Bible: Difference between revisions

The Hebrew Bible is also known by the name Tanakh ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: {{Script/Hebrew|תנ"ך}}). This reflects the threefold division of the Hebrew scriptures, [[Torah]] ("Teaching"), [[Nevi'im]] ("Prophets") and [[Ketuvim]] ("Writings") by using the first letters of each word.{{sfn|Metzger & Katz|2010|p=651, footnote 1}} It is not until the Babylonian Talmud ({{circa|550 BCE}}) that a listing of the contents of these three divisions of scripture are found.{{sfn|Pace|2016|p=354}}

 

 

==== Torah ====

The [[New Testament]] is the name given to the second portion of the Christian Bible. While some scholars assert that Aramaic was the original language of the New Testament,<ref name="Erbes">{{cite web |last1=Erbes |first1=Johann E. |title=The Aramaic New Testament: Estrangelo Script: Based on the Peshitta and Harklean Versions |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1646&context=auss |website=digitalcommons.andrews.edu |publisher=American Christian Press |access-date=10 April 2022 |pages=259–260 |date=1984 |archive-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612205218/https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1646&context=auss |url-status=live }}</ref> the majority view says it was written in the vernacular form of Koine Greek. Still, there is reason to assert that it is a heavily Semitized Greek: its syntax is like conversational Greek, but its style is largely Semitic.{{sfn|Wallace|1996|pp=25–29}}{{efn|"The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the Greek of daily conversation. The fact that from the first all the New Testament writings were written in Greek is conclusively demonstrated by their citations from the Old Testament ..." {{harvnb|Aland|Aland|1995|p=52}}}}{{efn|"How came the twenty-seven books of the New Testament to be gathered together and made authoritative Christian scripture? 1. All the New Testament books were originally written in Greek. On the face of it this may surprise us." {{harvnb|Hunter|1972|p=9}}}} Koine Greek was the [[lingua franca|common language]] of the western Roman Empire from the [[Conquests of Alexander the Great]] (335–323 BCE) until the evolution of [[Byzantine Greek]] ({{circa|600}}) while Aramaic was the language of [[Jesus]], the Apostles and the ancient Near East.<ref name="Erbes"/>{{efn|"This is the language of the New Testament. By the time of Jesus the Romans had become the dominant military and political force, but the Greek language remained the 'common language' of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond, and Greek ..." {{harvnb|Duff|Wenham|2005|p=xxv}}}}{{efn|"By far the most predominant element in the language of the New Testament is the Greek of common speech which was disseminated in the East by the Macedonian conquest, in the form which it had gradually assumed under the wider development ..." {{harvnb|Blass|Thackeray|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=akD7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 2]}}}}{{efn|"In this short overview of the Greek language of the New Testament we will focus on those topics that are of greatest importance for the average reader, that is, those with important ..." {{harvnb|Aune|2010|p=61}}}} The term "New Testament" came into use in the second century during a controversy over whether the Hebrew Bible should be included with the Christian writings as sacred scripture.{{sfn|Barton|1998|pp=3, 4, 7}}

 

 

The first stage was completed remarkably early if one accepts {{ill|Albert C. Sundberg|de}}'s view that "canon" and "scripture" are separate things, with "scripture" having been recognized by ancient Christians long before "canon" was.{{sfn|Barton|1998|pp=9–11, 17–18}} Barton says [[Theodor Zahn]] concluded "there was already a Christian canon by the end of the first century", but this is not the canon of later centuries.{{sfn|Barton|1998|p=3}} Accordingly, Sundberg asserts that in the first centuries, there was no criterion for inclusion in the "sacred writings" beyond inspiration, and that no one in the first century had the idea of a closed canon.{{sfn|Barton|1998|pp=9–11}} The gospels were accepted by early believers as handed down from those Apostles who had known Jesus and been taught by him.{{sfn|Kelly|2000|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UivDgM0WywoC&pg=PA4 4]}} Later biblical criticism has questioned the authorship and datings of the gospels.

The New Testament is a collection of 27 books{{sfn|Mears|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m2Lz7iwklhAC&pg=PA439 438–439]}} of 4 different [[genres]] of Christian literature ([[Gospels]], one account of the [[Acts of the Apostles]], [[Epistles]] and an [[Apocalyptic literature|Apocalypse]]). These books can be grouped into:

 

* [[Synoptic Gospels]]

** [[Gospel of Matthew]]

 

===Social responsibility===

 

In the process of following this command, monasticism in the third century transformed health care.{{sfn|Crislip|2005|p=3}} This produced the first hospital for the poor in [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] in the fourth century. The monastic [[Health system|health care system]] was innovative in its methods, allowing the sick to remain within the [[monastery]] as a special class afforded special benefits; it [[Social stigma|destigmatized]] illness, legitimized the [[Deviance (sociology)|deviance]] from the norm that sickness includes, and formed the basis for future modern concepts of public health care.{{sfn|Crislip|2005|pp=68–69, 99}} The biblical practices of feeding and clothing the poor, visiting prisoners, supporting widows and orphan children have had sweeping impact.<ref name="Charles Schmidt">{{cite book| last=Schmidt| first=Charles|title=The Social Results of Early Christianity| chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_X-UROGF6ZcUC|year=1889| publisher=William Isbister Ltd.|location=London| pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_X-UROGF6ZcUC/page/n279 245]–256| chapter=Chapter Five: The Poor and Unfortunate| isbn=978-0-7905-3105-2}}</ref><ref name="Establishments">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/modelsforchristi0000unse |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/modelsforchristi0000unse/page/290 290] |title=Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Survival and Success in the Twenty-First Century |year=1997 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |isbn=978-0-8028-4121-6 |quote=Wesleyan institutions, whether hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, or schools, historically were begun with the spirit to serve all people and to transform society. |access-date=18 October 2007 }}</ref><ref name="Teasdale2014">{{cite book |last=Teasdale |first=Mark R. |title=Methodist Evangelism, American Salvation: The Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1860–1920 |date=2014 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |isbn=978-1-62032-916-0 |page=203 |quote=The new view of evangelism called for the denomination to undertake two new forms of activities: humanitarian aid and social witness. Humanitarian aid went beyond the individual help that many home missionaries were already providing to people within their care. It involved creating new structures that would augment the political, economic, and social systems so that those systems might be more humane. It included the establishment of Methodist hospitals in all the major cities in the United States. These hospitals were required to provide the best treatment possible free of charge to all who needed it, and were often staffed by deaconesses who trained as nurses. Homes for the aged and orphanages were also part of this work. }}</ref>

Christians often treat the Bible as a single book, and while [[John Barton (theologian)|John Barton]] says they are "some of the most profound texts humanity has ever produced", liberals and moderates see it as a collection of books that are not perfect.{{sfn|Barton|2019| p=13}} Conservative and fundamentalist Christians see the Bible differently and interpret it differently.{{sfn|Barton|2019| p=9}} Christianity interprets the Bible differently than Judaism does with Islam providing yet another view.{{sfn|Barton|2019| p=542}} How inspiration works and what kind of authority it means the Bible has are different for different traditions.{{sfn|Barton|2019| p=2}}

 

* the view of the Bible as the inspired word of God: the belief that God, through the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]], intervened and influenced the words, message, and collation of the Bible{{sfn|Rice|1969|pp=68–88}}

* the view that the Bible is also [[Biblical infallibility|infallible]], and incapable of error in matters of faith and practice, but not necessarily in historic or scientific matters