Week 2

Introduction to the English Bible

The English Scriptures as Literature

Class Guidlines

This class’ approach to the bible is ACADEMIC, NOT DEVOTIONAL.

The school may strive for student awareness of religions, but should NOT press for student ACCEPTANCE of any religion.

The school may sponsor study ABOUT religion, but may NOT sponsor the PRACTICE of religion.

The school may expose students to a diversity of religious views, but may NOT IMPOSE, DISCOURAGE, or ENCOURAGE any particular view.

The school may educate about religion, but may NOT PROMOTE or DENIGRATE any religion.

The school may inform the student about various beliefs, but should NOT seek to CONFORM him or her to any particular belief.

The bible

66 (Protestant) or 73 (Catholic) books

Written over the span of 1500 years.

Ancient Near East

At least 40 different authors

3 original languages.

How is the bible divided?

Hebrew bible (Old Testament)

Jewish Scriptures

75% of the bible

New Testament

Christian books

25% of the bible

Old Testament

39 (Protestant) or 46 (Catholic) books

The story of Israel

Mostly Hebrew language and a little Aramaic

Written from approximately 1400 - 400 BCE

HebrewAlphabet

Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)

The Law

Historical books

Poetry

Wisdom literature

Prophets

New Testament

Written after Jesus’ crucifixion

27 books

Approximately 9 authors

Written in Koine Greek

Common trade language of the people

GreekAlphabet

New Testament

The Gospels

Acts of the Apostles

The Epistles (Letters)

Revelation

History of English Bible Translation

Christianity in Europe

Christianity reached Britain by the 3rd Century

389 CE Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire included all of Europe.

Previously, polytheism (belief in many gods) was the popular religion.

The Middle (“Dark”) Ages : 500-1500AD

• Common people could not read. • No English translation• Church used the Latin bible.• The language of the Roman

Empire• Used by scholars

John Wycliffe

• 1328 – 1384CE– Translator of

the first complete English Bible

– Declared a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church

William Tyndale

-1492 – 1536

-Defied the ban on English translations

-First to translate directly from the original Greek and Hebrew language texts

-Executed

The Printing Press

The bible was the first mass printed book.

Common people learned how to read through the bible.

Translation Philosophies

Formal Equivalence

•Word-for-word translation

•Literal

•Traditional view

Dynamic Equivalence

• Thought-for thought translation

• Less literal than Formal Equivalence translations

• Modern translation philosophy

• NIV

Paraphrase

– Freely change the wording from the original

– Least literal– Technically not a translation– A modern view

Introduction to the Hebrew Bible:

The Five Books of the Law

– Genesis– “Beginnings”

– Exodus– Saved out of slavery in Egypt

– Leviticus– Priestly laws

– Numbers– Census

– Deuteronomy– “2nd Law”

The Five Books of the Law

In Hebrew, these books are called the “Torah,” which means “law”.

Contain the law that governed ancient Israel

These books are the center of the Old Testament.

Authorship

Moses

• 14th Century BCE– End of the Bronze Age

• Raised and educated in Pharaoh's household

• Called a prophet– Described as speaking “face-to-

face” with God– Received the Law

• Leader of the Exodus

Support for Mosaic authorship:

• Exodus 24:4: “Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said.”

• Deuteronomy 31:9 “So Moses wrote down this laws and gave it to the priest, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.”

• Jesus and other biblical authors refer to Moses as the author (John 5:46)

Problems with Mosaic Authorship

• Moses death is narrated– Deuteronomy 34:5-8: “And Moses the

servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. 6 He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8 The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.”

Problems with Mosaic authorship

• Deuteronomy 12:3- “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”

• References to place names that didn’t exist at the time of Moses

Documentary Hypothesis

• Developed by Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918 AD)

• Believed that the text was composed from four different sources.

What is Genesis?

• The title means “Beginnings”.

– First book of the Bible

• Prologue to the Law

– Gives an introduction to the history of Israel

Outline of Genesis

I. Primeval History (1 – 11)A. Creation (1 – 3)B. Descendants of Adam & Eve (4 – 5)C. Flood (6 – 11)

I. Patriarchal History (12 – 50)A. Abraham (12 – 25)B. Isaac (25 – 26)C. Jacob (27 – 36)D. Joseph (36 – 50)

Creation

Genesis 1

Genesis 2:5

“And no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground.”

GENESIS Continued

Outline of Genesis

I. Primeval History (1 – 11)A. Creation (1 – 3)B. Descendants of Adam & Eve (4 – 5)C. Flood (6 – 11)

II. Patriarchal History (12 – 50)A. Abraham (12 – 25)B. Isaac (25 – 26)C. Jacob (27 – 36)D. Joseph (36 – 50)

Creation of Man

Creation of Man

• Adam created first

• Created good

• Adam made out of the “dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7)

• Breathed into his nostrils the “breathe of life” (Gen. 2:7)

Creation of Eve

• Eve made from Adam’s rib

– A “suitable helper” for Adam

– Does not denote weakness--same word used of God

“Cultural Mandate”

• Genesis 1:28: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea an d over the birds of the heavens and over ever living thing that moves on the earth”

The Command to Adam

• Genesis 2:16-17: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of ever tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Analysis of the Command

• Arbitrary command– No reason given– A pure test of obedience

• “Tree of the knowledge of good or evil”– Shows the purpose of the test

• Threatdeath– Physical?– Spiritual?

The “Fall”

• Disobedience of Adam and Eve

• Talking snake?– Reversal of created order– Satan?

• Tells about the entry of evil but does not directly explain the origin of evil.

The Curse

Woman• Genesis 3:16: “I will

surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Adam• Genesis 3:17-19:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.”

Protoevangelium?

• Genesis 3:15:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The Deluge

• Global or local flood?– Traditionally thought to be global–Modern scholars argue that is was local

• Rained 40 days and 40 nights

• Flood lasted 150 days

Noah’s Ark

•300 cubits = 140 meters

•Pair of every animal on the earth

Covenant

• Central concept in the Hebrew Bible

• Promise

• A binding agreement between two parties

• Common in the Ancient Near East– Usually between Kings and their vassals

Noahic Covenant

• Genesis 9:8-11: “Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ‘I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendents after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’”

Rainbow• Genesis 9:12-17: “And God said ‘This is the sign

of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generation to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of ever kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’; so God said to Noah, ‘ This the sign of the covenant I have establish between me and all life on the earth.’”

Patriarchs

The Origin of Israel

Abrahamic Covenant

• Genesis 12: Promised Blessings

– “Promised Land”– Descendants

• Circumcision

– Genesis 17

12 Tribes of Israel