Bible

Bible

The Nature of Scripture

The sacred writings of the religions of the world exhibit a variety of genres—prayers, visions, ritual, moral codes, myths, historical narratives, legends, and revelatory discourses. Such works have tended to be transmitted orally at first and committed to writing at a later date. This is true of much of the content of the Christian Bible as well as of the Hindu Vedas and the Jewish Mishnah.

The sacred character of such writings is accorded them by communities that have come to value the traditions they embody. Scripture is also perceived in some sense as heavenly in origin—the Qur'an and the Book of Mormon are good examples of this. Religious communities value highly those who interpret their scriptures at both the scholarly and popular levels. Translation of scripture into the vernacular, though resisted in some religious traditions, is a common phenomenon. However, the original Arabic of the Qur'an is regarded as the actual words of God, and therefore as sacrosanct, and is printed alongside its translation. Translations can assume the status of inspired text, as did the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures (the Septuagint) in Hellenistic Jewish and Christian communities. The process of canonizing scripture has been an extended one in many religious traditions, e.g., the Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist faiths. Other traditions authorized their respective bodies of scripture early, e.g., the Sikhs, Muslims, and Manichaeans. Inspiration is an adjunct of the idea of the divine authority of scripture.

The role of scripture in the life of the community involves its public recitation or reading at worship, its veneration as a cult object, and its citation in public prayer and in prescribing appropriate rituals. In the private devotional life of the faithful, scripture is the focus of meditation. The use of scripture to function as a charm to ward off evil or to induce healing is also common. Scripture is also the inspiration for cultural expression in art, music, and literature.

The Bible as Christian Scripture

English Translations of the Christian Bible

John Wyclif was one of the first to project the publication and distribution of the Bible in the vernacular among the English people, and two translations go by his name. In the 15th cent. the Lollards did much to extend the use of the Wyclifite translation. The next name in the history of the English Bible is that of William Tyndale, whose translation was not from the Latin Vulgate, like Wyclif's, but from the Hebrew and Greek. Its quality is attested by its use as a basis of the Authorized Version. Tyndale's New Testament (1525–26) was the first English translation to be printed. Contemporary with Tyndale was Miles Coverdale. The second version of Coverdale and the translation of Thomas Matthew closely followed Tyndale. In 1539 the English crown issued its first official version, in the name of Henry VIII. This, the Great Bible, was done principally by Coverdale. The Geneva Bible, or Breeches Bible, was a revision of the Great Bible, financed and annotated by the Calvinists of Geneva. The Bishops' Bible (1568) was a recasting of Tyndale.

The greatest of all English translations was the Authorized Version (AV), or King James Version (KJV), of 1611, made by a committee of churchmen led by Lancelot Andrewes and composed of many of the finest scholars in England. The beautiful English of this version has had great influence and is generally ranked in English literature with the work of Shakespeare. The phraseology of much of it is that of Tyndale. The Douay, or Rheims-Douay, Version was published by Roman Catholic scholars at Reims (New Testament, 1582) and Douai, France (Old Testament, 1610); it was extensively revised by Richard Challoner. In the 19th cent. the project of revising the Authorized Version from the original tongues was undertaken by the Church of England with the cooperation of nonconformist churches. The results of this revision were the English Revised Version and the American Revised Version (pub. 1880–90).

Many scholars, either cooperatively or independently, have translated the Bible into English. In other literatures, also, the translation of the Bible has had a formative effect on the literary language, notably in the case of Martin Luther's German translation. Occasionally translation of the Bible has been the first or the only notable work in a language, e.g., the translation by Ulfilas into Gothic.

