The History Of The English Bible
One way to think about the history of the English Bible is to consider prominent movements and individuals who led to putting the Bible in the hands of the people. The history of the English Bible begins in, where else England. Dr. John Wycliffe was the priest at Saint Marys at Oxford. The very epitome of a pastor-scholar, Wycliffe not only wanted the Bible translated into the vernacular of the people he served but desired to see the Word of God preached in English throughout the Realm. So, Wycliffe published dozens of copies of the Bible in English. These Bibles were taken by his band of preachers, called Lollards, and they exposited the truths of the Word of God. This was the beginning of the English Reformation and was the precursor to John Hus and, then, Martin Luther.
The story of how the Bible was written cannot be recalled without the most important fact of all: why the Bible was written. As always, the Word of God attests to its own purpose:
But these things are written that ye might believe, that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that in believing ye might have life through his Name. .
Who Died Next To Jesus
Christian tradition holds that Gestas was on the cross to the left of Jesus and Dismas was on the cross to the right of Jesus. In Jacobus de Voragines Golden Legend, the name of the impenitent thief is given as Gesmas. The impenitent thief is sometimes referred to as the bad thief in contrast to the good thief.
Who Was Jesus Did He Really Exist
Most scholars agree that Jesus, a first-century religious leader and preacher, existed historically. He was born in c4 BC and died reportedly crucified on the orders of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate in cAD 3033. Then, for around 40 years, news of his teachings was spread by word of mouth until, from around AD 70, four written accounts of his life emerged that changed everything.
The gospels, or good news, of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are critically important to the Christian faith. It is their descriptions of the life of Jesus Christ that have made him arguably the most influential figure in human history.
We cant be sure when the gospels were written, says Barton, and we know little about the authors. But the guess is that Mark came first, in the 70s, followed by Matthew and Luke in the 80s and 90s, and John in the 90s or early in the second century.
In general, Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the same story with variations, and hence are called the synoptic gospels, whereas John has a very different style, as well as telling a markedly different version of the story of Jesus. Matthew and Luke seem to be attempts to improve on Mark, by adding more stories and sayings from sources now lost. John is a different conceptualisation of the story of Jesus, portraying a more obviously divine figure.
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What Are The Apocrypha And Pseudepigrapha
The word “apocrypha” comes from the Greek for “hidden” or “secret.” It’s a little confusing, because the word apocrypha is used in a couple of different ways when talking about books outside of the standard biblical canon.
First, there’s the category of “New Testament Apocrypha” which includes a long list of non-canonical texts written mostly in the second century C.E. and beyond that pertain to Jesus and his apostles. As Combs says, there are hundreds of these texts and we don’t have written specimens for all of them.
Then there’s a subset of Old Testament books that are included in the Roman Catholic Bible. These seven books, including Tobit, Judith and 1 & 2 Maccabees, are published between the Old and New Testaments in the Catholic Bible and called “the Apocrypha” or sometimes the “Deuterocanon” which means “second canon.”
And then there’s a third category called “pseudepigrapha” from the Greek for “false author.” This list includes more than 50 texts written between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. by both Jewish and Christian writers expanding on stories and characters from the Old Testament. Notable Old Testament pseudepigrapha include 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the Treatise of Shem.
Who Wrote The Bible And When
According to both Jewish and Christian Dogma, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy were all written by Moses in about 1,300 B.C. There are a few issues with this, however, such as the lack of evidence that Moses ever existed
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Chronological Index Of The Years And Times From Adam Unto Christ
The following chronology is from the first edition of the King James version of the Bible printed by Philadelphia printer Matthew Carey in 1801. The Chronology given largely follows that of Rev. James Usshers Annals of the World, first published in 1658. Usshers chronology divided the worlds history into six ages, from creation to the fall of Jerusalem. Careys Bible has a heading noting the First Age, but, there are no headings for ensuing ages. From clearly marks the beginning of each age, however.
Proved by the Scriptures, from the Collection of divers Authors.
The sum of the years of the First Age.
From Adam unto Noahs flood are years 1656.For when Adam was 150 years old he begat Seth.Seth being 105 years, begat Enos.Enos, being 90 years, begat Cainan.Cainan, being 70 years, begat Mahaleel.Mahaleel, being 65 years, begat Jared.Jared, at the age of 162, begat Enoch.Enoch, being 65 years, begat Methuselah.Methuselah, at the age of 187, begat Lamech.Lamech, being 182 years, begat Noah.Noah, at the coming of the flood, was 600 years old, as appeareth in the 7th chap. of Genesis.
The whole sum of the years are 1656.
