He biblical texts were produced over a period in which the living conditions of the writers – political, cultural, economic, and ecological – varied enormously. The Bible was written and compiled by many people, most of whom are unknown, from a variety of disparate cultures. Current indications are that the ancient writing–reading process was supplemented by memorization and oral performance in community. Scholars are just beginning to explore 'the interface between writing, performance, memorization, and the aural dimension' of the texts. The oldest books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation. The Bible is not a single book it is a collection of books whose complex development is not completely understood. bibliae) in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. It gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun ( biblia, gen.

Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra 'holy book'. Latin biblia sacra 'holy books' translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ( tà biblía tà hágia, 'the holy books'). Bruce notes that John Chrysostom appears to be the first writer (in his Homilies on Matthew, delivered between 386 and 388) to use the Greek phrase ta biblia ('the books') to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The Greek ta biblia ('the books') was 'an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books'. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, 'Egyptian papyrus', possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos (also known as Gebal) from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece. The word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of ' scroll' and came to be used as the ordinary word for 'book'. The English word Bible is derived from Koinē Greek: τὰ βιβλία, romanized: ta biblia, meaning 'the books' (singular βιβλίον, biblion). The term 'Bible' can refer to the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Bible, which contains both the Old and New Testaments.

7 Archaeological and historical research.

The Bible is currently translated or being translated into about half of the world's languages. The study of it through biblical criticism has indirectly impacted culture and history as well. It has had a profound influence both on Western culture and history and on cultures around the globe. With estimated total sales of over five billion copies, the Bible is the best-selling publication of all time. The gospels, Pauline epistles and other texts quickly coalesced into the New Testament. The early Church continued the Jewish tradition of writing and incorporating what it saw as inspired, authoritative religious books. The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh from the third and second centuries BCE (Before Common Era) it largely overlaps with the Hebrew Bible.Ĭhristianity began as an outgrowth of Judaism, using the Septuagint as the basis of the Old Testament. The Masoretic Text is the medieval version of the Tanakh, in Hebrew and Aramaic, that is considered the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible by modern Rabbinic Judaism. Tanakh is an alternate term for the Hebrew Bible composed of the first letters of those three parts of the Hebrew scriptures: the Torah ('Teaching'), the Nevi'im ('Prophets'), and the Ketuvim ('Writings'). It is called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch in Greek (meaning five books in Greek) the second oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im) the third collection (the Ketuvim) contains psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, while understanding what that means and interpreting the text in differing, various ways.

The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, among other genres. The Bible is an anthology-a compilation of texts of a variety of forms- originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions.

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