In the 20th cent., American biblical scholars combined to produce the Revised Standard Version (RSV), published in 1952 and immediately adopted by many churches. A completely new translation, the work of a joint committee of representatives of all Protestant denominations in Great Britain, aided by Roman Catholic consultants, was begun in 1946. The New Testament was first published in 1961, and the entire Bible, called The New English Bible, appeared in 1970. New Roman Catholic translations were also undertaken, the Westminster Version in England, and a complete revision of the Rheims-Douay edition sponsored by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the United States. The latter, after undergoing several major revisions and retranslations, was finally published as the New American Bible (1970). In addition, an English translation of the French Catholic Bible de Jerusalem (1961) appeared as the Jerusalem Bible (1966). A revision of the RSV was published in 1989 as the New Revised Standard Version.

Bibliography

See The Cambridge History of the Bible (3 vol., 1963–70); F. F. Bruce and E. G. Rupp, ed., Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition (1968); F. M. Denny and R. L. Taylor, The Holy Bible in Comparative Perspective (1985); H. M. Orlinsky and R. M. Bratcher, A History of Bible Translation and the North American Contribution (1991); J. Miles, God: A Biography (1995); J. L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (1997); R. E. Friedman, The Hidden Book of the Bible (1998); C. Murphy, The Word According to Eve (1998); D. H. Akensen, Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds (1999); A. Nicolson, God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible (2003); B. Chilton et al., ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (2007); H. Hamlin and N. W. Jones, ed., The King James Bible after Four Hundred Years (2011).

Bible

The Bible is a library of books containing the scriptures of two religions. The Hebrew scriptures have been adopted by Christians and labeled the Old Testament. These thirty-nine books were written before the birth of Jesus. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are the product of the Christian movement following the birthday of the church on the day of Pentecost, sometime around 30-33 CE.

The names "Old" and "New" Testaments come from the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 8, which in turn quotes the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 31:

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant [testament] with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Then follows an editorial comment by the Christian author of Hebrews: "By calling this covenant `new,' he has made the first one obsolete."

Christianity was, at first, considered a reform movement of Judaism. All of its first converts were Jewish. But when the apostle Paul freed Gentile converts from the Jewish requirements of circumcision and kosher food restrictions, they began to think of themselves as the "new" Israel, related to Abraham not by blood but by spirit. The only scripture familiar to the new Church was the Hebrew Bible, and it was quoted freely in their writings, which, when brought together some three hundred years later, would be called the New Testament. (The process is explained under the entry on Apocrypha).

The Story of the Bible

The Bible, written by many authors over the course of more than one thousand years, tells a single story. The individual books are divided into chapters and verses for easy identification. Genesis 3:15-18, for instance, means that the passage quoted is from Genesis (the first book of the Bible), chapter three, verses fifteen through eighteen. With so many different translations and editions, identification by page number is simply not feasible. This refinement, however, was not found in the original manuscripts. It is the result of an editorial decision made in the Middle Ages.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis contain a prologue to the main story:

Chapters 1 and 2: Creation. Chapter 3: The Fall. Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden. Chapter 4: Cain murders Abel and goes forth to populate the earth. Chapters 5 through 9: As evil spreads throughout the earth, God destroys humankind with a great flood. Chapter 10: The Table of Nations. An explanation of how each human race descended from one of the three sons of Noah. Chapter 11: The Tower of Babel. An explanation of why different races speak different languages.

In chapter 12 the main story of the Bible begins. Abraham answers the call of God, who tells him to "leave your country, your people and your father's household to go to the land I will show you." By following this command to migrate to the land now called Israel, Abraham sets in motion the long story of his descendants that occupies the rest of the Bible. Genesis tells the story of how Isaac, his son, becomes the father of Jacob and Esau. Jacob's name is changed to Israel when he wrestles with an unknown antagonist all night. His sparring partner is finally revealed to be none other than God. Israel means "he struggles with God." Jacob, now called Israel, fathers twelve sons. Their descendants, known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel, are forever after called bene Yisrael, "children of Israel."

