Session 2: How was the Bible compiled?

Opening Psalm: Psalm 119:97-105

Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Review

To know what the Bible IS we can know what it is FOR.

Human & Holy—Human and Divine (Both/And)

MC Esher, “Drawing Hands”

Scripture is – Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse

ONE Big Story - A near-God (not distant) has made covenant (bound God’s self) with humanity for the sake of the renewal and restoration of the entire world.

How was the Bible compiled? How did we get 66 books in our Bible?

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Myths about how the Bible was compiled:

Divine: Fall from Heaven (Verbal Plenary Inspiration)

Human: Behind Closed Curtains

Old Testament

The Tanakh – The

Torah = Teaching, Instruction, Law Genesis – Exodus – Leviticus – Numbers – Deuteronomy

Nevi’im = Prophets Joshua – Judges – Samuel – Kings Isaiah – Jeremiah – Ezekiel The Book of the Twelve (Hosea - Malachi

Kethuvim = Writings – Job – Proverbs Ruth – Song of Songs – Ecclesiastes – Lamentations – Esther Daniel – Ezra – Nehemiah - Chronicles

Different Order of (Christian) & the Tanakh

OT ends with Malachi and a call for another Elijah (Messianic Era) Tanakh ends with 2 Chronicles and a call to return home after the exile

The two canons tell a different story. The Old and New Testaments focus on salvation at the end-time, with the book of Revelation showing the rectification of the “fall” in Eden; the Tanakh speaks of returning to the homeland.

Jesus and the Tanakh Luke 24:44 - Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’

How did the Tanakh come into being?

Developmental Stages and Edits

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Jeremiah 36:1-2, 4, 32

Proverbs – Compiling of wisdom stories.

Intertestamental Period – Apocrypha (“hidden”)

Roman Catholic – Tobit, Judith, Additional chapters of Esther and Daniel, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Wisdom of , Sirach, Baruch Eastern Orthodox - 3rd Maccabees, 1st Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh,

New Testament

Gospels – Eyewitness accounts of Jesus Acts – Story of the missional church Apostolic Writings (Epistles) – teachings and traditions of the apostles Romans 16:22 1 Peter 5:21 Hebrews & Revelation

Canon

How do we get from fragmented scrolls and letters being disturbed to churches, to a bound, closed canon?

Scripture vs. Canon

Scripture = Sacred Writings Canon = Scripture that is widely accepted as authoritative and unique.

3 Phases of Canonization

Central Core Sources for Christians “Second tiered” Books become cited more often Fourth Century Ruling (Council of Rome 387 AD)

Canon Criteria

Apostolicity

Orthodoxy – Rule of Faith

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Catholicity

List of New Testament Books

1st Appears in 2d Century (though it had added books) 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (367 AD) Council of Rome 387 – Canonized both OT and NT

Canonization

Discerned in Christian community over time The power and influence of the Holy Spirit

The Church existed without a canon for a couple of hundred years

Before there was a the Bible, there was the Church.

A Broader Canon (William Abraham)

In addition to Scripture, the Rule of Faith, and creeds: (1) practices, experiences, and rites intimately related to baptism and the Eucharist; (2) liturgical traditions; (3) iconographic traditions; (4) ecclesiastical regulations; (5) certain leaders and teachers; and (6) internal structures and ordering of the community

Table Conversation

1. How does the compiling of the Bible help you see both its humanity and divinity? 2. What does it say about God that God would trust the writing, distributing, and compiling of scripture to humans?

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