After participating for several weeks in the Thursday evening Bible study with some 25+ persons, it is clear we all have various levels of knowledge about Bible basics, so I begin this weekend with a series of Sunday Bulletins with "Bible 101" basics.
 

The word, "Bible," comes from the Greek word, "biblia," meaning "books. The Bible is a collection of books, and for Christians it is divided into two larger collections: the Old Testament (also called the Old Covenant or more recently the Hebrew Scriptures) and the New Testament (also called the New Covenant and more recently the Christian Scriptures). The books were written by various authors over a period ranging from 900 BC to 100AD. These contain various types of writing, such as poetry, songs, laws, history, letters, sayings, prophecies, and short stories.

The Old Testament contains 39 books which are divided, according to Jewish tradition, into three sections: the Law (first 5 books), the prophets (21 books), and the writings (13 books). Christians divide them slightly differently. The New Testament contains 27 books: four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 13 letters attributed to Paul, 8 other letters, and the visionary book called Revelation or Apocalypse.

The Old Testament books were written in Hebrew, the New Testament books in Greek. None of the original manuscripts have survived. What scholars have to begin studies or translations are old manuscripts, some in Hebrew and Greek, and others in languages into which they were translated, such as all Greek, Latin, and Syriac (a form of Aramaic). Thanks to the Muslims, many of these manuscripts were preserved in libraries in ancient Iran and Iraq. These various copies also have some textual variations.

Most of the earliest did not have names attached to the books. These were added later along with the chapters and verses. The latter makes it easy to cite references, such as Lk 6:17-26 (this weekend's Gospel narrative). That means the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6, verses 17-26. The abbreviations of the names of the book are generally found in the very front of Bibles.

There is only one Bible. What makes one Bible different from another is one of the following: a) the translation, b) the notes and introductions, and c) whether or not seven additional books and some additions to existing books are included. These seven books and additions are called "The Apocrypha" or in Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox editions, "the Deuterocanonical" books. ("canon" means rule or norm, and this word means "the second canon" or normative books in addition to those accepted by all Christians.) Thus Catholic Bibles have the same books as Protestant Bibles plus these additions. In many modern translations, the Apocrypha may be printed in a separate section or even in a separate volume.

Ancient languages are very different from modern languages, and that means every translation into modern languages is an interpretation of the meaning of the "original" text. Plus the meaning of words change from generation to generation. Take for example the words, "grass," and "mouse," and "windows". They no longer have the same single meaning they did 50 years ago. In addition there have been significant discoveries in the last 200 years of ancient manuscripts, the most famous of which are the Dead Sea Scrolls. These discoveries tell scholars what Biblical words mean since they are used in different writings and can therefore enlighten what they mean in the texts in the biblical books.

There are three types of translations of the Bible: 1) the formal correspondence translations, 2) the dynamic equivalence translations, and 3) the amplified or biblical paraphrase translations. Formal correspondence translations seek to give the closest meaning of the word from the original manuscript along with the word order. Dynamic equivalence translations try to put the original meaning in modern English but not always following the exact literal meaning or word order. Paraphrases are not accurate translations, although they are still called bibles. They make the stories and teaching easier to understand in modern English but suffer from being a more free interpretation from the author's viewpoint.                                             

Joseph+