Their occupation of the land promised them by God, the Promised Land, is interrupted by a four-hundred-year captivity in Egypt (described in the book of Exodus). But under Moses they finally break free and begin their journey to the place they will forever call home (see Passover). If the Hebrew race began with Abraham, it can be said that the Jewish religion began with Moses. In the forty-year period of desert wandering following their escape from Egypt, the Hebrews were given the Law at Sinai and developed Tabernacle worship. The children of Israel became a unified people with a clear goal (detailed in Exodus through Deuteronomy). Their conquest of the Promised Land (Joshua through Ruth) began a long journey leading to great heights of glory under David and Solomon and great depths of despair in captivity in foreign lands (Samuel through Nehemiah; see Babylonian Captivity). Wisdom was acquired at a great price and expressed beautifully by many different writers (Job through Solomon's Song). The Hebrew prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) would time and again call upon the people to return to the path of God begun by their ancestors so many generations earlier.

The New Testament finds the Jews living in Israel, now called Palestine, under Roman rule. Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem. His story is told in four Gospels, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (see Gospel). His followers come to believe he is the Messiah anticipated by the Hebrew prophets, and they are soon called Christians. They proceed to spread his message throughout the Roman empire (described in the book of Acts). The first great Christian missionary, the apostle Paul, writes epistles, or letters, to the many churches he establishes (Romans through Philemon). Other letters written by different apostles (Hebrews through Revelation) follow these.

Taken together, Christians understand the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to tell the story of the human race. In the beginning, the first human parents are cast out of the Garden of Eden to keep them from the Tree of Life. Eating its fruit in their sinful state would have opened the doors to an eternity of evil. But that evil is addressed by God and paid for at Calvary (see Christ/Jesus of Nazareth). The way to the Tree of Life is opened once again. The final chapter of the Bible pictures the tree now standing in the New Jerusalem, "come down from heaven as a bride prepared for her bridegroom... and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse" (Revelation 22:2, 3).

Biblical Interpretation

What divides Bible scholars today is interpretation. How should the Bible be read? Who really wrote it? Is it a history textbook? Is it a book of ethics? What does it mean when Paul claims that "all Scripture is inspired by God" (2 Timothy 3:16)? Are Christians bound by the cultural patterns of the authors? If so, slavery and subjugation of women seem to be ordained by God, since both seem to have Paul's approval (Ephesians 6:5 and 1 Corinthians 14:34). And what about the stories of rape, murder, and incest committed by people who seem to have God's blessing? Are they in the same category as the texts that outline moral behavior?

Answers to these questions form the basis of a great divide in the Church today. How scholars approach the subject of biblical interpretation immediately labels them. Dr. Gabriel Fackre of Andover Newton Theological School has prepared the following chart to help explain basic Christian theological positions in regard to biblical interpretation:

The matter of scriptural interpretation continues to divide not only the Christian community, but Muslims and Jews as well. Whenever a holy book is read, assumptions have to be made. What was in the mind of the original author? Is the author even who he claims to be? Does the intention of the author determine our interpretation, or is the author being used by a Higher Power? Are secrets or even codes planted within scripture that are intended to remain hidden until the time arrives to which they apply? Are doctrines based on eternal truth or culturally conditioned behavior?

Bible

The original "wise woman" of Europe, the wicce, had to be the local doctor as well as magician, seer, spiritual leader, and arbitrator of all matters. As a doctor, she required a knowledge of all herbs and their uses including a knowledge of the antidotes for accidental poisonings by those unwary of what they ate. The early Witches' knowledge of poisons, with the early Witches, was the source of the incorrectly translated Bible passage (Exodus 22:18) "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," a passage that has been used as the first and final judgement on Witches for hundreds of years.

Sir Walter Scott pointed out that the original Hebrew word chasaph (or kaskagh) meant nothing more than "poisoner." "Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live" certainly makes better sense. But having a knowledge of poisons in order to be able to counteract them, is not the same as being a poisoner.

