In The Beginning...

The History of the Bible

By David R. Schneider

 (c) 2002, 2003

www.DrChinese.com  

Abstract:

The history of the Bible is presented: who wrote it, when it was written, what languages it was written in, and how it was compiled and passed through the ages to the present day.  The views given here follow mainstream scholarly opinion, summarized for the lay reader and presented in a fashion that is easy to read.  The results are certain to be of interest to anyone desiring to learn more about the creation of the Bible.  Approx. 55 printed pages.

This is not a religious analysis of Biblical content, and is not intended to follow any particular denomination’s theology.  As such, it would be of interest to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and anyone else who has ever wondered how the Bible came into being.

The introduction is presented below.  You may click on the links in the Table of Contents to see sections of the paper in HTML (web page) format.  

Table of Contents

1.      Introduction

An understanding of the stories of the Bible is almost presupposed in many modern societies, including the United States and Europe.  The influence it has had on the development of Western thought is undeniable.  The shear volume of references to the Bible has led me to wonder: How did it come into being?  Who wrote it?  Why was it written?  When was it written?  Why do different people – even those with the same religious affiliation – read different messages from the Bible?  How can so important a book be ambiguous?

Few of my friends and acquaintances seem to have any idea of the sources of the written Bible.  Whether they are Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant, most simply believe that the Bible represents the word of God as delivered to man.  Their underlying assumptions are that the Bible is immutable, infallible and its message not to be questioned.  The Bible has always been and always will be.  Its inspiration is divine; its wisdom is timeless.  Perhaps it is not meant to be fully understood by man.

Yet, there is a fascinating history here that goes so much deeper.  As I studied the creation of the collection of writings we know as the Bible, I uncovered many interesting stories and unexpected twists.  And I learned that the Bible, as we know it, is very definitely the word of man.

The Bible as the word of man?  Is this not heresy incarnate?  Far from it!  In fact, Biblical scholars of all religions acknowledge the story I am about to tell you.  While there is some disagreement on the particulars, everything you are about to read is mainstream analysis.  Many Bibles include much of what you will read here either as preface or introduction (try looking, you’ll be surprised).

Because of the religious nature of the material included in the Bible, most people tend to focus on the message rather that how that message came into being.  Religious authorities may debate the meaning of the words of the Bible, and find different ways to read identical passages.  Yet their common underlying assumption is that those words are a direct reflection of God’s instructions to mankind.  Further, the assumption is that these words have reached us through a pristine, immaculate journey across thousands of years.   But it is the journey which is documented here; the meaning of the passages themselves – whether literal or symbolic –is left to the reader of the Bible. 

In fact, the Bible has been affected by decisions of many different individuals throughout the past 3000 years.  These individuals were perhaps influenced by the hand of God: this is certainly an opinion held by many.  Still, the significance of man’s role in the development of the Bible cannot be understated.  This will become clear as we cover the many influences that are present.  These influences affect the actual words we read today, and go a long way towards explaining the ambiguous nature of Biblical passages.

When I refer to the Bible, I should clarify that I am referring to several different collections of works that are referred to as the Bible.  The Bible is not so much a single book as it is a collection of short books.  For my purposes here, I will frequently refer to the following Bibles generally:

·        The Jewish Bible: This is the Old Testament.  Also called the Tanakh (pronounced ‘ta-nock’).

·        The Catholic Bible: This is the Old Testament and the New Testament.  However the Jewish Bible and the Catholic Bible have differences between the number and order of the Old Testament books.  The Catholic Bible includes books not considered canon by Jews.

·        The Protestant Bible: This consists of the Jewish Old Testament and the Catholic New Testament, although the order of the books of the Old Testament is somewhat different from the Jewish Bible.

And there are more, specific translated derivations...

·        The Septuagint: The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew.

·        The Vulgate (pronounced ‘vul-ga-tay’): The Latin translation of the Old and New Testament from ancient Hebrew and Greek sources.

·        The Kings James Version: The English translation of the Vulgate.

·        The Revised Standard Version: Revised English translation, based on the King James Version.

·        The New American Bible: English translation of the Bible commissioned by Pope Pius XII and completed in 1970, based on the Catholic books of the Bible (translated from the original languages or the oldest extent form of the text).

How many different Bibles are there?  Which ones are wrong?  Can’t we just go back to the original, and skip the others?

As we will see, there is no such thing as the original of the Bible in existence.  There is not even a single original of any portion of the Bible!  All that exist are copies, and frequently the copies are not in the original tongue of the original author.  (When you read a Bible in English, you are reading a book that has been translated from language to language, and there is substantial disagreement about important points in the process amongst scholars.)

In this article, I will cover the derivation of the key pieces of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  I will also discuss very briefly the creation of the Talmudic writings essential to modern Judaism.  The essential elements of the evolution of religious thought will be touched upon, as will the greater historical elements relevant to authors of the books of the Bible.  Generally, it should become clear that the Bible is not a static document; rather it is one that has changed over time – albeit slowly – and that such change continues through the present time.

This article is not intended to convert you from one viewpoint to another.  Rather, it is hoped that it will help you better understand a book that has had a great influence on our society.  During each section of this article, I will try to augment your knowledge of the evolution of the Bible with basic background historical information, as well as highlights in the evolution of religious thought during the period.  In some places, references will be made to book/chapter/verse rather than quoting from the Bible verbatim.  We will now move through time in sequential order.  The result should be a thorough overview of the subject matter.

(c) David R. Schneider.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.