Biblical Literature Overview

I. Information about the Bible Most widely distributed book in history The Bible has been translated more times into more languages than any other book.

II. Beliefs about the Bible Some people feel the events described in the Bible actually happened and are true. Some people feel the events described in the Bible are symbolic of religious belief and are not to be taken literally, but rather to be interpreted for moral lessons. Some people believe the Bible is false and merely a work of fiction.

III. Origins of the Bible The Christian Old Testament was developed from the Hebrew Bible; in the mid 200s BC, Jewish scholars in Egypt translated the Bible into Greek. In that translation more chapters were added – some were translations of Hebrew works and some were original works of Greek authors. Apocrypha is the word used to refer to the chapters that were added to the Old Testament that were not originally found in the Hebrew bible.

III. Origins of the Bible cont’d In the 1500’s AD, Protestants were concerned about the Apocrypha being part of the Old Testament, so they removed it and created the Protestant version of the Bible. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament are virtually the same except for the Apocrypha. The New Testament differs from the Old Testament in that it was written (in Greek) after the birth of Jesus Christ, and it records the life of Jesus Christ.

III. Origins of the Bible cont’d Scholars have been able to confirm some (but not all) of the statements in the Bible though archeology and the study of documents written by other peoples of the ancient Near East. The Bible was written from about 1450 BC to 100 AD by many different authors writing in many different times and places. In 1604, King James I of England assembled a committee of 50 scholars to revise earlier English translations of the Bible; this new version came to be published in 1611 and is referred to King James Version.