These accounted, are 422 years and ten days.
So this chronology is the 430 years mentioned in the 12th chap. of Exodus and the 3d chap. to the Galatians.
Timeline Of Old Testament Prophets
As you may have noticed, the Prophets are not shown on the first chart. This is because all of the prophets were writing in a much smaller period, between around 800BC to 415BC.
The next chart zooms in, and shows the approximate times in which they wrote their books, relative to the kings ruling in their respective nations.
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When Was The Old Testament Compiled
The story of how the Old Testament books of the Bible is a saga of Gods faithfulness. The Old Testament books were collected and compiled is an epic narrative worthy of its own book . While some rabbis point to a general assembly of religious leaders that recognized the books of the Bible, this did not happen until well after the people of God were already using the Scriptures in worship. Therefore, just as in the development of the New Testament, the Old Testament books of the Bible were recognized by the people of God as the Word of God. Indeed, the development of the Old Testament seems to have taken place according to turning points in Israels history. This would include the Exodus, the taking of Canaan, the appearance of the monarchy in Israel with Saul and then David, the fall of Jerusalem and the exile in Babylon. And, finally, the restoration of the Israelite people to Jerusalem and the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. Zondervan Academic has an excellent summary in their article How Did We Get the Old Testament?
And Don Stewart with BlueLetterBible.org explains,
The Bible In Chronological Order
Home » Content » Timelines » The Bible in Chronological Order
The Bible has been a source of faith and hope for a lot of people, inspiring millions around the globe for centuries. But did you know that must of the books/chapters of the Bible are not in historical order? Thats what were trying to examine, the chronological order of the chapters in the Bible.
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Who Wrote The Bible
Until the 17th century, received opinion had it that the first five books of the Bible Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were the work of one author: Moses. That theory has since been seriously challenged.
Scholars now believe that the stories that would become the Bible were disseminated by word of mouth across the centuries, in the form of oral tales and poetry perhaps as a means of forging a collective identity among the tribes of Israel. Eventually, these stories were collated and written down. The question is by whom, and when?
A clue may lie in a limestone boulder discovered embedded in a stone wall in the town of Tel Zayit, 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem, in 2005. The boulder, now known as the Zayit Stone, contains what many historians believe to be the earliest full Hebrew alphabet ever discovered, dating to around 1000 BC. What was found was not a random scratching of two or three letters, it was the full alphabet, Kyle McCarter of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland has said of the stone. Everything about it says this is the ancestor of the Hebrew script.
Ask the expert: John Barton
John Barton is a former professor of holy scriptures at the University of Oxford and the author of A History of the Bible: The Books and Its Faiths.
Q:Just how reliable is the Old Testament as an historical document?
Q:How much does archaeology support the historicity of the Old Testament?
Did King James Change The Bible
In 1604, Englands King James I authorized a new translation of the Bible aimed at settling some thorny religious differences in his kingdomand solidifying his own power. But in seeking to prove his own supremacy, King James ended up democratizing the Bible instead. King James I of England, 1621.
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How Did Christianity Spread Around The World
The Epistles, or letters, written by Paul the Apostle to churches dotted across the Mediterranean world which are our best source for the initial spread of Christianity confirm that Christianity started in Jerusalem, but spread rapidly to Syria and then to the rest of the Mediterranean world, and was mostly accepted by non-Jews, says John Barton, former professor of the interpretation of holy scriptures at the University of Oxford.
The epistles are our earliest evidence for Christianity, says Barton. The first date from the AD 50s, just two decades after the death of Jesus.
As Pauls letters to churches such as the one in the Greek city of Thessalonica reveal, the first Christian communities were often persecuted for their beliefs.
And its such persecution, particularly at the hands of the Romans, that may have inspired the last book of the New Testament, Revelations. With its dark descriptions of a seven-headed beast and allusions to an imminent apocalypse, Revelations is now widely believed to be a foretelling of the grisly fate that the author believed awaited the Roman oppressors of Christianity.
Versions of the Bible
Different editions of the Bible have appeared over the centuries, aiming to further popularise the stories and teachings within. Here are three of the most notable versions
King James Bible
What About The Original Language
Again, the beauty of the Bible is how God reaches men and women, boys and girls, by coming to us in our own language. The Old Testament was written in ancient Hebrew. Parts of the Old Testament were written in an imperial Aramaic . The fact that the Bible was written to a People, in a place, amidst their trials and joys, their living and dying, demonstrates the astounding relevance, relation, and reliability of Gods Word. This is no fable. This is not yarn. This is God with us.
