BIBLE
book containing the scriptures of the Jewish and Christian religions. The Hebrew Bible, a collection of Hebrew sacred texts, is included in the Christian Bible, forming its first part - the Old Testament. Both Christians and Jews consider it to be a record of an agreement (covenant) concluded between God and man and revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. Christians believe that Jesus Christ announced the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Covenant given in Revelation to Moses, but at the same time replaces it. Therefore, books about the activities of Jesus and his disciples are called the New Testament. The New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible.
Bible text. Most Old Testament books are written in Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew), but there are passages in Aramaic, which the Jews spoke after the 4th century. BC. Traditionally, the authorship of the Old Testament books is attributed to several leaders who have become famous in Jewish history, including Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon. However, it has now been established that many books are later compilations of ancient traditions and documents. Genesis, for example, contains fragments recorded in the 10th century. BC. and going back to the oral tradition of 800 years ago, but the whole book, probably, was written in its modern form not earlier than the 5th century. BC. New Testament books appeared during the first century after the death of Jesus. They are written in Greek, although it is likely that one or two books were originally written in Aramaic, and later translated into Greek. The authors of the New Testament books are considered to be the apostles and disciples of Jesus.
Bible canon. The list of books that are considered divine in one religion or another and recognized as sacred is called the canon. The canons of the Old and New Testaments were established much later than the books that composed them were written. The canon of Jewish scripture was probably completed in the 2nd century. BC, during the Hasmonean era. Bible books were divided into three groups: “The Law,” or “The Pentateuch” (Torah), which constitute the quintessence of a creed; "Prophets" (Neviim) - a collection of historical and prophetic books; "Scriptures" (Ketuvim), containing narrative material, poetic works, prayers and aphorisms of worldly wisdom. The rabbis gathered in Jamnia at the end of the 1st century AD, they tried to solve the question of the exclusion from the canon of some books approved before, but still left them in the Bible. Otherwise, the history of the Christian canon of the Old Testament has taken shape. In 3-2 centuries. BC. among the Jews of the Diaspora who spoke Greek, the translation of Greek religious books into Greek was carried out, to which the name of the Septuagint was fixed. The books of the Septuagint are arranged in a slightly different order: the Pentateuch, Historical books, Poetic and instructive books, Prophetic books. In addition, it contains some books that are excluded from the rabbinical canon. When Christianity began to spread among the Greeks, they used the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible - the Septuagint. Currently, the Old Testament, used by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches, is a collection of Old Testament books arranged in the manner adopted in the Septuagint. The Protestant Old Testament contains only those books that are recognized canonical in Judaism, but the order of the books of the Septuagint is preserved here. Books not included in the Jewish canon are either omitted or placed in an additional section as “apocrypha”. Like the Old Testament, the list of Christian writings considered canonical has changed over the centuries. Modern listIncluding 27 canonical New Testament books, recognized at one time by most major Christian sects, formed by 367. It was officially declared final in 405.
Jewish bible. The modern Jewish Bible is largely consistent with the canon adopted in Jamnia. In Hebrew, it is called Kitwe Kodesh ("Scriptures") or Tanah (abbreviation for Thor, Neviim, Ketuvim). The Hebrew text is still considered official and is used in worship. Its standard text is based on the editors of a 10th-century Jewish scholar. Moshe bin Asher, who corrected numerous scribal errors that have accumulated over the centuries. A publication is widely distributed that contains, in addition to the Hebrew original, its translation into Aramaic, as well as a commentary by Rasha, the great scientist of the 11th century. The whole Bible is revered by the Jews as sacred, but the Torah is especially revered. Each synagogue has handwritten Torah scrolls. Thanks to the rule that not a single Torah scroll can be destroyed, many of its ancient manuscripts that could otherwise have been lost have been preserved. In the first centuries of our era, a set of oral law (Mishnah) and commentary on it (Gemara) formed in Judaism. They expanded the system of biblical commandments, turning it into a set of precepts covering all aspects of Jewish life. Mishnah and Gemara in the 6th century were consolidated into one book called the Talmud. The Talmud is a highly revered book in Judaism, the formal and ritual side of which is determined by the Holy Scriptures in a Talmudic interpretation. Exceptional wealth is distinguished by the Jewish tradition of biblical exegesis. In rabbinical texts, a sophisticated system of interpretative techniques (“middot”) is used to explain and apply biblical texts to life. Interpretation ("derash") was carried out at various levels, and the literal meaning of the text ("peshat") retained significance at its own level. Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC - 40 AD) used an allegorical way of interpreting the Bible, affecting later Christian exegesis even more than Jewish. Medieval Jewish Bible commentators (Rashi, Ibn-Ezra, Kimchi, Nachmanides, etc.) mainly dealt with the literal meaning, relying on new philological methods, but along with this, philosophical and mystical schools of interpretation flourished.
Catholic bible The Roman Catholic Church traditionally uses the Latin translation of the Bible. The early church in Rome used several Latin translations made from the Septuagint and the Greek New Testament. In 382, \u200b\u200bPope Damas commissioned Jerome, a major philologist and scholar, to make a new translation of the Bible. Jerome reworked the existing Latin versions based on the Greek script, and edited the Old Testament based on Hebrew manuscripts. The translation was completed approx. 404. Subsequently, he supplanted other Latin translations, and they began to call it “generally accepted” (Vulgata versio). The first printed book (the famous Gutenberg Bible, 1456) was the publication of the Vulgate. The Catholic Bible contains 73 books: 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. Since the Old Testament here dates back to the Septuagint, and not to the Hebrew Bible, approved by the Jamni Sanhedrin, it contains seven books that are not included in the Jewish canon, as well as additions to the Books of Esther and Daniel. In addition, the Septuagint follows the order of books in the Catholic Bible. The main canonical edition of the Vulgate was released in 1592 by order of Pope Clement VIII and was called the Clementina (editio Clementina). It repeats the text of Jerome (404), with the exception of the Psalter, which is presented in the wording of Jerome before its processing, taking into account the Jewish originals. In 1979, the church approved a new edition of the Vulgata (Vulgata Nova), which takes into account the latest achievements of biblical studies. The first translations of the Catholic Bible into english language were made directly from the Vulgate. The most famous and widely used translation was the Douay-Rheims Version (1582-1610). However, in 1943, Pope Pius XII gave strict orders to biblical scholars in translation activities to rely only on ancient Aramaic and Hebrew manuscripts. This resulted in new translations of the Bible. The position of the Roman Catholic Church regarding the authority of the Bible was formulated at the Council of Trent (1545-1563). In contrast to the Protestant reformers, who saw in the Bible the only foundation of their faith, the fourth session of the council (1546) decreed that Tradition - a part of Revelation not recorded in the Holy Scriptures, but transmitted in the teaching of the church - has equal authority with the Bible. Catholics were not allowed to read the Bible in translations that were not approved by the church and without comments agreed upon by the Church Tradition. For some time, reading biblical translations required the permission of the pope or the Inquisition. At the end of the 18th century. this restriction was lifted, and since 1900 the reading of the Bible by the laity was even officially encouraged by church authorities. At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the relationship between Scripture and Tradition was discussed: should they be considered as independent "sources of Revelation" (a more conservative point of view) or as sources that complement each other, "similar to two electric arcs in one spotlight".
Orthodox bible. The Orthodox Church consists of a number of related, but independent from each other, churches, most of which are Greek and Slavic churches. The Bible of the Greek churches uses the Septuagint as the Old Testament and the original Greek texts of the New Testament. The Orthodox Bible is a translation of the Greek Bible into one of the dialects of the Old Bulgarian language (the language of this translation is traditionally called Church Slavonic). Like the Catholic, the Orthodox Church bases its faith on Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture.
Protestant Bibles. There is no single Protestant Bible: all Protestant Bibles are translations made in the 16th century. during or after the Reformation. Even the King James Version Bible did not acquire the status of an official translation of the Church of England, although it is often called the Authorized Version. In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church did not encourage Vulgate translations out of fear that without church leadership the text could be distorted or that the words of the Bible could be misunderstood. However, Protestant reformers of the early 16th century. believed that God through the Bible directly addresses a person and that reading and studying the Bible is the right and duty of every Christian. Translations were needed in order to give the Bible to most Christians for whom Latin was a dead language. "How do people reflect on what they cannot understand?" - asks one of the translators in the introduction to the King James Bible. The reformers were not the first translators of the Bible (17 publications in German were published in the period after the invention of typography and before the advent of the Luther Bible in Germany). Protestant reformers either facilitated translations, or they themselves undertook to translate the Bible into the languages \u200b\u200bof their countries. They did not take as a basis the Vulgate, but the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the Greek text of the New Testament. In the early 20s of the 16th century. Luther translated the New Testament into German, Jacobus Faber into French, and William Tyndall into English. Old Testament translations were made by the same translators in the next decade. Since then, many Protestant translations have been published.
The interpretation of the Bible. During the first centuries of the Christian era, biblical texts were thought to have several meanings. The Alexandrian Theological School, which was influenced by Philo, developed a system for interpreting biblical texts as allegories, which, in addition to their literal meaning, were hidden truths. Everything in the Bible was viewed from a Christian point of view, and the independent meaning of the Old Testament was actually ignored. Old Testament events and their participants were universally interpreted as prototypes of the events and characters of the New Testament; This method of interpretation is called typological. So, Jonah, erupted on the third day from the whale's womb, was interpreted as a type of Christ, who rose on the third day after the crucifixion. The rival theological school in Antioch developed the doctrine of the historical and literal meanings of biblical texts. This school rejected the search for allegories, with the exception of cases of their conscious use. The Latin church fathers tried to find a compromise between the extremes of the positions of the Alexandrian and Antioch schools. On the whole, theologians were attracted by a system of figurative meanings. By 11-12 centuries. A classification has become generally accepted that distinguishes four kinds of meanings (it is still widely used to this day): 1) a literal or historical meaning; 2) figurative, or metaphorical meaning, which correlates a given text with Christ or his church; 3) anagological meaning, revealing spiritual or heavenly truths; and, finally, 4) the moral meaning related to the soul and giving guidance for life practice.
Reformation. 16th-century Protestant Reformers rejected metaphorical interpretations and returned to the direct, historical meaning of the Bible. They were guided by the following principle: "Scripture is its own interpreter"; they believed that God directly enlightens the minds of those who, in Calvin's words, read "as if they heard these words from the mouth of God himself." Nevertheless, various Protestant confessions have formed different approaches to the interpretation of biblical texts. Luther, for example, believed that the Bible contains the Word of God, but the Word of God itself is not. This position allowed him to distinguish between books of greater or lesser spiritual significance. The Quakers insisted that the Holy Spirit can enlighten a person, both directly and through the Bible. The Puritans saw in the Bible a codification of the law governing any public or private activity. In the 18th century Methodists and other movements preached that in the Bible God speaks exclusively about the salvation of man through Jesus Christ and nothing more should be sought in it.
Doubts about the authority of the Bible. Starting from the 17th century the development of the natural sciences and the humanities has given rise to new problems in the interpretation of the Bible. Astronomers, geologists and biologists painted a completely different picture of the Universe than in Holy Scripture. A number of scholars have concluded that the Bible has undergone many changes. Thus, doubts about the literal accuracy and traditional authorship of biblical books were sown. And finally, the rationalist spirit of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. reflected the secular faith in the progress of mankind and the perception of the Bible as a relic, or simply as a collection of superstitions. The result of new research is the assumption that the Bible is not an unchanging Word of God, but rather a historically determined testimony of man's search for God. The Catholic Church first declared heretical the results of historical and natural science research that undermined the traditional teaching of the church. Later, under Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), the church began to encourage scientific research, stating that their results, provided they were true, could not affect church traditions and dogmas. Protestant theology was divided into two camps. Fundamentalists insist on the verbatim truth of the Bible and do not accept any research by biblical scholars or natural scientists if their results contradict the Word of the Bible. Other Protestants, in particular this applies to theologians and scholars of the so-called historical-critical areas, leading in new critical studies. One of the schools of Protestant thought calls for the “demythologization” of biblical thought in order to remove the contradictions between natural science discoveries and the pre-scientific picture of the world presented in the Bible. Other Protestants argue that it is impossible to know God through scientific or historical methods, and that the growing body of information about the authorship of biblical books, the historical situation at the time of writing, and the changes made therein are not able to erase the importance of key concepts about sin, atonement, and Revelation.
Bible studies. The scientific study of biblical texts is divided into two related disciplines: textology and historical-critical analyzes. The task of textology is to restore the original text of biblical books. In historical and critical studies, the authorship of the text, the time of its creation, purpose, style, form and, if possible, oral predecessors are analyzed.
Textology. The need for criticism of the text arises due to the fact that the original manuscripts of the Bible are lost, and the oldest surviving lists are significantly different. The earliest complete manuscripts of the New Testament date back to the 4th century. Until 1947, when manuscripts of the Dead Sea were found containing parts of almost all Old Testament books and written between 200 BC and 100 AD, at the disposal of scientists were oldest listings Old Testament dating from the 9th-11th centuries AD, with one exception - a fragment of the Pentateuch of the 2nd century. BC. In the era of antiquity and the Middle Ages, all texts were copied by hand and contain scribal errors. There were frequent cases of adding, modifying, repeating and skipping words. Sometimes entire sections are destroyed or redrawn, often with a radical change in the meaning of the text. Biblical textual scholars from antiquity (among Jews, starting with Masoretes, and among Christian biblical scholars, from Jerome) sought accuracy, their work was based on careful comparison of handwritten versions of the text. Today, the establishment of generally accepted criteria for comparing manuscripts, improving the knowledge of ancient languages \u200b\u200band the discovery of new manuscripts made it possible to put textology on a scientific basis.
