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OCIA_Main>> OCIA_Appendix> A Brief About the Bible
Jewish writers traditionally divided their scriptures into three parts: the Torah (the “Law,” or Pentateuch), the Neviʾim (“Prophets”), and the Ketuvim (“Writings,” or Hagiographa). The Torah consisted of the first five books of the Old Testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. The greek name 'Pentateuch' is used to refer to these five books. Pentateuch comes from the Greek; “Penta” means five and “teuch” means book.
The scriptures of the Bible are considered sacred to both Jewish and Christians. For Christians the Bible Consists of both Old and New Testaments. Christians of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths maintain a version of the Old Testament which is slightly larger because of their acceptance books found originally in the Septuagint version of scriptures. The Septuagint was assembled during the Old Testament period. Some of the books contained in the Septuagint list are considered apocryphal by Protestant Christians. The Jewish Faith only acknowledges their list of the Old Testament books as their Bible.
The scriptures as a whole, both New and Old Testament, are not meant to be thought of as written in a “bubble” apart from the history of man. Found intertwined in scripture are portions of man’s history from at least as far back as 1,850 years before Christ (1850 BC). Because the scriptures cover such a long period of time and were written across many centuries, it stands to reason that there were many writers as well.
The Bible
The Bible
The Bible is a collection of manuscripts (or books) called “Scripture,” which were written across many centuries. Some were written long before the time of Jesus Christ (BC – Before Christ) and others were written after the resurrection of Jesus Christ (AD - Anno Domine: Latin for ‘In the Year of our Lord’). The scriptures are the revelation from God which was written by various individuals who were inspired by His Holy Spirit. As such they are considered sacred.
The assemblage of scripture writings began with the early Hebrew people, who were later referred to as Israelites then eventually the Jewish people. They were responsible for the writings of the Old Testament which happens to be the largest as well as first part of the Bible.
While it is true there were many writers, it is God who is the real author of Sacred Scripture. Sacred scripture contains “Divinely revealed realities” which were written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.[1]
The various writers of Biblical scriptures used literary devices or ‘images’ and ‘forms’ familiar to them during their time. Since the Bible had many writers over such a long period of time, their cultures and influences were many. Ancient times were influenced by cultures melding together along with their related circumstances. As cultures do today so it was the same long ago, where various forms from these cultures were used to express special ideas especially if they are sacred in nature.
Although each book is different, the entire of Sacred Scripture is to be taken as a whole, not in isolated parts. It is taken together by reason of the unity of God’s plan, with Jesus as the center.[2]
[1] CCC 105 : “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” [Dei Verbum 21]
[2] CCC 112
The cultures of Biblical times along with their literary devices are very old and may seem very foreign to modern day people. Frankly they are. This does not mean the message provided in the scripture cannot be obtained or no longer applies to today’s living. When reading scriptures; there must be an awareness of how the writer is conveying the ideas, experiences and inspiration of God’s revelation.
Take for example; the literary devices and forms from the original works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). His works are much more contemporary to modern times and were written in the English of his day. But he also wrote using the literary styles of his day. Most modern Shakespearian publications have “modernized” the English so the people of today can understand it better.
The original Shakespeare works may not be so simple to read. So, people study it and need it explained before they can appreciate it? Try reading the original Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet. An explanation of the literary devices and phrases used would be needed because Shakespeare used literary devices suited for his time to get the story line across to his audience. This just points out what must be considered when reading the Bible which also contain historical, cultural literary devices and spiritual influences.
“Romeo, Romeo where fore art thou Romeo?”
From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
What is the quote above asking?
The Bible contains portions of the salvific history of mankind. More specifically, it contains how God constantly reveals himself in the history of mankind. This was not so much that God was interfering, it was more so God intervening to prevent man’s from destroying himself. This was necessary because of man’s fallen nature. Due to the Sin of Adam and Eve a separation was formed between God mankind, Therefore mankind needed God to provide a means for their salvation. God used the nation of Israel as a catalyst to bring about His promise of salvation for all nations.
Salvific: Comes from the word salvation. It is the adjective for the word salvation and is used to describe the history where God intervenes for the benefit of mankind. Salvific history is those parts in man's history where God comes down to render aide and guidance using one form or another.
It is from the revealed truth from God where stories of Him allowing His grace to provide mankind the faith they needed to follow God’s will. The Bible contains stories of faith written for the purpose of belief in the one true Almighty God and as a way for all mankind to begin to know and come back to God again.
The Bible is never open to free interpretation. If free interpretation were truly valuable for reading the Bible, then every person would deduce the same meaning and message. However, this is not the case. Protestantism proves this nicely although tragic as it is. Today there are thousands of Protestant faiths, all claiming they have the clear truth of Christianity, yet they strongly disagree with each other even over basic issues such as Baptismal regeneration. The Bible does not assert itself as a book of opinions either.
The scriptures of the Bible are not intended as scientific books or books of proof. They are written as a revelation for purposes of belief in God whose existence cannot be solely proven by all of the good science man has available. Although certain sciences have been beneficial by providing levels of concrete evidence for persons, places and things mentioned in the Bible.
In many of the writings of the Bible, they were written as a historical account and of religious belief in God. There is historical value because the bible portrays some events in history, associated historical aspects and cultural aspects of the times. These are reliable enough to be proof for archeological finds and for many historical scholars to site as a resource to corroborate historical facts.
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