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How We Got Our Bible: Christian History Timeline
c. 1400400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written
c. 250200 B.C. The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced
A.D. 4585? Books of the Greek New Testament written
90 and 118 Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon
140-150 Marcions heretical New Testament incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT canon
303-306 Diocletians persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament Scriptures
c. 305-310 Lucian of Antiochs Greek New Testament text becomes a foundation for later Bibles
367 Athanasiuss Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon for the first time
397 Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon
c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin this Vulgate becomes standard of medieval church
English Versions From Latin
c. 650 Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse
c. 735> Historian Bede translates the Gospels
871-899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments
950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation
955-1020 Aelfric translates various Bible books
c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying
c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse
1380-1382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English
1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible
1455 Gutenbergs Latin Biblefirst from press
English Versions From Greek
How Is The Bible In Chronological Order
This timeline puts all of the chapters in the Bible in chronological order. The Bible only loosely arranges its books in chronological order. It comes mostly arranged thematically. For example, the Old Testament lists the 5 books of Moses first, then the history of the Israelites, then the teachings of Israelite prophets. This is one of the few timelines that isnt based on a sci-fi/fantasy franchise. Instead, this is made up entirely of ancient text. Therefore, you will see a few difference.
If you liked this timeline, dont forget to view some of our others, especially the Bible and Book of Mormon Scripture timeline that adds the Book of Mormon and other scripture to this timeline, such as the Book of Mormon. You can find free text of the Bible here. Additionally, you can listen to a daily podcast with one new chapter of the narrated bible in our Chronological Bible Daily podcast.
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When Was The Old Testament Written
The Old Testament scriptures were composed and compiled across time. By this, we mean to say that there were not certain dates to locate. Rather, the ancient Church, believers in the Old Testament era, recognized the impression of the Holy Spirit on the text. The believers, like in the New Testament, gathered those documents either because of the author or because the text demonstrated unity, historicity, reliability, and impression was in concert with the other parts of the Word of God. Bodie Hodge and Dr. Terry Mortenson state this about the Pentateuch in their Answers in Genesis article Did Moses Write Genesis?:
“There is abundant biblical and extra-biblical evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch during the wilderness wanderings after the Jews left their slavery in Egypt and before they entered the Promised Land .”
Bible Translation And Bible Versions Timeline
Bible Translation and Bible Versions Timeline is something a christian must know.
Many Bible versions have written this in their first pages as the Preface but some have twisted it to campaign for the use and authorization of their Bible version.
I am not going to give you Bible Translation and Bible Versions Timeline as found in your Bible preface but a clear and summarized view.
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Christian History Timeline: How We Got Our Bible
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
c. 1400400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written
c. 250200 B.C. The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced
A.D. 4585? Books of the Greek New Testament written
90 and 118 Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon
140150 Marcions heretical New Testament incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT canon
303306 Diocletians persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament Scriptures
c. 305310 Lucian of Antiochs Greek New Testament text becomes a foundation for later Bibles
367 Athanasiuss Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon for the first time
397 Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon
c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin this Vulgate becomes standard of medieval church
ENGLISH VERSIONS FROM LATIN
c. 650 Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse
c. 735 > Historian Bede translates the Gospels
871899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments
950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation
9551020 Aelfric translates various Bible books
c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying
c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse
13801382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English
1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible
1455 Gutenbergs Latin Biblefirst from press
ENGLISH VERSIONS FROM GREEK
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English Bible Versions Translation
This is how it was:
- John Wycliffe
In 1378 1388 AD, a English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe and Oxford associates undertake the first translation of the Bible into English. The first complete English Bible from them appeared in manuscript in 1382 AD. John Wycliffe was later deemed heretic by the Catholic Church and killed.
- William Tyndale
In 1525 AD, a English reformer William Tyndale translated the New Testament from the Greek text, copies of which were printed in Germany and smuggled into England.
Tyndales translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew text was only partly completed because he was publicly executed and burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Empire.
- King James Version
In 1611 AD James I of England commissioned a revision of the English Bible, The King James Version, as it is called, was completed in 1611 AD. It is a continuation of the partly complete Tyndales work of translation.
Realize that the Roman Empire was in power in the days of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. They were against them and their work hence they persecuted them.
Therefore the Roman Empire entered to translate the bible to fit into catholic doctrines and teachings. This how the Roman Empire did:
- Douay or Douay Rheimsh Bible
In 1582-1609 AD, the Douay or Douay Rheimsh Bible was completed and it was commonly used by the Roman Catholics in English-speaking nations.
- The New American Bible