Historical and critical method. Historical criticism marks a new phase of biblical research and was formed on the original premise that the Bible was written by people. Specialists in the historical-critical method (whose origins were Protestant scholars) study the Bible, like any written document, and do not take into account its place in the system of church dogma. The purpose of historical criticism is to clarify the meaning that biblical texts had at the time of their creation, and this allows them to speak with us, modern people, in a more understandable language. The historical-critical method cast doubt on the verbatim accuracy of most biblical texts, and for this reason has caused and is causing a lot of controversy. Modern Catholic scholars also make a significant contribution to historical and critical research, especially in the field of biblical archeology. Many Jewish biblical scholars work in the field of historical criticism of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, correcting the tendency of Christian scholars (even modernist ones) to see in the New Testament the spiritual completion of the Old, Old Testament.
OLD TESTAMENT
The basis of the Old Testament text adopted in modern editions is the Jewish Bible. Initially, it contained 24 books, distributed in the following three sections: I. "Law": Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. II. "Prophets", including the "early prophets" ("invisible rishonim"): Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and the "late prophets" ("invisible aharonim"): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 12 "small prophets" . III. "Scriptures": Psalms, Job, Parables, Ruth, Canto, Ecclesiastes, Crying, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Chronicles. In modern editions, the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are divided into two (in the Russian Synodal translation of the Bible, the books of Samuel and Kings are called 1-4 Books of Kings, and the Chronicles are 1-2 Books of Chronicles), the book of Nehemiah is selected from the book of Ezra, and the book of Twelve Small The prophets are divided into 12 separate books, according to the number of prophets. The Catholic Bible also contains: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch, 1-2 Maccabees, as well as additions to Esther and Daniel. All this, together with 1-2 Ezra (in the Vulgate 3-4 Ezra) and the Prayer of Manasseh, is called "apocrypha" in the Protestant Bible.
BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Pentateuch. Books describing events from the creation of the world to the death of Moses are called the Torah, or Pentateuch. In antiquity, the manuscripts of the Pentateuch, because of the large volume of text, could not be written on one parchment scroll of a normal size, so the Torah was divided into five generally accepted books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), written on separate scrolls . These scrolls were stored in clay vessels (Greek teuchos), hence the Greek term Pentateuchos, "five vessels (for scrolls)." The oldest texts included in it date back to the time of the "patriarchs" (18th century BC), and the latest sections could not be written before the resettlement of Jews in Babylon (6th century BC). In the 5th century BC. all this material, combined and edited by the Jerusalem temple scribes, has acquired its current form. And only then, perhaps, in the 2nd century. BC, there was an idea of \u200b\u200bthe authorship of Moses. Despite the ideological, linguistic and stylistic diversity of its parts, the Pentateuch is a very integral monument. Its central theme is the connection of the fate of Israel with the plan of God revealed in the creation of the world and man. The earliest narratives in the Book of Genesis - the fall of Adam and Eve, the death of mankind in a flood, the daring attempt of man to reach heaven using the Tower of Babel - speak of the separation of the human race from its Creator, the movement of people through war and violence to chaos and destruction. However, with the advent of Abraham, hope arises. God chose the descendants of Abraham to become a model in which "all the tribes of the earth are blessed." The following is the story of the descendants of Abraham: his sons Isaac and Ishmael, the sons of Isaac - Jacob and Esau, the son of Jacob - Joseph. The book closes with the story of Joseph, who reached a high position in Egypt. The rest of the books focus on the activities of Moses and the conclusion of an agreement between God and Israel. The Book of Exodus tells of the deliverance of the sons of Israel from Egyptian slavery and how God on Mount Sinai bestowed laws on Moses. The book of Leviticus is mainly devoted to the order of worship. The Book of Numbers tells of the 40-year wandering of Israel in the desert. It contains the results of a census of Israeli tribes and some additional laws. In Deuteronomy, Moses instructs his fellow tribesmen before death: he reminds them of the significance of the exodus from Egypt as an event that turned the Jews into the people of God, and summarizes the Law. This book concludes with a story about the death of Moses on the border of the promised land. Four different layers of material can be distinguished, attracted by the scribes in the compilation of the Pentateuch. These sources, commonly referred to as “codes,” are now denoted by the Latin letters J, E, D, and P. None of them have come down to us in their original form, but scientists have reconstructed much of their intended content and their history. The oldest of the four sources is indicated by the letter J (Yahwist). In all likelihood, it was something like a national epic, compiled in the 11-10 centuries. BC. from the traditions kept by the Jewish tribes living in Canaan. J is the source of the well-known Genesis stories. Among them is the second story about the creation of the world (chap. 2), the story of Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, the promise made by God to Abraham, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, how Jacob outwitted his elder brother Esau, having stolen his father’s blessing. Code J also contains much of the story of the exodus from Egypt and wilderness wanderings, which are discussed in the books of Exodus and Numbers. Part of the material in Codex J is preserved beyond the scope of the Pentateuch in the Book of Joshua. The name J was given by one of its features related to the holy name of God. In Hebrew, where vowels were not indicated on the letter, the name of God was written in four consonants: JHWH (or YHWH), which may have been pronounced "Yahweh." According to the Book of Exodus, this name was unknown to people until God revealed it to Moses. Nevertheless, in code J, the name JHWH is often used in stories of events that took place before the birth of Moses. From about 4 c. BC. the Jews did not pronounce the sacred name, but replaced it with the word Adonai (Lord). Bible translations generally take this practice into account. So, in the Russian translation of Genesis, the word Lord often corresponds to the abbreviation JHWH and often indicates that the phrase with this word is taken from the tradition of J. E (Elohist), the second source, is not as integral as J. It is a set loosely related narratives and laws that probably circulated within the northern kingdom, Israel. This collection arose in the 8th century. BC, when Israel and Judea were separate kingdoms. Codex E contains many important narratives: about Abraham and Hagar, about the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, about the exaltation of Joseph in Egypt. Among the legislative material is an early form of the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). This code is denoted by the letter E, since in the narrative of events that occurred before the revelation of the name JHWH, the deity is called exclusively Elohim (God). The third source, D (Deuteronomy), is a collection of documents compiled at court during the period of Israeli judges and kings (12-8 centuries BC) and related to civil and criminal law, as well as issues of worship. The version of the Decalogue in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy probably got there from D. After the kingdom of Israel was in 722 BC. conquered by Assyria, this legislative material was recorded by surviving scribes who took refuge in the south, in Judea. Ultimately, he compiled the core of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomium), from the Latin name and the letter D. The latest of the four sources of the Pentateuch, P (Priestly Code), was compiled by the Jerusalem priests in the Babylonian captivity (598-538 BC) , after the fall of the kingdom of Judea. These priests wanted to rework national memories in the light of their main task - serving Yahweh in the Jerusalem Temple. Their work in its final form was a combination of information from world history, religious rules and genealogy, based on many early sources. So, for example, the Decalogue in its modern form is version P, which is a revision of versions E and D. The Priestly Code contains the first story about the creation of the world (Genesis 1), as well as a story about the contract of God with Abraham, which is a parallel text to the text J Some chapters of the Book of Exodus, the entire Book of Leviticus, and many chapters from the Book of Numbers, which contain religious laws and make up most of the Pentateuch, are also included in source P.
"The prophets." Between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. in Palestine, there is a movement of prophets who believed that God inspires them to proclaim their will to a chosen people. They scourged kings, priests and commoners for being mired in wickedness, turned away from God and neglected his laws; prophesied the approach of divine judgment over the kingdoms of Israel and Judea and urged listeners to repent and submit to the will of God. The stories of their deeds, sermons, and prophecies, embodying the view of history as a divine judgment, prevail in the second section of the Hebrew Bible, called the "Prophets." The "early prophets" tell of historical events, from the death of Moses (c. 1400 BC) to the death of the kingdom of Judea in the 6th century. BC. For the most part, the historical material of these books was recorded in the 8th – 7th centuries. BC, although the written fixation of the final parts, editing and compilation of books continued until the 5th century. BC. The book of Joshua tells of the conquest of Canaan by Joshua in the 14th century. BC. The Book of Judges refers to the rule of military leaders-judges - Deborah, Gideon, Samson, etc. in the 13-11 centuries. BC. Samuel’s books tell about the fate of the prophet and the last of the “judges of Israel” Samson, about the creation of the Jewish state under Saul and its exaltation under David in the 10th century. BC. The books of Kings describe the heyday of the kingdom under Solomon, its division into two kingdoms - Judea and Israel - after the death of Solomon, and also contain warnings expressed by the prophets Elijah and Elisha. At the end of the story it is said about the conquest of Israel by Assyria in 732-721 BC, the capture of Judea by the Babylonians in 598-587 BC and the beginning of the subsequent exile to Babylon. Although the books of the "early prophets" are historical, their authors do not care about the objective recording of events in the Jewish past. Their goal is to show the development of a certain religious principle: the well-being of the country can be counted on only if people and their leaders fulfill the terms of the agreement with God, and disasters and national catastrophes are a divine punishment for evil and lawlessness. The point of view according to which God directs the history of his chosen people, taking into account his good or evil deeds, is drawn from the teachings of the prophets. Thus, the "early prophets" create a historical background for the sermons and poetic works of the prophets themselves, which are summarized in books called "late prophets." The "late prophets" fall into two groups: the "big prophets" - Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 "small prophets." But if you read them in chronological order, you can better understand the development of the thoughts of the prophets in the context of the era. According to one point of view, the poetic works and sermons of the prophets were preserved in the oral transmission by their disciples and were recorded only many years after the death of the prophets themselves. The exact dates for the compilation of these books are still the subject of controversy, and therefore all dates given are approximate. Amos (c. 751 BC) was a native of the southern kingdom of Judea, but he prophesied mainly in the kingdom of Israel in the north. A prophet of divine justice, he proclaimed that God would destroy Israel for its social injustice and moral depravity. God requires righteous behavior, not formal performance of rites; and his commandments apply not only to Israel and Judea, but to the whole world. Hosea (the heyday of 745-735 BC), the only prophet from the natives of the kingdom of Israel whose sermons have come down to our time. Like his teacher Amos, he emphasized that God loves his people, even if they no longer worship him. Fulfilling God's command, he married a harlot, which symbolized the betrayal of Israel, which began to worship alien gods. Hosea declared that God suffers as a deceived spouse who still loves an unfaithful wife, and that the misery that Israel is destined to go through will ultimately bring him cleansing. Isaiah from Jerusalem (c. 740-686 BC) was, like Hosea, a disciple of Amos. He predicted (and later, while in the kingdom of Judea, witnessed the fulfillment of his prophecy) the conquest of Israel by the Assyrians (722 BC) and the captivity of Israeli tribes. At the same time, he announced that the “remnant” of Israel would again turn to Yahweh and at the end of history universal peace would come, and all of humanity would unite under the rule of a descendant of King David. Isaiah was the first to express hope for the coming of the Messiah, who later had a strong influence on both Judaism and Christianity. Similarly, his thought of the “remnant” that would survive the doom of Israel paved the way for the universal purpose of the synagogue and the Christian church. Only the first 33 chapters of the Book of Isaiah can be attributed to Isaiah himself, however, some parts of these chapters are later inserts.
Micah of Morechet (c. 700-650 BC) defended the oppressed poor and, like Amos, warned against magical ritual formalism. Zephaniah, Naum, and Habakkuk (flourishing around 626-620 BC) continued to preach in Jerusalem the will of a just God, the absolute master of history. Habakkuk deepened Isaiah's concept of faith and developed the theme of submission to the will of God without hopes of material gain. Jeremiah (626-581 BC) predicted and survived the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. After the first siege and deportation of Jews (598 BC), he wrote to the captives in Babylon, encouraging them and reinforcing their determination to resist assimilation. After the final destruction of Jerusalem (586 BC), he proclaimed that the religion of the Jewish people will survive the destruction of the state and that God will make a “new covenant” with the “house of Israel and the house of Judah” and write it on the hearts of the people (Jer 31: 31- 34). The book of the prophet Obadiah (after 586 BC) is the shortest in the Old Testament. It, in essence, is a revision of chapter 49 of the Book of Jeremiah, which contains a prophecy about the death of the Edomites, who helped to destroy Judea. Ezekiel (593-571 BC), son of a Jerusalem priest, supported the spirit of Jewish captives in Babylon. He developed the principle of individual (and not national) responsibility for good and evil deeds. His vision of the new Temple (the last nine chapters of the book) formed the basis of the Jewish religion of the period after captivity, which emphasized the implementation of the Law and religious regulations. The unknown prophet of the era of the Babylonian captivity (c. 545 BC) is known as the Second Isaiah. He owns the prophecies contained in ch. 40-55 Books of Isaiah. In the section, entitled “The Song of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh,” he interprets the mission of Israel as a sacrifice for the atonement of the sins of the world and calls on the new Israel to become the light of all nations, even to the ends of the earth. Haggai (flowering 520 BC) and Zacharias (flowering 520-517 BC) preached after the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC, putting an end to the captivity of the Jews. The Persians allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, but many chose to stay in Babylon. Haggai and Zechariah inspired those who returned to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, the so-called The second temple. "Tritoisaya" - the so-called collection of poetic works that make up ch. 56-66 Books of Isaiah, and relating to the era of the Babylonian captivity and the period immediately following it (c. 500 BC). Joel and Malachi (c. 500-450 BC ) tried to reform the religion and morality of Palestinian Jews. The book of Jonah (c. 400 BC), although it is part of the prophetic books, in fact is not. This is a humorous text that sets out the legend of a prophet who lived in the 8th century. BC. (mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25). Jonah, who opposed the will of God and did not want to preach to the Assyrians, was punished for this: he had to spend three days in the belly of the whale and suffer a sunstroke. The book testifies that the Jewish religion of the 4th century. BC. universalist ideas were inherent. The purpose of the book is to show that Yahweh takes care of all people, even the hated Assyrians from Nineveh.