It was King James I, of England, who was responsible for the misconception. Due to his brush with the Berwick Witches, he had a phobia of what he perceived as witchcraft. This very much colored his authorized translation of the Bible. Translating from the Latin translation, he may have simply confused veneficus and maleficus—"poisoner" and "witch"—but it is far more likely that he consciously equated the two. But, as Scott pointed out, "supposing that the Hebrew witch proceeded only by charms, invocations, or such means as might be innoxious. . . the connexion between the conjurer and the demon must have been of a very different character, under the law of Moses, from that which was conceived, in latter days, to constitute witchcraft." He goes on to say that "There was no contract of subjection to a diabolic power, no infernal stamp or sign of such a fatal league, no revellings of Satan and his hags, and no infliction of disease or misfortune upon good men. At least there is no word in Scripture authorizing us to believe that such a system existed." He spent many pages examining the Bible and proved beyond doubt that the witch represented in the King James version bore no resemblance to any actual "witch" of biblical times. He summed up by saying that "It cannot be said that, in any part of that sacred volume, a text occurs indicating the existence of a system of witchcraft. . . in any respect similar to that against which the law-books of so many European nations have, till very lately, denounced punishment. . . . In the four Gospels, the word (`witch'), under any sense, does not occur."

The second most-often quoted "witch" of the Bible is the "Witch of Endor." Again, King James's hand is obvious. In I Samuel 28:3, the actual text says, "And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land." Verse 7 goes on to say, "Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor." But the headings that are appended to these two verses in the King James version are: "3: Saul, having destroyed the witches" and "7: Saul seeketh to a witch."

It becomes clear, as the text is read, that this woman is simply a spiritualist-type medium, one able to communicate with spirits of the dead. Nowhere is she further described, neither as being young nor old, yet later writers invariably refer to her as a "hag" and as living in a "hovel," although the Bible gives no description of her dwelling. She is so depicted in the illustration found in Joseph Glanvil's Saducismus Triumphatus (1681) and elsewhere.

Ronald Holmes mentions that the Welsh Bible, which first appeared in 1567, held few of the same misconceptions, probably because of the lack of suitable Welsh words. The Witch of Endor is presented there in the correct light, simply as a medium. Where it cannot be specific, the word gwrach was used for "witch," without the implications of devil's emissary.

The above biblical references were much used during the Witch persecutions in the Middle Ages. One of the tests given when a person was accused of witchcraft at that time was weighing them against the Bible. The village Bible was invariably a monstrous volume, usually donated by the local lord of the manor and weighing many pounds, far heavier than most people. If the accused outweighed the Bible— an unlikely event—she was innocent of the charges. However, if the Bible weighed more than the accused, it was a sign of guilt. But although some few accused did weigh more than the Bible, they then found themselves facing additional tests.

A new Bible translation was proposed at the Hampton Court conference in 1604. There had been several previous translations. There was the fourteenth century translation associated with John Wycliffe and presented in two versions. The New Testament of William Tyndale was published in 1525, translated directly from the Greek original. The Great Bible of 1539 was followed by the Bishop's Bible of

1568. But the translation proposed at the Hampton Court conference was to become the standard. It was the Authorized or King James version.

Despite many of the oft-quoted biblical admonitions against various forms of magic and divination. Corinthians 12:4-12 and 14:1, 3, 31, 32, and 39 recommend accepting and using the gifts given, including those of prophesy, speaking with tongues—"covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak in tongues"—working miracles, healing, and so on. And all pagans should revel in Job 12:7-8, which says, "But ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee."

Bible

The Christian Bible is full of references to psychic and Spiritualist activities, to materializations, healings, apparitions, and spirit contact of all kinds. In 1 Corinthians there are exhortations for all to use their gifts of prophecy and other spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 says, “For to one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another diverse kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” Also, 1 Corinthians 14:31 says: “For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.”

