Verified Document

How We Got The Bible Essay

¶ … Bible: Canonical Developments Canonicity is a term used to describe the "sacred books distinguished and honored as belonging to God's inspired word" (Keathley, 2013). This particular term has, since the fourth century, been applied to the books of the Bible. Conservative Christians and Jews today recognize the 39 Old Testament books as inspired; the Roman Catholics, 88 (because of the semi-canonical apocrypha), and the Evangelical Protestants, the 27 New Testament books (Keathley, 2013). These were, however, not the only books written during the NT and OT periods. A number of questions, therefore, arise; what criterion was used in determining whether or not to include a book in the Bible? Why should Christians today trust these books as reliable, considering the massive changes the world has undergone since their inception? This text provides answers to these questions.

Historical Evidence of the Books that Make up Both the Old and New Testament Cannon (Bible)

The Old Testament: A number of historical writings and events give support to the canonicity of the Old Testament; i) Josephus (A.D 37-100) held that according to the Jews, only 22 books were sacred. These 22 sacred books incorporate the 39...

makes reference to a three-fold division of books, human conduct precepts, hymns, prophets and the law, which are significant OT constructs (Keathley, 2013).
The New Testament: i) Clement of Rome (A.D. 95), Ignatius of Antioch (A.D. 115), and Polycarp - John's disciple (A.D. 108), wrote letters in which they made reference to eight, seven and fifteen books of the New Testament respectively (Keathley, 2013); ii) the Muratorian Canon recognized the canonicity of the 27 books, with the exception of one of John's epistles, James and Hebrews (Keathley, 2013). Athanasius and the council of Laodicea later affirmed the canonicity of these three, making the New Testament a completely recognized canon (Keathley, 2013).

What Criterion Was used to Determine Whether Or Not to Include a Book in the Bible? Why should they (The Books) be Trusted After All These Years?

The decision…

Sources used in this document:
References

Keathley, J.H. (2013). The Bible: the Holy Canon of Scripture. Bible .org. Retrieved from https://bible.org/seriespage/bible-holy-canon-scripture

Miller, J.W. (2004). How the Bible Came to be: Exploring the Narrative and Message. Mahwah: NJ: Paulist Press.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Bible in Roman Catholic Theology
Words: 2201 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Paper

The Roman Catholic Church took advantage of the fact that it received criticism and went on to produce new and better interpretations of the Bible, without damaging the image of Roman Catholicism. Throughout time, those who came against Roman Catholic theological interpretations of the Bible received little support from influential members of society and rarely represented a worthy adversary for the church. In contrast, Roman Catholic theologians were provided with

Rewritten Bible
Words: 2915 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

Bible: 1 Samuel 17 The story of David and Goliath has become a classic parable of how the weak can defeat the strong, size doesn't matter, and that all things are possible through "the Lord Almighty" (New International Version, 1 Sam. 17.45). From a secular point-of-view, it can be read as a parable of how physical size matters little when set against courage, skill, and an iron will, which is

Prophets of the Bible
Words: 583 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

prophet Isaiah as he appears in the Old Testament of the Bible. ISAIAH Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus in Israel, during the reign of four different kings, and during a time of great unrest in the country. God sends him to help mend the Israelites ways, because they are facing a war with Assyria, and they have stopped worshipping God, they have become self-centered and preoccupied with their own

Philosophy of Education the Bible
Words: 1646 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Pretty soon, he was learning to read and was successful. I want to be this kind of teacher, one who believes in students and doesn't give up on them. A good teacher tries new things. it's the way to keep from getting "burnt out." Some teachers do things the same way year after year without changing anything. Some of them even save their bulletin boards so they can put them

Ancient History and Bible
Words: 1103 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

God & History The author of this response has been charged with describing the details of how the author will practice one's chosen vocation, that being a history teacher, in a way that will be consistent with the word of God and a strong Christian worldview. A total of three specific examples will be given to help give evidence to the fact that the author is absolutely qualified and equipped to

How the Prophets of the Bible Impact Our Lives
Words: 1410 Length: 5 Document Type: Question Answers

What did you learn and what do you know now that you didn't know before? To begin, I learned that the spokespeople for God often lived unabashedly ordinary lives. Many of these individuals have many of the same problems, trials, and tribulations that society currently experiences today. For example, in the case of Hosea, his wife was very unfaithful, which required him to personally experience the ideas of repentance and redemption

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now