The Scriptures are a colorful collection of poetic works, songs, aphorisms, historical and prophetic texts. In the Psalms collected hymns and prayers, partially dating back to very ancient times. Many of them were used in the Jerusalem cult between the First and Second Temples. The final selection probably dates from the 3rd century. BC. The book of Job (c. 575-500 BC) is a dramatic poem enclosed in the narrative frame of a folk tale. Righteous Job, one after another, is comprehended by the misfortunes that God sends to test the strength of his faith. In a series of conversations with his friends, Job is trying to figure out how suffering can fall on a righteous person. At the end of the poem, God declares that his paths are inaccessible to the understanding of man, and Job obeys the divine will. The central character of the book is a non-Jew; moreover, no agreement is made with God on Mount Sinai. The book shows a man at a crossroads in a world that seems hostile. As for the time of its creation, disputes are still underway. The book of Proverbs (c. 950-300 BC) is a collection of aphorisms and maxims of worldly wisdom. It proposes a practical philosophy of life, based mainly on success, and morality, guided by prudence and common sense. The authorship of the book is traditionally attributed to Solomon, although the collection was compiled much later on the basis of many sources. Five Scrolls ("Megillot") - books that are traditionally read on five Jewish holidays. These are the Song of Songs, Ruth, Weeping, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. The Song of Songs traditionally attributed to Solomon is probably a collection of wedding songs from the 10th-9th centuries. BC. It is read on Passover when they recall the exodus from Egypt. The Book of Ruth narrates the marriage of the wealthy landowner Boaz to a Moabite girl, Ruth. Written probably between the 5th and 3rd centuries. BC, this book confirms the openness of the Jewish religion to foreigners: after all, it says that even David had foreign ancestors. The book is read at Shavuot, or Pentecost, the spring festival of the harvest. The Lamentation Book, traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, consists of five poems in which the destruction of Jerusalem (586 BC) is mourned, and dates back to Babylonian captivity (586-536 BC). It is read on the 9th of the month of Av, on the day of fasting, when the Jews remember the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. The book of Ecclesiastes, along with Proverbs and Song of Songs, is traditionally attributed to Solomon, although it is more likely that all these books belong to an unknown author of the 3rd c. BC. The book of Ecclesiastes is full of pessimistic thoughts. This is a collection of aphorisms, the main meaning of which, unlike the Book of Proverbs, boils down to the fact that neither mind nor talent guarantee a person success. The book of Ecclesiastes is associated with the Sukkot harvest festival. The book of Esther talks about the Jewish wife of the historically unidentified Persian king Ahasuerus (in the Septuagint and the Synodal translation - Artaxerxes). Thanks to her courage, the Jewish community of Persia was saved from extermination, which was prepared for her by the evil vizier Aman. The book is read on Purim, a spring festival dedicated to the recollection of this event. It was probably created in the 2nd century. BC. The books of the Chronicles (Chronicles), Ezra, Nehemiah are considered parts of a single book dating from about 250 BC. and written, apparently, by one of the scribes of the Second Temple. This book goes back to the historical events described in the books of Kings and contains additional material about David, Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem, and the kings of Judea and Israel. The history of the Jews is brought to the modern author of the period. The book describes the revival of the Jerusalem city community after returning from the Babylonian captivity (538-500 BC), the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah (444 BC) and the legislative reforms carried out by the scribe Ezra (397 BC) . The book of Daniel (c. 165-164 BC) is probably the latest in the Old Testament. It tells of the prophet Daniel, who lived in captivity in Babylon, and the fulfillment of his prophecy about the capture of Babylon by the Persians. The final part of the book is the apocalypse, the revelation of the near end of history and the approach of God's kingdom. The visions of Daniel depict the main ancient Eastern kingdoms of the Maccabean revolt (168-165 BC).
Apocrypha. Apocryphal in Protestantism include some relatively late (2-1 centuries BC) biblical texts that are absent in the Jewish canon, and therefore not included in the Protestant editions of the Bible. This is Susanna, Wil and the Dragon, the Song of the Three Youths, which are included as later additions to the Book of Daniel. The Book of Tobit is a pseudo-historical short story placed by the Greek Bible between 1-3 Books of Ezra and the Book of Judith. It tells about the salvation of the pious elder Tobit, who at first went blind and went bankrupt, but then returned to his former prosperity thanks to his son Tobias, who brought wealth, a wife and a magical means from his faraway country that returned his eyesight to his father. The book of Judith is a pseudo-historical short story missing from the Hebrew Bible, but preserved in the Greek translation from the lost Jewish original and in the Latin translation from the lost Aramaic version. The Greek Bible places it among historical books, between the Book of Tobit and the Book of Esther. Probably written during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes (c. 175-174), it tells of a Jewess who, in order to save her hometown of Betulia, seduces and then beheads the enemy commander Holofernes. Jerome translated it and included it in the Vulgate on the grounds that the Nicene Council (325) recognized this book as part of the Holy Scriptures. The Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus Sirachov contains aphorisms and practical worldly tips reminiscent of the Parables of Solomon and Ecclesiastes. Baruch is a prophetic book attributed to the disciple of the prophet Jeremiah. At its end is usually placed a message attributed to Jeremiah. 1-2 Maccabees books describe the struggle of the Jewish people for independence in the 2nd century. BC. (3 The Book of Maccabees was not included in the canon of the Catholic Bible). 1 The book of Ezra is a revision of some parts of the Chronicles (in the Synodal translation: the books of Chronicles), Ezra and Nehemiah. 2 The book of Ezra is a collection of apocalyptic visions. In the Vulgate, these books are called 3-4 Books of Ezra. The prayer of Manasseh is a prayer for forgiveness addressed to God, attributed to the king of Judea, who is in captivity in Babylon.
HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON
Since the era of Moses, the Jewish religion has relied on a growing body of sacred laws. The earliest of them were probably the Ten Commandments (in their original form), carved on stone tablets. Further, among the priests and prophets of Israel, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe canon of Scripture, i.e. collections of books considered sacred, unchanging, and with unquestioned authority. The first book recognized as canonical was the Book of the Law, found in the Jerusalem Temple in 621 BC, during the reign of Josiah. Apparently, this was the code of laws of Israel, hidden in the Temple by priests who managed to escape from the Assyrian invaders a hundred years before this event. Josiah received it as the law of Moses. Before the capture of Jerusalem, only this book was recognized as sacred by the Babylonians. This was probably the core of source D, which later came into Deuteronomy. More than 200 years later, a greater volume of writings was canonized. At the celebration of Tabernacles in 397 BC (according to other sources - in 458 BC) the scribe Ezra read aloud the Book of the Law of Moses, which he brought to Jerusalem from Babylon, where it was stored in the Jewish community. This book, apparently, was the full text of the Pentateuch - the first of three collections of books included in the Hebrew Bible, which was recognized canonical. In the 2nd century BC. two more collections of sacred books - the Prophets and the Scriptures - were read, which were read during divine services in the Temple and synagogues. The prophets, apparently, were canonized c. 200 BC The scriptures were independently circulated, their composition and location changed for a long time. Some rabbis of that time severely criticized and forbade the reading of Ecclesiastes, Esther, Song of Songs. In the apocryphal II Book of Ezra, written approx. 50 AD, there are seven dozen books whose status has not yet been established. And only approx. 95 AD, after the destruction by the Romans of the Jerusalem Temple, the congress of rabbis in Jamnia officially drew a line under the biblical canon, having approved a number of controversial books as canonical. The wisdom of Jesus Sirachov was recognized as edifying, but devoid of divine inspiration. Most early Christians were familiar with the Old Testament of the Septuagint and often quoted scriptures that were not included in the canon, approved by the Jamni Sanhedrin. However, this canon was authoritative even in Christian circles, and books not included in it were put on the shelf by local bishops or priests. Over time, they began to be called apocryphal ("hidden", "hidden"). By the 4th-5th centuries Church communities in the West basically restored the authority of the apocrypha and began to recommend them for reading, although some scholarly authorities - among them Jerome (d. 420) - did not go that far and did not include them in their list of canonical books. Under the influence of Augustine (354-430) African cathedrals of the late 4th century. - beginning of the 5th century apocrypha recognized, but their rejection persisted for a long time. In 405, the canonicity of the apocrypha was confirmed by Pope Innocent I. In the Roman Catholic Church, they are usually called "deuterocanonical" (forming the second, later canon). In early Protestantism, the authority of the apocrypha was largely rejected. Martin Luther declared them not to be among the canonical texts, but included most of the books in the appendix to his translation of the Bible, indicating that they were “useful and good to read.” Over time, they became part of most German, French, Spanish, Dutch, and other Protestant Bible translations. Apocrypha is included in the earliest editions of the King James Bible (translated from 1611), they can be found in many modern editions of the Bible. Nevertheless, most Protestants see them as not quite canonical.
Pseudo-digraphs. Some biblical texts, attributed to famous biblical figures for the greatest authority, are usually called pseudo-epigraphs ("falsely written"). These include the Odes of Solomon, the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of Enoch.
ANCIENT BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
The Old Testament is written in Hebrew (the exception is the Aramaic parts of the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel), and already in antiquity the need for translations arose. These early translations are very important for Bible textology because they are older than the Masoretic Bible and there are sometimes even more reliable readings in them than in the Masoretic text.
Aramaic Targums. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC dominant spoken language throughout the Middle East, Aramaic (Syriac) is becoming a language. The Jews, gradually forgetting the classical Hebrew, were getting worse and worse understanding of the sacred texts that were read in synagogues. So there was a need for translations ("Targumim") from Hebrew to Aramaic. The oldest Targum that has come down to us is the Targum of the Book of Job, found among the manuscripts of the Dead Sea in Qumran. It was written around the 1st century. BC, however, other surviving Targums appeared later among the Babylonian Jews who spoke Aramaic. Targums are more a retelling than a literal translation of the Bible. They bring a lot of explanation and edification, reflecting the spirit of their time. In many modern editions of the Hebrew Bible, Aramaic Targum is cited in parallel with the Hebrew text.
Septuagint. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Holy Scriptures arose as a Targum for Jews living in the Greek-speaking regions of the Middle East. Up to 3 c. BC. individual Greek translations were common. According to legend, the unofficial nature of these translations caused discontent, and a group of 70 or 72 eminent scholars of Alexandria made an official translation for the library of King Philadelphus Ptolemy (285-247 BC). However, it is more likely that the translation, which over time became known in Latin as the Septuagint, (Translation of seventy [[interpreters]]), is a collection of edited oral translations into Greek recorded in synagogues. Initially, the Jews approved of the Septuagint. But with the emergence of Christianity, it began to be associated primarily with the Christian church. Then the Jews rejected it and made new translations into Greek. In the New Testament, the Old Testament is quoted, as a rule, according to the Septuagint. A huge contribution to the development of biblical textology and exegesis was made by the greatest theologian and scholar-philologist Origen from Alexandria (c. 185-254). In his monumental work of Hexapla, he wrote out six Jewish columns in a Jewish original, its transcription in Greek letters, and four Greek translations: the Septuagint and versions of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion. Unfortunately, only a few fragments of this work have been preserved.
Other translations. Ancient Bible translations into Latin, Syriac, Ethiopian, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian and many other languages \u200b\u200bhave also reached us. Some of them are made by Jews directly from the original; Christian translations were carried out mainly from the Septuagint or other ancient translations. A number of Bible translators were forced to first invent the alphabet for languages \u200b\u200bthat did not have a written language. So it was with translations into Armenian, Georgian, Church Slavonic and a number of others. Translations were very different - from literal to completely free; thus, the learned bishop of Ulfil, who translated the Bible for the Goths, omitted the books of Kings. He considered that they would only warm up the warlike fervor of the already aggressive people.
TEXT OF THE JEWISH BIBLE AND TEXTOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
The original manuscripts of the Old Testament did not reach us. We have only relatively late lists of the Hebrew Bible and ancient translations. The Hebrew text is the fruit of the activities of many generations of scribes; it is often changed and distorted. Since many errors have crept into the manuscript, the task of the Old Testament textology is to accurately restore those words that were recorded at the earliest stage of written fixation.
