The Bible for blockheads : a user-friendly look at the Good Book / Douglas Connelly.
Record details
- ISBN: 0310222672 (pbk.) :
- Physical Description: pages cm
- Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI : ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1999.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
Citation/References Note: | LJ 09/01/1999 PW 07/12/1999 |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Bible > Introductions. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Evergreen Indiana.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Starke Co PL - Schricker Main Library (Knox) | 220.61 CON (Text) | 30032010180849 | ADULT NON-FICTION | Available | - |
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The Bible: What's with It?
Heads Up
Discover how the Bible was written --- and how it survived.
Learn to find your way around quickly.
Find out what role God played in the production of the Bible.
The word Bible means 'the book.' The Bible is one book, but it is also a collection of books. Sixty-six books were written over 1,600 years by at least forty different authors. You will find just about every kind of writing in the Bible --- love letters, songs, historical records, diaries, visions of the future, genealogies, suicide notes. The Bible was the first book printed on a printing press, and it still outsells all other books in the marketplace. You can get the Bible on audio, on video, and online. It has been translated into more languages and has been quoted more and memorized more than any book in human history.
The Bible is divided into two main sections --- the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament focuses on God's interaction with the people of Israel. The New Testament, written later, focuses on Jesus and his early followers called Christians. The word testament means 'treaty or covenant,' an agreement made between two people. God entered into a contract with the people of Israel in the Old Testament. God's new contract (in the New Testament) is made with anyone who will commit to following Jesus. In each testament the terms of the agreement are spelled out. The Bible is an instruction manual for people who want to do what pleases God.
The Old Testament
The first and longest major division of the Bible is called the Old Testament by Christians. (Jewish people refer to it as the Hebrew Bible.) Thirty-nine individual biblical books are included in the Old Testament. Some of the books are named for their author --- like the book of Daniel. Daniel was a prophet, or spokesperson, for God who wrote that particular book. Some books are named for their main characters, who may or may not be the author. The book of Joshua is about a great leader named Joshua. The book of Esther is about a Jewish girl who became a courageous queen. Joshua probably was the author of his book. Esther probably was not the writer of the book about her.
Other Old Testament books get their names because of the story they tell. The book of Exodus, for example, tells the story of the nation of Israel's 'exit' from Egypt. The books of Kings talk about (you guessed it) Israel's kings. Some books have unusual names that don't make much sense in English --- Leviticus, Ecclesiastes, Psalms. (I've tried to give some explanation of these titles in the Help File section of each of these books.)
Originally the Old Testament was written in two languages. Most of it was written in Hebrew. Small sections of a few books were written in a language related to Hebrew called Aramaic.
Here's what Hebrew looks like in a modern Hebrew Bible:
Hebrew is read from right to left (the opposite of English) and from the top line of the page to the bottom line (the same as English). The large blocky letters are the consonants (twenty-two in the Hebrew alphabet). The dots and small marks above or below the consonants are vowels or vowel 'points.' When the Old Testament was first composed, Hebrew was written with no vowels and no word divisions (mostly to conserve room on very expensive writing material). Word divisions were made about a.d. 100. Vowel marks were added in the ninth or tenth century a.d. to preserve the correct pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew language.
Hebrew is a very expressive language. It is a language suited to stories and poetry --- exactly the forms found most often in the Old Testament.
The New Testament
The second main section of the Bible is the New Testament (twenty-seven biblical books). Just as in the Old Testament, some of these books are named for their author. The gospel of John, for example, is the story of Jesus (a gospel) written by one of Jesus' followers (John). Other books are named for their content. The book of Acts records the 'acts,' or deeds, of the early Christians. Many of the New Testament books are letters and are named for those who first read the letter. Ephesians, for example, is a letter sent to the Christians in the city of Ephesus. People living in the city of Corinth were called Corinthians --- and we have two letters to the Corinthian Christians (1 and 2 Corinthians).
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. When the story of the New Testament opened, Rome ruled the world of Europe and North Africa, but the universal language of the Roman Empire was Greek, not Latin. The New Testament was written in 'street Greek.' It was not the difficult language of the scholars, but the everyday language of the people. Today it looks like this in a printed Greek New Testament:
Greek is read from left to right just like English. While Hebrew is a poetic language, Greek is a very precise language. Its words and structure are more rigid than Hebrew. It is a great language for precise, clear communication.
A Survival Story
The original documents of the Bible have all disappeared, but copies of the originals have survived. We take making copies for granted. Every drugstore and post office has a twenty-five-cent copy machine. Before the printing press, however, every copy of a book or letter had to be made by hand. Some of the most respected people in society were scribes, those who could write or copy words. Think of how long it would take you to copy by hand even one book of the Bible or the latest John Grisham novel! People in the ancient world copied only the most important or treasured documents.
Hand-produced copies of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament are called manuscripts. Some of the manuscripts we possess are very old. We are confident that these manuscripts are accurate copies of the original writings because the Jews and later the Christians who copied the text took extreme care in their work. They were fanatics about accuracy!