul64 CE Death of Paul and Peter65-70 Gospel of Mark written 9. +What Scriptures did Early Christians Use Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)Jesus words and teachings.Pauls LettersGospelsLater Writings 10. +There Were Many Early Christian Writings GospelsActs/HistoriesRevelationsWhich ones should be used? 11. +Athanasius: Bishop of Alexandria 367 CE Letter to his Churches in Egypt.Instructed them to use the 27 books that made up the New Testament. 12. +Council of Carthage 394 CE Finalized the List of Books that we use today in Western Christianity.Eastern Christians still used: I Clement, Barnabas, Shepherd of Hermas. Omitted Revelation. 13. +Criteria for Which Books Were Selected Rule of Faith: Consistent with basic teaching of the Apostles.Apostolic Authorship.Accepted and Used by Many Churches.No agreement over which was the most important. 14. +What About the Apocrypha Books that are from the Hebrew tradition, but not part of the Old Testament. Valued and used by Early Christians.Baruch, Tobit, Psalm 151, 1-4 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Letter of Jeremiah.Some Bibles include these today! 15. +Manuscripts We do not have the original copies of the books.There are over 5,500 manuscripts, fragments or papyri.Copying was done by hand, not by printing presses. 16. +How Do We Get Our Bibles Today Scholars work with Manuscripts and Fragments to determine what the originals may have looked like.Put together into a common Greek version. (Hebrew for OT).Different translations from that. 17. +Final Thoughts Translations: Common English Bible or New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).Dont just read the Bible, study it!If you would like to know more, email me at: bopalinski@echristchurch.org