Texts of scribes (Soferim). For several centuries, the text of the Old Testament, apparently, was not rigidly fixed. The scribes of the early period (c. 500 BC - 100 AD), which are called the "early scribes (Soferim)", distorted the text: they were mistaken when rewriting, hearing a word incorrectly, reading incorrectly or by writing it. There were spelling errors; words, lines or whole phrases were omitted, repeated or rearranged; incomprehensible or offensive words “corrected”; inserts with editorial explanations and conclusions were made; different readings of the same text were given in a row; marginal notes were later perceived as part of the original text and inserted in the wrong places. All this led to an extraordinary variety of options. However, in Roman time the so-called the "later scribes" begin to unify the text of Scripture. Thus, under the leadership of Rabbi Akiba (c. 50-132), attempts were made to restore the original text of the Bible; these were the first steps of textology. Nevertheless, even during this period, minor text changes were allowed. Eighteen corrections (called the scribe corrections) referred to words that were considered erroneous or blasphemous in pious circles. So, for example, in Hab 1:12 it was said: “Oh Yahweh ... You will not die” (in Hebrew - “lo tamut”). But this thought could sow doubts about the eternity of the Creator, and therefore one letter was changed, and the text became like this: “We will not die” (in Hebrew “lo namut”).
Masoretic Bible. In the period from the 5th century. up to 11-12 centuries the scribes (Soferim) were replaced by scholars who were called masoretes (baale-hammasora, guardians of tradition). The text, developed by the largest of the Masorets, Aaron bin Asher, formed the basis of the modern Jewish Bible. Masoretes avoided direct intervention in the Hebrew text of the Bible, which at that time was considered sacred, so any changes were unthinkable. Instead, they collected thousands of marginals (marginal notes) from numerous manuscripts and included them in the text. Marginals such as “kere” (“read”) are so rooted in tradition that when they read synagogues, the Bible was guided by them, and not by the version that stood in the manuscript (“ketiv”). For example, the original Job 13: 5 reads: “Behold, he (God) is killing me, and I have no hope,” but the masoretes instead of “no” instructed to read “in it,” and as a result it turned out: “Behold, he kills me, but my hope is in him. " Masoretes made some important improvements to the writing of biblical texts. In Hebrew writing, only consonants were indicated, but masorets developed a system of diacritics for vowels. Now they could change the vowel in the word they wanted to correct. For example, they provided the JHWH tetragram with vowels for the substitute word Adonai (Lord). Some Christian readers, unfamiliar with the practice of adding vowels of one word to the consonants of another, incorrectly read God's name as Jehovah. Punctuation was also absent in the text of the scribes. Intonation pauses or the end of a sentence was judged only by conjecture, which also gave rise to the possibility of misunderstanding. The oral tradition of cantillation, or psalmody, was useful for indicating the correct phrasing and stress in the words of the text, but there was always the danger that the tradition would be interrupted and not be passed on to the next generation. That's why masorets developed a system of accents, small icons similar to vowels, which were placed in the text above or below the words. Each of these accents, which are still printed in all modern editions of the Jewish Bible, means a certain melodic figure, a motive consisting of one or more notes. In addition, the emphasis performs syntactic and phonetic functions: it divides the sentence into semantic parts by Caesura and helps to establish semantic connections between the individual words of the given sentence, and also highlights the stressed syllable in the word. There were several Masoretic schools with different approaches to vocalization, punctuation and “correction” of texts. Two of them, the most famous, are the schools of Moshe bin Naftali and Aaron bin Asher (both from the Palestinian Tiberias). The text of bin Asher became generally recognized, and he was followed, for example, by the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204). However, later mixed Bible manuscripts were used in the first-printed Hebrew Bible, prepared by Jacob ben-Haim and published in Venice by D. Bomberg (1524-1525). And only in 1937 did the critical publication of R. Kittel appear, based on the authoritative text of bin Asher. Textology of the Jewish Bible from the Renaissance to the 20th century. During the Renaissance and the Reformation, for some time, uncritical enthusiasm reigned for the authenticity of the Masoretic text. Some scholars 16-17 centuries. they even claimed that the Masoretic proclamation is inspired and sacred. In the end, more cautious scholars came to the conclusion that the texts of the Masoretic Bible were not exact lists from the originals, and conducted a detailed study of ancient translations. At the same time, knowledge of the Hebrew language began to improve due to acquaintance with Arabic and other Semitic languages. Textual methods underwent further development during the 19th and early 20th centuries. IN last years the discovery of new manuscripts and successes in the study of the Hebrew language made it possible to better understand the Hebrew Bible. Significant progress has been made in the study of the Septuagint and other ancient translations. Thanks to the discovery of manuscripts of the Dead Sea in Khirbet Qumran (1947), it became clear that between the 1st century AD BC. and 1 in. AD there were at least several editions of the biblical text. It also turned out that Qumran manuscripts often reveal a greater affinity for the Septuagint than for the Masoretic text.
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL METHOD
In the 17-18 centuries. scholars began to study the Bible, proceeding not from theological, but from historical and critical considerations. The philosophers T. Hobbes and B. Spinoza questioned the authorship of Moses in relation to the Pentateuch and pointed to a number of chronological inconsistencies arising from the literal interpretation of Genesis. The French scientist J. Astryuk (1684-1766) put forward a hypothesis that the Genesis belongs to two authors (Yahwist and Elohist). Considering that the author of the Pentateuch was Moses, Astryuk suggested that Moses used some additional sources in his work. J. Eichhorn in his work Introduction to the Old Testament (1780-1783) for the first time delimited the documentary sources of the Pentateuch - J, E, P and D. Not all of Eichhorn’s assumptions were subsequently confirmed, but on the whole his approach turned out to be fruitful, and now it is considered father of the historical-critical approach to the Old Testament. In the 1870-1880s, the documentary hypothesis found its classical form in the writings of the greatest biblical scholar of the time, J. Wellhausen. In his work, Vellhausen did not limit himself to the study of the sources of the Pentateuch, but attempted to reconstruct the religious history of Israel in the light of the Hegelian philosophy of history. He neglected the history of the Jews recorded in the Bible before King David, regarding it as legendary, ignored the identity of Moses and the monotheistic ideas contained in the early sources of J and E, so that the religion of the Hebrew tribes in his presentation appeared as polytheistic. He believed that, in contrast to this polytheism, the prophets put forward the idea of \u200b\u200bGod, one for the whole universe. The confrontation of these two points of view disappeared in the Jewish religion in the era after the Babylonian captivity, when the ritualism and legalism of the Jerusalem priests and the humanism of the people who composed books such as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes triumphed. This look has not stood the test of time. Archaeological research has shown that many of the elements of the religious cult that Vellhausen attributed to the post-captive era are of more ancient origin, such as details of the sacrifices and details of the design of the tabernacle of the covenant. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, Wellhausen's school generated an unprecedented interest in the prophets, whose contribution to the religious beliefs of Jews and Christians is universally recognized. With the development of Middle Eastern archeology, the study of the Old Testament has become a special area of \u200b\u200bresearch in the Middle East. Archaeologists have discovered highly developed civilizations surrounded by ancient Jews, and convincingly confirmed biblical stories that were discarded as legends a century earlier. The discovery of many thousands of literary texts and inscriptions throughout the Middle East allowed the Old Testament scholars to more clearly recognize the relationship between the Hebrew religion and the cults of neighboring peoples, as well as emphasize its individuality. Growing attention is paid to the fundamental unity of theological concepts expressed in the Old Testament, the role of worship in the formation and formulation of religious ideas, the meaning of the covenant-union made by God with His people.
NEW TESTAMENT
God through life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gave people salvation - this is the main teaching of Christianity. Although only the first four books of the New Testament directly relate to the life of Jesus, each of the 27 books in its own way seeks to interpret the meaning of Jesus or to show how his teaching applies to the life of believers.
BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The New Testament begins with four stories about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ: these are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The deeds of the apostles narrate the founding of the Christian church and the missionary activities of the apostles. Acts is followed by 21 epistles, a selection of letters attributed to the various apostles instructing Christian communities and individual believers in matters of dogma, morality, and the organization of their lives. The last book of the New Testament - Revelation, or Apocalypse - is dedicated to the vision of the coming end of the world and the final triumph of good over evil.
The gospel. Synoptic Gospels: from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke. The first three gospels are often called synoptic (Greek synopsis - a joint review), because they talk about the same events related to Jesus, and give the same sayings, often coinciding literally. Famous stories about the birth of Jesus, about most of the miracles he performed and all his parables are contained in the synoptic gospels, but not in the gospel of John. The synoptic gospels differ mainly in the point of view of everyone, reflecting the views of not only the evangelists, but also the Christians for whom they were written. The authorship of the first gospel is traditionally attributed to Matthew, the tax collector (tax collector), who became one of the first disciples of Jesus. Many, however, doubt Matthew's authorship. It is clear that the author was Jewish and wrote for Judeo-Christian readers. In Jesus, the author sees first of all the fulfillment and embodiment of what is written in the Jewish Scriptures, he constantly repeats that the most important deeds and words of Jesus were already foretold in the Scriptures of the Jews. Matthew is the longest gospel; it contains the most complete sayings of Jesus, especially in ch. 5-7 (the so-called Sermon on the Mount). More than other gospels, Matthew pays attention to the Christian church and Jesus as its founder. The Gospel of Matthew is a story about the life and teachings of Christ, which is readily read and often quoted. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke one feels closeness to the environment of the Gentiles, this is manifested both in the language and in the depicted setting. Jesus at Matthew is the one in whom the ancient prophecies were fulfilled, and for Mark he is a miracle worker. The Gospel of Mark seeks to show that the fact that Jesus' messianism was hidden during his earthly life, and for this reason few accepted it without proper enthusiasm. The Gospel of Luke contains a lot of material that is absent in other stories about the life of Jesus; lengthy versions of the stories about his birth, suffering and death, about his appearances to the disciples after the resurrection are given. The life of Jesus is seen as a turning point in world history: the era of Israel is replaced by the era of the ecumenical church. More than the other gospels, it portrays Jesus as a friend of the poor and the outcast. Most scholars are unanimous that the similarity of the synoptic gospels is due to the fact that the authors used the common material of the tradition, and the fact that they borrowed some materials from each other. But on questions who borrowed from whom, who is the author of the gospels, and when they are written, the researchers do not agree. According to the basic theory, called the “hypothesis of four documents” (in German scientific circles the name “hypothesis of two sources” is accepted), the earliest of the gospels and the first of the four documents is the Gospel of Mark. It is believed that Mk is the source for Mf and Lk, since both contain practically all the material of the Gospel of Mark, although parts of this text are arranged in a different order and are slightly modified. Next, Mf and Lk in a large number give the general sayings of Jesus that are not in Mk. It is assumed that they are taken from a second document that has not reached us, which is often denoted by the letter Q (from the German word Quelle, "source"). Finally, both Mf and Lk have their own materials. Nevertheless, some conservative scholars continue to insist on the primacy of the Gospel of Matthew. To prove this, they cite an ancient tradition according to which Matthew wrote the very first Gospel in Aramaic, later translated into Greek. In the dating of the synoptic gospels, scholars rely mainly on "internal evidence." A good example is the conclusions of many scholars based on an analysis of three versions of Jesus' statement about the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which is adjacent to the apocalyptic prophecy about the end of the world and the second coming of Christ (Mk 13; Mt 24-25, Lk 19: 41-44 and 21: 5-36). It is believed that Mk wrote his version during the Jewish national uprising of 66-70 AD, but before the fall of the city and the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD Lk, on the other hand, demonstrates knowledge of some of the details of the siege by the Romans of Jerusalem, which means this gospel was written later. Matthew, apparently, wrote his book after the specified event, moreover, his narrative suggests a higher level of development of the Christian church than in the text of the Gospel of Mark. Therefore, Mf and Lk date back to approx. AD 80-85
Gospel of John The fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, differs from the weather forecasters in their orientation, the material and composition used. In addition, it paints a portrait of Jesus with substantially different colors than the synoptic gospels. The author is not driven by merely narrative or biographical interest; the main thing for him is to state the only religious idea: Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. The first part of the gospel tells of a series of miracles created by Jesus, with an explanation of their spiritual meaning, which Jesus himself gives. The final part contains a series of conversations of Jesus with his disciples at the Last Supper. In the signs and conversations, the true nature of Jesus and his role as the bearer of divine Revelation become apparent. One of the church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, wrote: "After the other evangelists wrote down the facts of history, John wrote the spiritual gospel." Most scholars agree that the fourth gospel was not written by the apostle John, but perhaps by one of John's helpers or disciples, and was apparently created at the end of the 1st century.
Acts of the Apostles. It is generally accepted that Luke is the author of the book of Acts. The first half of the book traces the early history of the Christian community led by Peter. The second is about Paul’s missionary work from his conversion to Christianity until his imprisonment in Rome. The acts of the apostles - the second volume of Luke's work - were written shortly after his gospel. This is the first attempt by a Christian author to write the history of the church.
Epistles of the Apostles. The Corps of 21 Epistles, placed in the New Testament following Acts, is attributed to the Apostle Paul and the disciples of Jesus — James, Peter, John and Jude. At present, however, traditional authorship and dating of the epistles are the subject of scientific discussion.