There are a number of references to materializations in the Bible: Genesis 3:8, 18:1, 32:24, Exodus 24:10, 24:11, Ezekiel 11:9, Daniel 5:5, Luke 24:15, 16, 29-31, John 20:12, 14, 19, 26. In John 20:19 the Bible says: “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples had assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” This verse is describing an event that was supposed to have taken place two days after the crucifixion, which was carried out on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath. This is described as being on “the first day of the week.” Jesus, early in the day, had appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden of the sepulcher where his body had been laid, and told her to tell his brethren that he had not yet ascended to the Father, whom he described as “my Father and your father.” When the disciples assembled in a room, with the door closed “for fear of the Jews,” then suddenly Jesus appeared standing in the middle of them. Apparently it was a solid materialization for he showed them his hands and his side, to verify that it really was him, thus proving that there is indeed life after death and that communication is possible.

Independent spirit writing is found in Exodus 24:12, 31:18, 32:16, 34:1, Deuteronomy 5:22, 9:10. Independent spirit voices are mentioned in Deuteronomy 9:12, 13, 1 Samuel 3:3, 3:9, Ezekiel 1:28, Matthew 17:5, John 12:28-30, Acts 9:4, 9:7, 11:7-9. There are examples of healings in both the Old and the New Testaments, in Numbers 21:8, 9, 1Kings 16:17, 16:24, 2 Kings 4:18, 4:37, 5:1, 5:14, Matthew 6:5, 6:13, 7:10, 7:13, Luke 5:47, 5:54, Luke 9:11, 14:2, 14:4, Mark 3:2, 3:5, John 4:47, 4:54, 1 Corinthians 12:9, 12:28, Acts 3:1, 3:8, 16:8, 16:10. Trance is encountered in Genesis 15:2, 15:17, Daniel 8:18, 10:9, Acts 9:3, 9:9, 22:17, 2 Corinthians 12:2. There is spirit communication through dreams found in Job 33:15, Genesis 28:12, 31:24, 37:5, 41, and dream interpretation in Genesis 40:1-23, Genesis 41:14-36, Judges 7:13-14.

Spiritualism does not accept the Christian Bible as the infallible word of God. Rather, it recognizes that it is the product of a number of different authors writing at different times with material slanted to their particular conditions and circumstances. Regardless of the inspiration that moved the various authors, there is always what today is known as the “hidden agenda”—the slant or “spin” that is the author’s individualism, promoting what he feels is important. Such writings cannot be relevant to all people at all times under all circumstances. Added to this is the confusion and inaccuracy that has grown from translations of translations together with a wide variety of interpretations and presentations, many of which were personally or politically motivated. Due to the numerous translations and the actions of the Council of Nicæa, a great deal of original meaning has been lost.

Spiritualism’s recognition of the Bible’s background is an important endorsement of Spiritualism’s search for the truth and its ongoing investigation, analysis, and classification of psychic facts and spiritual values. Spiritualism believes that everyone is free to interpret according to their own understanding. Spiritualism acknowledges the history, prophecy, and spiritual phenomena which are spread throughout the Bible.

Modern Spiritualism’s regard for the Bible was expressed by Moses Hull, who inspired the first Training School for Modern Spiritualism at Matua, Ohio, in July of 1897. He said the Bible is “one of the best of the sacred books of the ages,” yet he acknowledged that it is far from infallible. The Bible is the basis for the Hebrew religion—with the Old Testament—as well as the Christian one—in the New Testament—and much of its teachings may also be found in the Koran. While not living up to all that is sometimes said of it, the Bible is accepted by Spiritualists as a book of history written by many different authors.

Sources:

Bible

What does it mean when you dream about the Bible?

The meaning of a Bible in a dream often depends on one’s religious upbringing. Can indicate insight (revealed knowledge), “good news,” tradition, or even intolerance (“Bible thumpers”). The Bible is often used metaphorically to describe authoritative publications in other realms, as in the “bible of marketing” or the “back packer’s bible.”

Bible

Bible

bible