The Epistles of the Apostle Paul. The traditional headings of the 14 epistles attributed to Paul contain the names of the communities or the names of the people to whom they were addressed. In the Bible, messages to the communities are printed before messages to certain people, and inside each group they are arranged in the order of their sizes, the most extensive - at the beginning. Most scholars unanimously regard the Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon as authentic. It is very likely that the Epistle to the Colossians also belongs to Paul, while his authorship of 2 Epistles to the Thessalonians and Ephesians is doubtful. Many scholars believe that 1-2 Epistles to Timothy and Titus were not written by Paul. And practically no one today will defend Paul’s authorship regarding the Epistle to the Hebrews. Paul wrote his epistles after 50, and he died in the 60s. The chronology of his epistles is not yet fully established, but he probably began with 1 Fez, the oldest document of the Christian church. The four great epistles — Gal, 1-2 Cor, Rome — may have been created after him, and the messages of Phil and Flm were the last. If Paul was the author of 2 Thess, then it probably was written shortly after 1 Thess; if he wrote the message of Kol, then it appeared at about the same time as the message of Flm. The central point of Paul’s teachings can be formulated as follows: salvation is available to the whole human race - both to the Gentiles and Jews - through faith in Jesus Christ. 1 Thess assures the community that at the second coming of Christ, both dead and living Christians will be with God; it ends with a series of instructions on the responsibilities of Christians in life. 2 Fes advises against impatience, waiting for the second coming. In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul begins by defending his authority as an apostle and gives some interesting autobiographical details. He then claims that salvation requires first and foremost faith in Jesus Christ, and not the fulfillment of Jewish law. 1 Cor contains Paul's instructions on disagreement, immorality, the conversion of Christians to pagan courts, marriage, idolatry, etc., - problems that worried this most dysfunctional community founded by him. The Epistle contains a magnificent hymn of love (ch. 13) and a discourse on immortality (ch. 15). 1 Cor, like Gal, contains evidence of Paul's claim to the apostolate. Romans is the most complete exposition of Paul's theology. In it, he examines the relationship between Christians from Jews and Christians from Gentiles in the context of a detailed discussion of the problem of sin and salvation. The Epistle to the Colossians warns against a delusion combining the desire to become like angels with the performance of Jewish religious rites. Flm - a private letter to a friend asking to forgive a runaway slave. Flp - a friendly letter to the community in Philippi with a declaration of love, joy for them and thanks for the donations sent. Ephesians rather dryly summarizes the problems that Paul has already touched upon. It lacks the immediacy and emotionality inherent in the other epistles of Paul. Traditionally, he is considered together with Phil, Kol and Flm as one of the so-called epistles from the bonds written at the end of Paul's life. "Pastoral Epistles" (as 1-2 Tim is called) form a special group. Their style and content differ significantly from the style and content of other Pauline epistles. They reflect a later stage in the development of the Christian church and were written, apparently, at the end of the 1st century. The epistle to the Hebrews is groundlessly placed in the corpus of the epistles of Paul. This is a lengthy, sustained in good rhetorical tradition sermon, characterized by smoothness of style and eloquence. It proves that the death of Jesus is a perfect sacrifice, abolishing the sacrificial system that existed in the Jewish religion. Researchers agree that the apostle Paul could not be its author, and date back 60-80 years.
Other messages. The last seven letters are called "catholic" ("catholic"). This name suggests that they are addressed to the "ecumenical" church, and not to an individual or a separate community. Unlike the epistles of Paul, their names contain the names of the authors. James's message is a moralistic treatise in the tradition of the Jewish "literature of the wise." The author argues with Paul’s point of view (or rather, with its radical interpretations) that salvation can only be achieved by faith, and argues that faith must be supported by pious deeds. If its author was really Jacob from Jerusalem (brother of the Lord), then it was written before 62 (the year of Jacob's death). However, a significant number of researchers attribute it to the end of the first century. 1 Peter also addresses moral issues and encourages believers to humbly endure persecution. If the author of the letter is Peter, then the persecutions in question may be the persecutions of Nero of the 60s; if the author lived in a later period, this refers to the persecution of Domitian of the 90s. 2 Peter warns against false teachers and claims that the day of the Last Judgment is postponed for a while to give people the opportunity to repent. Most scholars doubt the authorship of Peter and attribute the document to the first half of the 2nd century. In this case, this epistle is the latest book of the New Testament. 1 The Epistle of John is traditionally attributed to the author of the fourth gospel (regardless of whether it was the apostle John or someone else). It contains the doctrinal provisions of the fourth gospel. Less agreement in the scientific community about the authorship of 2-3 Jn, which are short notes; it is possible that they were written at the end of the author’s life. All three letters are probably dated to the end of the 1st century. The Epistle of Judas, the last in the corps, calls on believers to avoid heresies and return to faith. Perhaps it was written at the end of the 1st century.
Revelation of John the Evangelist. Revelation (Apocalypse), the last book in the Bible, continues the tradition of Jewish apocalypses. The author in vivid symbolic visions paints a picture of the struggle between good and evil; the culmination of this battle is the defeat of the forces of evil, the resurrection of the dead, and the second coming of Jesus, the judge at the end of the world. The book is traditionally credited to the Apostle John, but the stylistic differences between the Apocalypse, the Gospel, and the Epistles of John make scholars doubt that they are written with one hand. The book, apparently, dates back to the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96). It had the greatest influence on Pentecostal and Adventist Protestant churches.
NEW TESTAMENT CANON
"Canon" means scriptures for which supreme authority is recognized. In the 1st century such a scripture for Christians was the Jewish Bible. The books of the New Testament were created gradually, and acquired canonical status much later. By the middle of the 2nd century many Christian works went around. In addition to the texts that were eventually included in the canon, there were many other gospels, acts, epistles, and apocalypse, now called the New Testament apocrypha. Some of them, such as the Gospel of Peter, contain the core of reliable tradition. Others, such as the gospel of the childhood of the Apostle Thomas, are folk tales and legends designed to satisfy popular curiosity and fill in the gaps in the biographies of Jesus. Another group of scriptures, for example a collection of texts discovered in the 20th century. near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, is Gnostic and was condemned as heretical. One group of books, written shortly after the era of the apostles, was especially respected and for some time was considered almost like a scripture. Their authors are called "apostolic husbands." The letters of Ignatius of Antioch make it possible to get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe church organization of the beginning of the second century; they preach the ideal of martyrdom. The First Epistle of Clement, one of the first Roman bishops, protests against the removal of some leaders of the Corinthian church. Clement's second epistle is a sermon on Christian life and repentance. The Shepherd of Germa is a moralistic treatise permeated with mysterious symbolism, and the Epistle of Barnabas is somewhat reminiscent of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but is more allegorical in nature. Didache (Teachings of the Twelve Apostles), in addition to moralistic reasoning about the "two ways" of life and death, contains a number of instructions on the performance of church sacraments, on church organization and discipline. By the end of the 2nd century. some Christian religious books clearly acquire canonical status: for example, from the writings of the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr, we know that Christians read the "memoirs of the apostles" before the Sunday Eucharist. Most lists of Christian books from this period include the four gospels, all the Pauline epistles (with the exception of the Epistle to the Hebrews) and the First Epistles of Peter and John. Other books, especially Revelation and the Epistle to the Hebrews, were rejected, while many of the writings of the “apostolic husbands” were considered inspired. There were at least two criteria for inclusion in the lists of authoritative Christian books: apostolic authorship and widespread use in a particular local church. Over time, a line was drawn under the canon. In the 2nd century Marcion, the head of the heretical sect in Asia Minor, composed his own canon of scripture. There was no place in it for the entire Old Testament, and from all Christian texts this list included an abridged version of the Gospel of Luke and a fairly edited selection of Paul's epistles. The activities of Marcion, apparently, prompted the church to draw up its own canon in order to protect itself from heretical writings and to prevent the penetration of heretical false teachings into already recognized books. In the end, the authorship of the apostles became the main criterion for inclusion in the New Testament canon. The first list of authoritative books, which is completely identical to the content of our New Testament, is compiled by St. Athanasius in 367.
TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS AND TEXTOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Greek text. Several papyrus fragments found in Egypt are the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament to us. The earliest of them, an excerpt from chapter 18 of the Gospel of John (Jesus before Pilate), was written approx. 110. About 150-200 are two larger fragments: one from the Epistle to Titus, the other from the Gospel of Matthew. The oldest papyri, containing enough text for attribution, was written approx. 200-250. One of them contains part of the Gospel of John, the other contains excerpts from all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, and the third contains excerpts from the epistles of Paul. In general, more than 70 papyrus fragments have reached us, on which almost half of the text of the New Testament is recorded. In the 4th century papyrus began to give way to more durable parchment. Two nearly complete Greek Bible lists date from this century: the Vatican Codex (Codex Vaticanus), stored in the Vatican library, and the Sinai Codex (Codex Sinaiticus), accidentally discovered in a Greek monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, in a basket for old manuscripts to be burned. After 4 c. the number of Greek manuscripts is increasing. To date, more than 5,000 manuscripts are known. The first printed edition of the Greek New Testament, called the Compluten Bible (Biblia Complutensis), appeared in 1514. However, it was not distributed until 1516, when the Greek New Testament was published under the editorship of the humanist scientist Erasmus of Rotterdam. His text was prepared in haste, using later and often unreliable manuscripts. In some places, Erasmus corrected the Greek text, aligning it with the text of the Vulgate. Nevertheless, his text formed the basis of many further reprints of the Greek New Testament, and it was from him that the early Protestant reformers made their translations. From 1546 to 1551, the Parisian printer Robert Estienne (Stefanus) issued 4 editions of the Greek New Testament, containing Erasmus text with field readings taken from the Compluten Bible and other sources. His 1551 edition served as the basis for later English translations, including the King James Bible.
Ancient translations. Early translations of the New Testament date back to the 2nd century. The first Latin translations probably appeared in North Africa. Soon they compiled an authoritative translation (the so-called Itala Vetus, Itala Vetus), which by the time of Jerome had almost canonical status. At the end of the 4th century. Jerome revised and significantly corrected Italu, thereby creating his own translation, Vulgate. In the East, New Testament books were translated into the 2nd century. into Syriac. Like the old Latin translations, they were unified at the end of the 4th century. The standard translation is called Peshitta, or the "common" translation. It remains the official text of the Jacobite and Nestorian churches. It contains 22 of 27 universally recognized books, does not include the Second Epistle of Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, and Revelation. Other ancient translations, in full or in fragments, have come down to us in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopian, Nubian, Gothic, Old Slavonic and in six dialects of the Coptic language.
Textology, or criticism of the text. The task of textologists is to establish with maximum reliability the initial edition of a text. In the case of an ancient book such as the New Testament, textologists study various readings (versions) in manuscripts to determine which of them is most likely to refer to the original edition and which may be discarded. Textologists have at their disposal material of an impressive volume: papyri, more than 5,000 Greek manuscripts, 10 thousand manuscripts of ancient translations and 80 thousand New Testament quotes in the writings of the church fathers. No one knows how many different variations of the same phrase they contain. More than 30 thousand different readings were recorded in a survey of 150 manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke. When establishing the most probable initial reading of a New Testament fragment, textologists follow certain standard rules. The general rule is: the older the manuscript, the higher the chance that it follows the original. However, this rule can be misleading, since later manuscripts of one family often preserve correct readings that were corrupted in earlier manuscripts of another family. Simple census teller censuses are easy to spot — they are often associated with memory errors (for example, a teller could accidentally insert a reading from one gospel into another). However, the scribe often deliberately changed the text - either to correct or improve it, or to bring it into line with his theological views. So, suspicious places in the text should be checked for compliance with their style and concept of the whole work as a whole. Shorter readings are generally preferred over longer readings, which may contain later additions. Often reading in too correct or smooth Greek is discarded, as the authors of the New Testament books used the everyday language, far from the classical literary Greek. For the same reason, of the two readings, the most difficult to understand is often chosen, since the other may be the result of editorial simplification of the scribe. Although the preference for a particular option often depends on the taste and intuition of the researcher, there is no doubt that today we have the Greek text of the New Testament, which is much closer to the original than the text that the scientists who were at the forefront of critical research and based on on the edition of Erasmus. So, for example, 1 John 5: 7-8 in the Synodal translation reads as follows: “For three bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And three bear witness on earth: spirit, water, and blood; and these are three about one. "Words in italics are missing in the original text. The doubtful passage goes back to Latin manuscripts made in Spain or North Africa, possibly in the 4th century. It is absent in all Greek manuscripts made before 1400, and is omitted in modern critical editions of the New Testament.
HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL METHODS OF RESEARCH
The historical-critical approach to the study of the New Testament - an attempt to understand the text in the context of the historical circumstances of its occurrence and taking into account the literary forms and genres to which its authors resorted - often caused controversy. Much of the historical-critical approach was due to the desire to reconstruct the true teachings of Jesus and the early Christian community. Researchers were inclined to two extreme positions. Some critics saw Jesus as a preacher of a clean and simple message about universal brotherhood of people and universal love, and believed that this message was distorted by the introduction of other elements: the doctrine of Christ's relationship to God, prophecies about the imminent end of the world, myths, and also borrowings from folk religious cults. The task of criticism was to purify Christianity from these alien elements and restore the original teaching of Jesus. Other scholars have emphasized that theological elements in the New Testament are not necessarily alien; many of them were already present in the teachings of Jesus. According to this point of view, the New Testament is a summary of the Christian message in terms that are understandable to a person who lived in the 1st century. The figure of the “historical Jesus”, whose teachings were believed to be at odds with the teachings of the religion that formed under his name, first appeared in the work of G.S. Reymarus (1694-1768). Reymarus was a deist, i.e. He believed in God, which can only be comprehended by reason alone and manifests its power in the immutable laws of nature. Rejecting miracles and Revelation, Raimarus tried to separate the historical Jesus from the figure of Christ, the suffering Redeemer of mankind; such an idea of \u200b\u200bChrist, Raimarus believed, arose among the apostles after the death of Jesus. DF Strauss returned to the question of historical Jesus in his work, The Life of Jesus (1835-1836). Strauss insisted on the fundamental difference between what he called the "inner core" of the Christian faith (he traced its existence to Jesus himself), from the "myths", miraculous and supernatural elements that were introduced into the image of Jesus and his teachings. F.K.Baur (1792-1860) focused on the history of the early Christian community. Under the influence of the philosophy of G.V.F. Hegel, he regarded the history of the early church as a struggle between two movements - supporters of the observance of the Jewish Law (Petrinists) and free of the Law of Christianity (Paulinists), which led to the emergence of "early Catholicism" to the formation of the church with its hierarchy, cult and fixed teaching). Perhaps the most popular result of historical and critical research of the 19th century. became the work of E. Renan, "The Life of Jesus." In the second half of the 19th century scientists were interested in the question of what we can learn from the gospels about the "real" Jesus. Studies of this period were usually carried out in the form of a comparison between the Christological concept of Paul and the simpler reconstructed image of historical Jesus. So, for A. von Harnack (1851-1930), Jesus was primarily a rabbi who interpreted the Jewish religion in his own way, emphasizing that God is the Father of all people, and therefore all people are brothers. At the beginning of the 20th century a strong reaction arose against the concept of “liberal Jesus” (that is, the image of Jesus in liberal theology). This rejection was expressed by A. Schweitzer in the book From Reymarus to Wrede (1906; the second edition was published under the title History of the Study of the Life of Jesus, 1913). Schweitzer and his associates believed that the "liberal" image of Jesus ignored the world around him in which Jesus lived and taught; indeed, liberal theologians simply cleansed the biblical image of Jesus of those elements that contradicted the ideals of the 19th century, declaring them to be later interpolations. Schweitzer proved that many of these elements already existed in Judaism of the pre-Christian era. In particular, he highlighted the ideas of pre-Christian Judaism about the end of the world, the coming of God or his Messiah, the judgment of the world and the beginning of a new century in which the rule of God will be established. Other scholars sought external influences that would explain the history of the Christian movement without resorting to an analysis of Judaism. Focusing on pagan cults of the New Testament times, they revealed their similarity with the religious practice of the early Christians. In particular, it was claimed that the Eucharist resembles the ritual meals of the mystery cults of Dionysus, Attis and Mithra. Some scholars, following the tradition of the liberal school, noted the radical change that the Christian religion underwent during the transition from Jesus to Paul; others, revealing the influence of pagan rituals on the external side of early Christianity, insisted on the unique originality of its content. J. Vellhausen once founded the "radical school" of historical criticism, which distinguished between the historical Jesus, who had no messianic claims, and the post-Easter community, which proclaimed him the Messiah and the Lord. In line with this approach, a concept has been developed according to which the gospel narratives were not the foundation of the early Christian community, but its product. In 1919, K. L. Schmidt suggested that the Gospel of Mark, which forms the backbone of the gospels of Matthew and Luke, was a selection of church narratives that previously circulated independently of each other. The study of this oral, pre-literary stage of the gospels led to the emergence of an influential and controversial school of form analysis (Formgeschichte), led by M. Dibelius (1883-1947) and R. Bultman (1884-1976). In the form-analytical method, clearly defined substantive units of text, called forms, which gradually crystallized in the oral tradition until they are written in the gospels, are distinguished from the material of the gospels. These forms include stories about miracles, sayings of Jesus and parables, myths and legends about the birth of Jesus and his life, brief scenes from the life of Jesus, ending with a laconic saying like the famous "Caesar Caesarean". Pointing out the similarities of some passages from the gospels to folklore, many of the experts in form analysis question the historicity of a number of gospel stories, for example, stories of miracles that followed the death of Jesus on the cross. After the First World War, historical and critical studies increasingly focused on the mental forms of the New Testament - the basic ideas of the proclamation of Jesus. It has been argued that many of the mental forms by which the teachings of Jesus are expressed do not make sense to modern man. Thus, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe end of the world or the second coming of the Messiah on the cloud does not correspond to modern experience. However, the fact that in the 20th century. conservative and fundamentalist Protestant denominations have survived and continue to emerge, testifying to the enormous gap between the views of professional critics and many believers reading the Bible. To bridge this gap, it may be useful to study the history of editorial offices (Redaktionsgeschichte), which has been developing successfully since the mid-20th century. If specialists in form analysis, such as Bultmann, emphasized the classification of certain formal elements in the text and determining the place and role of these elements in the life of the church before their written fixation, then specialists in the method of studying the history of editorial offices tried to find out how these elements were brought together and used by real authors of the New Testament.
TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The history of translations of the Bible into English falls into two periods: the Middle Ages and the New Age.
Middle Ages.
Old English period. Starting from the 7th century, when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity, and until the Reformation, the only Bible that was considered authoritative in Britain was the Vulgate. The earliest attempts to translate the Bible into Anglo-Saxon, strictly speaking, cannot be called translations. These were free paraphrases in verses of well-known biblical narratives. One ancient manuscript contains poems previously attributed to the monk and poet Cadmon of Whitby (the heyday of about 670), but is currently attributed to the 9th or early 10th century. The other corpus of rhythmic paraphrases is attributed to Kunevulf, who lived around the same era as Cadmon. The first attempts at a real translation of the Bible were made in the 8th century. Bishop of Sherborne Aldhelm (d. 709) - probably the author of the translation of the Psalms. Misfortune the Honorable (673-735) translated the prayer “Our Father” and part of the Gospel of John. King Alfred (849-899) translated the Ten Commandments and several other biblical texts. A manuscript known as the Psalter of Vespasian, written approx. 825, contains the earliest example of a specific type of translation called “glossa”. Glosses were supposed to help clerics and fit between the lines of the Latin text. They often followed the Latin word order, which was very different from the word order adopted in the Anglo-Saxon language. Around 950, one glossa was inserted into a luxuriously illuminated manuscript (the so-called Lindisfarne Gospels), the Latin text of which was written approx. 700. Soon after, similar glosses began to be entered in other manuscripts. By the end of the 10th century. many translations already existed. West Saxon Gospels (10th c.) - A complete translation of the gospels, made, perhaps, by three translators. About 990, Elfric, famous for his scholarship, translated several books of the Old Testament, including all the Pentateuch, the books of Joshua, the Judges, Realms, and several books from the Old Testament apocrypha. He often inserted his translations, which were often confused in a prosaic retelling, in sermons. The work of Elfric, the West Saxon Gospels, and the numerous translations of the Psalms are all that was done in the Old English period on the way to a complete translation of the Bible. After Elfric, Bible translations were no longer done: Britain plunged into the "dark ages" of the Norman conquests.
Mid-English period. In a calmer 13th century. translation activities resumed. Many new translations of the Bible into English fall into the category of religious literature rather than translation itself; for example, the monk Ormulum Orma (c. 1215) is a rhythmic translation of the gospel passages used in mass in combination with sermons. Around 1250, a rhymed retelling of the books of Genesis and Exodus appeared. Three translations of the Psalms appeared approx. 1350: Anonymous poetic translation, translation of the Psalms attributed to William of Shorham, and translation with commentary of the hermit and mystic Richard Roll of Gempol. In the 13-14 centuries. unknown authors translated various parts of the New Testament.
The Wycliffe Bible. By the end of the 14th century the first complete translation of the Bible into English appeared. It was the Wycliffe Bible - a translation made on the initiative and under the guidance of John Wycliffe (c. 1330-1384). Wycliffe insisted that the Gospel is the rule of life and that all people have the right to read it "in the dialect in which they best know the teaching of Christ." He insisted that an English Bible is needed to spread this teaching. Wycliffe’s Bible was almost certainly not translated by Wycliffe himself, but by his collaborators. There are two versions of the translation. The first was begun by Nicholas of Hereford, one of Wycliffe's followers, and completed already with the other hand approx. 1385. A later and less heavy translation was probably made by another Wycliffe follower, John Pervey (c. 1395). After Wycliffe died, his views were condemned, and the reading of his Bible was forbidden. Due to the unorthodox teachings of Wycliffe and the intransigence of his supporters, the Bible in their native language began to be associated in Orthodox minds with heresy. Although Bible translations were undertaken in other European countries, in England before the Reformation, no one took up Bible translations. Despite the church curse, Wycliffe’s Bible was often copied, and parts of it were later borrowed by William Tyndall, the first of the reformer translators. Protestant translations: from Tyndall to the New English Bible. Protestant translators of the time of the Reformation abandoned the Vulgate as the primary source. A comparison of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible with the Latin text of the Vulgate revealed inconsistencies and inaccuracies. In addition, reformer translators who broke with the Roman Catholic Church did not want to rely on the Latin Bible in their translations.
Tyndall. The first English Protestant Bible translator was William Tyndall (c. 1490-1536). Tyndall studied Greek at Oxford and Cambridge, and Hebrew, apparently, in Germany. He tried to print his translation of the New Testament in Cologne, but church authorities forced him to move to Worms, where he completed the publication. A large-format publication was published in Worms in 1525; it came to England the following year and was immediately burned. Despite the church curse, reprints followed one after another, many fell into England from the Netherlands. Tyndall's first volume of the Old Testament was published in 1530; Tyndall was arrested, in prison he continued to work on the Old Testament, but in 1536 as a heretic he was burned at the stake in Vilvoorde near Brussels. The rejection of the Tyndal translation was mainly due to its purely Protestant tone. Although King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the early 1530s, he did not at all sympathize with Tyndall's views. Moreover, the translator’s desire to erase from the Bible all traces of the Catholic worship led him to replace some terms: “church” was replaced by “community”, “priest” - by “elder”, “repent” - by “repent”, etc. In addition, the New Testament served as a model for the translation of Tyndall. german translation Martin Luther.
Coverdale. In 1534, the Anglican Church petitioned the king for an English translation of the Bible. Archbishop Kranmer, architect of the religious policy of Henry VIII, took several steps on his own initiative to support the petition, but did not succeed. When Miles Coverdale, once a Tyndall employee, completed his work and published the first complete Bible in English in Germany (1535), it soon came to England and was sold there without any objection from the authorities. Coverdale did not possess Tyndall's scholarship. He borrowed from Tyndall a translation of the New Testament and partially the Old Testament, but since Coverdale clearly did not speak Hebrew, he had to complete Tyndal's work, translating from Latin (although he looked into Luther's works, into the Zurich Bible and consulted with contemporary scholars) . Coverdale's translation language is more melodious than Tyndall's; The Psalter in its translation (edition 1539 for the Big Bible) is still used in the Anglican ministry (Book of public worship), due to its literary merits, it is often preferred to the translation of psalms from the Bible of King James.
Bible Matthew. In 1537, Henry VIII was persuaded to give his highest endorsement to the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating an English Bible; this is how the "new translation" came about. He was considered a translation of a certain Thomas Matthew, although the real publisher was apparently another Tyndall employee, John Rogers; the text itself was composed of translations of Tyndall and Coverdale with the addition of many doctrinal notes. A fictitious translator was required in order to avoid a scandal over the actual publication of the work of the executed Tyndall.
Big bible. A royal decree was issued in 1538, according to which each parish was obliged to purchase a copy of the Bible for its church, and the parishioners should have paid half the cost of the book. The decree was probably not about the Matthew Bible, but about a new translation. In 1539 a new translation was published, and this weighty volume was called the Great Bible. Coverdale was the editor, but the text was more a revision of the Matthew Bible than the 1535 Coverdale translation. The second edition of 1540 is sometimes called the Cranmerian Bible (preceded by the preface by Archbishop Cranmer). The Big Bible became the official text, while other translations were banned.
Geneva Bible. The coming to power of the Catholic Mary Stuart, terrified the English Protestants. To avoid persecution, many emigrated and settled in Geneva, the center of radical Protestantism in those years. Under the guidance of the Scottish Calvinist John Knox, and possibly with the participation of Coverdale, the English community in Geneva issued the New Testament and Psalter in 1557, and in 1560 the complete edition of the Bible, the so-called The Geneva Bible (also known as the playful name of the Bible of Pants, or the Bible of Bridges, since verse 3: 7 from the Book of Genesis is translated as follows: “They sewed fig leaves and made pants for themselves”). The Geneva Bible was strikingly different in format from previous translations. There were several small-format editions of the New Testament, but the English Bible was intended to be read during church services with commentaries by clerics. It was typed in an old Gothic script, was large and very heavy; often, for safety, she was chained to a music stand. The Geneva Bible used a clear Latin script and was much smaller in size. It had the usual numbering of individual verses, as well as introductions to books and notes, maps of biblical history, a summary of Christian doctrine, an index, and a glossary. various forms prayers, notes were attached to the psalms. In a word, it was quite complete guide; its fullness and small size contributed to the formation of the home reading skill. The Geneva translation was to a certain extent the most scientific translation of the time. The text of the Big Bible (1550) was taken as a basis, which was then significantly improved by editors who corrected many errors and inaccuracies. The Geneva Bible almost immediately gained recognition and popularity, but until 1576 it was not published in England. Although Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne in 1558, the Anglican hierarchs were hostile to the Geneva Bible and sought to delay its publication. Being printed, it withstood 140 editions and was published during the lifetime of a whole generation even after the publication of the King James Bible. It was the Bible that Shakespeare knew and quoted.
Episcopal Bible. The conservative Kranmer successor in the chair of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, hindered the spread of the Geneva Bible. In 1568, he published his own edition - the Episcopal Bible. The name suggests that it was the collective work of the Anglican bishops who accomplished the task in just two years; they used the Great Bible as a basis, deviating from it only in those cases where it came into conflict with the Hebrew or Greek texts. In the Episcopal Bible, those passages from the Geneva Bible are often borrowed where its advantages in the field of accuracy of translation are not in doubt. Upon completion, the Episcopal Bible replaced the Great Bible as the official Bible of the Church of England.
The bible of king jacob. The Puritan John Reynolds made a proposal on the need for a new authoritative translation, addressing him to King James I in 1604. Jacob approved the idea and appointed translators - "fifty-four scientists' husbands." The translators were divided into four groups, gathered in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford; each group took a part of the Bible, the initial, rough translation of which was to be approved by all members of the "company". A committee of 12 control editors reconciled the first translation options. The Episcopal Bible was chosen as the main text, but the translations of Tyndall, Coverdale, the Matthew Bible, the Big Bible, the Geneva Bible and even the Catholic translation of the New Testament (published in 1582) were also involved. The Bible of King James was published in 1611: two years and nine months were spent on translation, another nine months - on preparing the manuscript for publication. The first edition was a large volume in folio, the text was typed in Gothic. The Bible of King Jacob would never have gained popularity if it had not been soon reprinted in a small format and with a Latin set (qualities that at one time ensured the wide dissemination of the Geneva Bible). For almost 400 years, the King James Bible has been officially translated. In England it is called the Authorized Version, although neither the Royal House nor Parliament issued any official acts on this subject. Moreover, there is no doubt that the Authorized Translation became the Bible of the Church of England, as well as those who broke away from it in the 17th and 18th centuries. religious associations; it has the same status in US Protestant denominations. The royal printer was the holder of the right to publish the King James Bible, so it could not be published in English colonies on the American continent until they achieved independence from England. As a result, the first Bible printed in America was not the King James Bible, but a translation made by John Eliot for the Algonquin Indians (Up-Biblum God, 1661-1663). In the 18th century two universities identified editors (Paris from Cambridge and Blayney from Oxford) to correct creeping typos and text distortions. In the USA, in the publication of N. Webster (1833), obsolete revolutions were replaced by more modern ones. This editorial work testifies to the efforts characteristic of the 19th century. and aimed at modernizing the old text.
Corrected translation (The Revised Version). The movement towards modernizing the language of the old translation reached its climax in 1870, when, on the initiative of the clergy council of the Canterbury and York dioceses, a committee was appointed to revise the text of the King James Bible. The corrected translation (New Testament, 1881; Old Testament, 1885; Apocrypha, 1895) is still valuable for scholars because of its compactness and proximity to the original biblical texts in Hebrew and Greek, but could not replace the King James Bible. Corrected Standard Translation (The Revised Standard Version). The first edition of the Corrected Translation in the United States included the readings of American specialists who worked together with English editors. In 1901, these readings were included in the text of the publication, which was called the American Standard Translation (The American Standard Version). It served as the basis for the Revised Standard Translation, prepared with the support of the International Council for Religious Education (1937). Dean L.E. Weigle of Yale University edited the translation (the New Testament was published in 1946, the Old Testament in 1952).
New English Bible. In sharp contrast with various corrections of translations, there is an attempt made in England to create an authoritative text of the English Bible for the 20th century. The New English Bible (New Testament, 1961; New Testament, Old Testament and Apocrypha, 1969) is a completely new, fresh translation of the original texts into natural, colloquial English of the 20th century, in which archaic constructions of the 17th century and both are avoided literary copying of Greek revolutions. Thus, this translation parted with tradition dating back to Tyndall. The translation was published with the support and participation of all Christian churches in Great Britain, with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church.
English Catholic Bible translations. Douai-Reims translation. The resistance that the Catholic Church showed to the idea of \u200b\u200btranslating the Bible into national languages \u200b\u200bweakened during the Counter-Reformation. In 1582, the Reims New Testament appeared, translated from the Vulgate by G. Martin at the English College in Reims (France). This was followed by a translation of the Old Testament (1609-1610) in the French city of Douai. It was started by Martin, and completed by Cardinal William Allensky, president of the college, with his staff R. Bristow and T. Worzington. It was a carefully executed translation made from the Vulgate, in many places sinning with an abundance of Latinisms and a literal copy of the original. In the period from 1635 to 1749, only the New Testament of the Douai-Reims Translation was reprinted (6 times). However, in 1749-1750, Bishop Richard Challoner introduced numerous amendments that, one might say, revived the Douai-Reims translation to a new life.
Knox Translation. The most important English Catholic translation in the 20th century. is a translation of Ronald Knox, published in 1945-1949. Knox worked a lot on translation problems, and his version is not only accurate, but also elegant. Knox's Bible is a church-approved translation.
Westminster Bible. In 1913, the English Jesuits began preparing a new translation of the Bible, made from the original languages \u200b\u200b(i.e., from Hebrew and Greek). The New Testament from the Westminster Bible (the translation was called) was published in 1948 under the guidance of J. Marry and C. Latti.
Jerusalem Bible. In the second half of the 20th century. two Catholic translations appeared in English and French, called the Jerusalem Bible. A French commentary translation (from the original texts) was made at the Dominican Bible School in Jerusalem and published in 1956. In 1966, English scholars made their own translation, also from the original texts.
New American Bible. In the United States, the Episcopal Committee of the Brotherhood of Christian Doctrine funded a series of biblical translations from the original languages \u200b\u200b- Hebrew and Greek. Translations of individual books, prepared with the support of this fraternity, began to be published in 1952, and a completely New American Bible was released in 1970. It replaced the old Douai-Reims translation.
Bible translations for Jews. Bible translations especially for Jews began to be made relatively recently. In the 18th century two translations of the Torah were released, one of them was made by the Jewish scholar I. Delgado (1785), the other by D. Levy (1787). However, the first complete translation of the Hebrew Bible came out in England only in 1851, its author is A. Benish. In 1853, I. Lizer released a translation in the United States, which became generally recognized in American synagogues. After the publication of the Corrected Translation (1885) in England, English Jews began to use this publication, providing it with notes and some readings that deviated from the English versions (this work was carried out by Jewish scholars). In 1892, the American Association of Jewish Publishers began preparing its own translation of the Jewish Bible, based on the text of Aaron ben Asher (10th century), but taking into account ancient translations and modern English versions. This translation was published in 1917 and replaced the Lieser translation as the standard English Bible translation for American Jews. In 1963-1982, a new version of the translation of the American Association of Jewish Publishers was released. Her style is emphasized modern and free from the influence of the King James Bible. The publication is characterized by an abundance of notes, which provide translation and interpretation options.
Other translations. From the beginning of the 16th century many unofficial translations were made without the support or approval of any church groups. Incomplete translations (Psalms, prayers, excerpts from the gospels) were published in a series of prayer books from 1529 to 1545. T. More translated some parts of the Bible, while in prison at the Tower of London in 1534-1535. R. Taverner in 1539 prepared a new edition of Matthew's translation. Around 1550 J. Chick translated the Gospel of Matthew in an unusual, touching style. In the 18th century several translations appeared that have only historical value. Among them, it is worth noting the translations of D. Mays (1729), E. Harwood (1768) and J. Wakefield (1791). Modern non-church translations trace their history back to the translation of E. Norton, the pastor of the Unitarian church, who published his translation of the gospels in 1855. The New Testament was popular for the 20th century. (The Twentieth Century New Testament, 1898-1901); Moffat's New Testament (Moffat's New Testament, 1913); Goodspeed's New Testament (1923) New Testament, which, together with Old Testament translations, became part of the American Translation (An American Translation, 1931). One of the most popular publications is the arrangement of JB Phillips into modern spoken English (New Testament in Modern English, 1958). The Revised Standard Version Common Bible (1973), based on the 1952 Revised Standard Translation, was approved for use in Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic denominations. The Good News Bible, a translation of the Bible into modern English, was released by the American Bible Society in 1976. Two new editions of old translations came out in 1982: the New King James Version Bible, combining the clarity of modern speech with the literary style of the original translation of the King James Bible, and the Readers' Digest Bible, a concise summary of the Corrected Standard Translation.
LITERATURE
The canonical gospels. M., 1992 Teaching. The Pentateuch of Moses. M., 1993 Biblical Encyclopedia. M., 1996 Metzger B. Textology of the New Testament. M., 1996 Metzger B. Canon of the New Testament. M., 1999
Encyclopedia of Collier. - Open Society. 2000 .
→ The essence of the Bible, its composition and structure
General characteristics of the Bible
In this article we will briefly review the essence of the Bible, as well as what the composition and structure of the Bible is.
The word "Bible" in Greek means "books." Apparently, it is not by chance that the book is so simply named, which is undoubtedly one of the highest values \u200b\u200bacquired by mankind. For at least three millennia, the word “Bible” has been inspiring people, and the circle of those who share this source is constantly expanding.
However, there were other times. The Soviet government actually banned the Bible, it was not printed and was withdrawn from circulation and libraries, its images and words were carefully deleted or lost allusions to their source, or simply ridiculed.
Therefore, in our historically Christian country, several generations of people have grown up who completely or almost do not know the Bible, did not read it. It should be noted that this is not only religious, but also cultural ignorance, since European culture, especially the culture of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, the New Age, as well as modern culture cannot be comprehended without knowledge of biblical characters, images, events. The Bible can be viewed from at least three positions:
- First - and the main thing - is that it Holy Bible Christian religion. This statement, however, requires some clarification. On the one hand, a significant part of the Bible - the Old Testament - written in pre-Christian times, is the property of the Jewish tradition. The Scriptures of the Jews, the Torah, are actually part of the Bible. And Islam, which arose later than Christianity, widely uses biblical images as one of the sources of the Koran. On the other hand, some areas of Christianity relate differently to individual parts of the Bible, either excluding the so-called non-canonical books, or preferring the New Testament as a purely Christian revelation. But despite this, just as the Holy Scripture has its exceptional significance, it is from this point of view that one should approach it first.
- Secondly, The Bible can be understood as historical source. It, indeed, contains evidence relating to the history of many peoples of the Ancient East from the 2nd millennium BC. before the start of a new era. Of course, using the Bible as a historical source requires scientific analysis and checks from other sources, but this should not be taken as criticism and rejection of the Holy History.
- Thirdly, - the Bible can be seen as important literary monument or cultural monument. Many biblical texts can be noted in terms of their literary perfection - not to mention the fact that this book has value like any written memorial. By the way, the Bible is far superior to any other works in the number of publications and translations into different languages. But, again, this is a consequence of its influence, not as a masterpiece of art, but as a holy phenomenon.
Bible Composition and Structure
The Bible is a fairly large book, which has a complex structure and contains many relatively independent books. The main thing is its division into two components - the Old and New Testaments.
- Old Testament - this is a pre-Christian, Jewish Bible (in fact, Jews do not perceive the Bible as a whole - the New Testament, of course, is not recognized at all, and only the Holy Scripture is considered Torah - Pentateuch Moiseevo) It was adopted by the Christian church as component Scripture, likewise, Christianity grew largely Jewishly; these books were recognized by Christ and used by him as the Word of God; after all, these books contain many prophecies about the appearance of Christ himself and his mission.
- Second Part - New Testament - This is already its own Christian tradition, these are texts related to the life and work of Jesus Christ and his disciples.
In different translations and editions of the Bible there are discrepancies regarding the name of books and the order of their placement. Moreover, there is disagreement over the number of books that make up the Bible. This applies only to the Old Testament and is associated with two circumstances: the system of counting and the division into the so-called canonical and non-canonical books.
Thus, the Jewish tradition, which was followed by some Christian theologians, consisted of 24 or even 22 books, which in modern Christian publications, as a rule, are already divided into 39 books (due to the fact that they are served as two instead of one book of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, as well as 12 books of small prophets instead of one, etc.). Another was the grouping of books by their content in jewish Bible (TaNaha), which consists of Torah (Law), Neviim (Prophets) and Ktuvim (Scriptures).Christian tradition identifies the following sections of the canon (canonical composition of the Bible):
- legislative books: The Pentateuch is Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy;
- historical books, that is, those who mainly tell the Holy story: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel I and II books (in the Russian translation - 1 and 2 books of Kings), I and II books of Kings (3 and 4 books of Kings, respectively), 1 that 2 books of the Chronicles (or Chronicles), Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther;
- educational poetry books: Job, Psalms, Parables (Parables of Solomon), Preacher (Ecclesiastes), Songs of Songs;
- prophetic books: the great prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lament of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the small ones - Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Avdiah, Jonah, Micah, Naum, Habakkuk, Sophonia, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
With regards to non-canonical booksthen they appeared later than other books of the Old Testament and did not enter the Jewish canon or were excluded from it. Christian tradition has accepted them, but with some prejudice. They were advised to read to those who were preparing to join the Christian church, because they are distinguished by their instructive character (however, among them we find books of historical and prophetic).
The Catholic Church considers such books deuterocanonical (deuterocanonical), Orthodoxy continues to consider non-canonical, but Slavic and Russian Orthodox Bibles print them next to the canonical. The Protestants, on the contrary, do not print these books in the texts of the Bible, not counting them inspired.
These books are 11: Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon), Sirach (Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach), Tobit, Judity, Epistle of Jeremiah, Baruch, 2 and 3 books of Ezra (Catholics consider them to be apocrypha), three books of the Maccabees (among Catholics - only two). This also includes passages that are added to some canonical books (for example, chapters 13 and 14 of Daniel). New Testament contains 27 booksThe church tradition also divides into groups:
- To legislative equated four Gospel (from Greek. - Good News) - from Matei (Matthew), from Mark, from Luke, from John (John). The first three Gospels, which are similar in content, are called synoptic; The Gospel of John is very different from them both in content and in character.
- Historical considered a book Acts of the Apostles.
- Study books consist of 14 epistles of the apostle Paul and 7 epistles of other apostles.
- Finally, prophetic book New Testament is Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse).
Thus, into the canonical bible, i.e. the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, are included 66 books (39 + 27) - such a composition is recognized by Protestants; and part of the complete bible ‒ 77 books (50 + 27) among the Orthodox and 74 (47 + 27) among the Catholics, with a distribution into canonical and by no means canonical (deuterocanonical) books.
References:
1. Religion: knowledge for students of major mortgages / [G. Є. Alyaev, O.V. Gorban, V.M. Mковshkov and іn .; for zag. ed. prof. G. Є. Alyaeva]. - Poltava: TOV "ASMI", 2012. - 228 p.
Asks DianaAnswered by Igor, 09/14/2008
Thousands of people answered this question, a lot has been written about the Bible, including on our website. The specificity of any language is such that a person answers the question “what is” very often, putting a subjective meaning into the answer that is “passed through” through the prism of his culture, experience and understanding of the truth.
Bible: (from Greek biblia - books) The Holy Scripture, the revelation of the word of God, set forth in writing, is a holy book for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, however it is canonized only in the first two named. Books of Scripture were written by forty-two different authors, led by the Holy Spirit, at various times for more than twelve centuries (books of the Old Testament - from the 15th century to the 4th century BC, books of the New Testament - in the 1st century AD) . In the Old Testament, those sources are mentioned from which factual and historical information was drawn.
The collection of canonical books of the Bible was approved only by the 4th century, when many apocryphal books were finally rejected as uninspired (although some of them are included in the Bible adopted by the Catholic and Orthodox churches). By this time, Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, partially reworking its text. This translation he verified is called the Vulgate.
The Old Testament consists of 39 books, which in their modern arrangement (the Jewish canon had a different composition) are the following sections:
The law is the main part of the Old Testament (Gen - Tue),
historical books (Nav - Esf),
teaching books (Job - Songs),
prophetic books (Isa. Mal).
The New Testament consists of 27 books and they can be divided into similar sections:
The Gospels are a major part of the New Testament (Matt. John),
historical book (Acts),
teaching books (James - Heb),
prophetic book (From).
At first, the texts of all the books were solid. Their modern division was made: into chapters - in 1205 by Cardinal Stefan Langton and finished in 1240 by the Dominican Gug de Saint-Chire, and into verses - in 1551-1555 by the Paris publisher Robert Stefan (based on the division undertaken by the Jews as early as the 9th century.).
Separately, it is worth mentioning about the Apocrypha, manuscripts that were not included in the canonical Bible. Jewish lawmakers since the 4th century BC e., and the Fathers of the Church in the II-IV centuries. n e., selected books in the "Word of God" from a considerable number of manuscripts, writings, and monuments. Not included in the selected canon remained outside the Bible and compiles apocryphal literature (from the Greek apokriphos - hidden), accompanying the Old and New Testaments.
This is the answer based on a small analysis of various sources.
Respectfully,
Igor
Read more about the Bible. About the Book of Books:
| Mar 28 | God told everyone to study the Scriptures - the Old Testament? (Julia) Good afternoon, Julia! Answering your question: “Good day. In John 5:39, Jesus recommends that you study the Scriptures in order to have Eternal Life for those who DO NOT WANT to come to God in order to have Life and DO NOT HAVE in yourself love of God those ... | Feb 03 | My daughters and I recently began to read the Bible, and the first question that she had? .. (Almira) Hello Almira! Answering your question: "Hello. My daughters and I recently began to read the Bible, and the first question that arose her, later with me, from where Cain’s wife came from chapter 4 verse 17 And Cain knew his wife .... After all, Ada ... |
Virtually any person who is not even religious has heard the word “Bible.” In reality, however, few can give a clear answer to the question of whether what is the bible. Someone considers it a special book of Christians, someone - the basis of all Abrahamic religions, someone - a collection of parables, and for someone it can be of purely historical interest. There are many options for designating the Bible, but the most unbiased and understandable for a simple layman will be the analysis of several interpretations.
The Bible: Revealing the Concept
The Bible (βιβλίον in Greek "book") is a collection of certain texts that are sacred to Christians and Jews. Moreover, the word "Bible" is not mentioned in the texts - it is a collective concept - and was first used in the fourth century by Archbishop Zlatoust and the father of the church, Epiphanius of Cyprus. Presumably, these two religious leaders called the Bible (holy book) the Bible that is familiar to us now.
In the context of religious literature, the Bible is recognized and used as a sacred text in all Christian faiths (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism, etc.) and in Judaism. The part of the Bible that is called the Tanach or the Jewish Bible is recognized by the Jews. It includes chapters such as the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Scriptures. We also find these sections among Christians, where the Tanakh chapters are included in the Old Testament.
The word "biblia", used more often as a designation of sacred texts, can be used without any connection with religion. In this case, the particular importance of the document in a particular context is emphasized. For example, the musician’s bible is called a textbook on musical harmony, and the artist’s bible is called a textbook on light and shadow. Thus, the concept of the Bible means important texts, a handbook, even if it is used in a figurative meaning.
What is included in the Bible?
Each denomination has its own specific set of canonical textsthat are part of the Bible. Exactly 66 texts are the canon for all official Christian denominations and movements. The biblical canon is unchanged in its composition and serves not only as the approved primary source in the study of religion, but also represents those books that are inspired or created by God, according to representatives of Christian denominations and churches.
For example, Protestantism recognizes only these 66 books. In Catholicism, 73 books of the Bible translated into Latin are considered reliable, and in Orthodoxy - 77, where the main biblical canon is supplemented by deuterocanonical books. Plus, each denomination has its own order in the presentation of texts. The order of presentation of the texts of the Bible among Catholics differs from the order of the Orthodox.
Old Testament
The Old Testament, which includes the Tanach, the very first part of the Bible in its creation, opens the composition of the Bible. Jews traditionally have 22 or 24 texts marked with the letters of the Hebrew or Greek alphabet. The Tanakh itself has 39 books, which include the Law, Prophets, and Scriptures. Each section is divided into even smaller sections and all of them are recognized by the canons in Christianity.
Christian denominations add several more texts to the Tanakh. The basis for the canonical Old Testament was the Septuagint - the texts of the Old Testament translated into Greek. For Catholicism, 46 texts are canonical, and Orthodoxy adds to the existing 39 another eleven non-canonical ones. No matter how the order of the Old Testament texts is changed and whatever is added to them, the Jewish canon is recognized by all faiths and is unchanged.
The texts of the Old Testament introduce the reader to the creation of the world, the fall, stories about Adam and Eve, as well as about the first prophets and the fate of the Jewish people. Many of us have heard of Moses or Abraham. The Old Testament includes many descriptions of the traditions of the Jewish people, a chronicle of his fate from the point of view of religion. It is in the Old Testament that we are introduced to the commandments not to kill or deceive. The basics of the Christian faith, which will subsequently be modified in the New Testament, originate from the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.
New Testament
Along with the Old Testament, in Christianity the New Testament is the same sacred collection of books. According to the canon, it includes 27 books: the Gospels, the Epistles of the Apostles and the Apocalypse of St. John the Evangelist. The New Testament has a special historical continuity, which can be traced in four revelations from different authors: Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. Also included in the New Testament are the writings of Peter, James, Paul, and Judah.
For the New Testament there is its own order of presentation of texts, different between faiths. It should be noted that one of the most important texts of the Bible - the Apocalypse - is not recognized by the Jews, while for the Christian faith it is fundamental.
In general, the New Testament tells the reader about the immaculate conception and birth of Christ, and after - his biography. Christ, who is the son of God from the Old Testament, preaches the world, tests his faith. The New Testament talks about how to pray properly, about the temptation of Christ by the Devil, about his disciples and the betrayal of Judah. After the execution of Christ, the Bible tells of his Resurrection. From here, we may be familiar with stories about the transformation of water into wine, about miraculous healings, walking on water and more.
The Apocalypse - the latest New Testament text - describes the Last Judgment, the struggle of God with evil or the Beast, as well as the second coming of Christ, which will be accompanied not only by miracles and appearances of angels, but also by terrible cataclysms. Revelation is a summary of everything that was described in the Bible, while the images used in the Apocalypse are equally borrowed from earlier parts. This testifies to the establishment of a connection and continuity between the two data of the collection of sacred texts, as if connected in one canon by general Revelation.
Not all people can answer the question: what is the Bible, although this is the most famous and widespread book on the planet. For some, this is a spiritual guideline, for others it’s a story that describes several thousand years of the existence and development of mankind.
This article provides answers to frequently asked questions: who invented the Holy Scripture, how many books are in the Bible, how old is it, where did it come from, and in the end a link to the text itself will be given.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is a collection of essays compiled by various authors. Scripture is written in various literary styles, and the interpretation comes from these styles. The purpose of the Bible is to convey the words of the Lord to people.
The main topics are:
- creation of the world and man;
- the fall and expulsion of people from paradise;
- life and faith of ancient Jewish peoples;
- the coming of the Messiah to the earth;
- life and suffering of the Son of God Jesus Christ.
Who wrote the bible
The word of God is written by different people and in different time. Its creation was carried out by holy people close to God - apostles and prophets.
Through their hands and minds, the Holy Spirit brought to people the truth and truth of God.
How many books are in the Bible
The structure of the Holy Scripture of the Russian Orthodox Church includes 77 books. The Old Testament is based on 39 canonical writings and 11 non-canonical ones.
The Word of God, written after the Nativity of Christ, contains 27 holy books.
What language is the Bible written in?
The first chapters were written in the language of the ancient Jews - Hebrew. Texts compiled during the life of Jesus Christ were written in Aramaic.
The next few centuries, the Word of God was written in Greek. Translation into Greek from Aramaic involved seventy interpreters. Ministers of the Orthodox Church use texts translated by interpreters.
The first Slavic Holy Scripture was translated from Greek and is the first book appeared in Russia. The translation of the holy collections was entrusted to the brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Under the reign of Alexander I, Bible texts were translated from Slavic into Russian. Then the Synodal Translation appeared, which is also popular in the modern Russian Church.
Why is this the holy book of Christians
The Bible is not just a holy book. This is a handwritten source of human spirituality. From the pages of Scripture, people draw the wisdom sent by God. The Word of God is a guide for Christians in their worldly life.
Through Bible texts, the Lord communicates with people. Helps to find answers to the most difficult questions. Books of Scripture reveal the meaning of being, the secrets of the origin of the world and determining the place of man in this world.
Reading the Word of God, a person learns himself and his actions. It is getting closer to God.
The Gospel and the Bible - What is the Difference
Scripture is a collection of books divided into the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament describes the time from the moment of creation to the coming of Jesus Christ.
The gospel is part of Bible texts. Included in the New Testament portion of Scripture. In the Gospel, the description begins from the birth of the Savior to the Revelation that he gave to his apostles.
The gospel consists of several works written by different authors, and tells the story of the life of Jesus Christ and His work.
What are the parts of the Bible
Bible texts are divided into canonical and noncanonical parts. Non-canonical ones include those that appeared after the creation of the New Testament.
The structure of the canonical part of Scripture includes:
- legislative: Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus;
- historical content: those that describe the events of holy history;
- poetic content: Psalter, Proverbs, Songs, Ecclesiastes, Job;
- prophetic: the writings of great prophets and small.
Non-canonical texts are also divided into prophetic, historical, poetic and legislative.
Orthodox Bible in Russian - text of the Old and New Testament
Reading Bible texts begins with the desire to know God's Word. Priests advise lay people to begin reading from the pages of the New Testament. After reading the New Testament books, a person will be able to understand the essence of the events described in the Old Testament.
To understand the meaning of what is written, you must have at hand the works that give a transcript of the Holy Scriptures. An experienced priest or confessor can answer your questions.
The word of God can provide answers to many questions. Studying Bible texts is an important part of every Christian’s life. Through them, people learn the grace of the Lord, become better and spiritually approach God.