1. +
The Bible: An Introduction
Brett Opalinski
Christ Church UM

2. +
Religion of the Book

Judaism and Christianity are
religions of a book.

Judaism was the first of
Western Civilization.

Other religions, put more
emphasis on ritual ceremonies
and sacrifices.

3. +
Bible Basics

Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
and the New Testament.

Library/Collection of Books (66
not counting the Apocrypha)

Different authors, settings,
places.

4. +
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Many books across a wide
range of time.

Written in Hebrew.

5. +
Basic Parts of the Hebrew Bible

Torah: Books of the Law

Prophets

Poems

Wisdom

History

6. +
New Testament: Basic Information

27 Books.

Written in Greek.

Between the Years 50-120 CE
(Earliest I Thessalonians)

7. +
Types of Writings in the New
Testament

Letters

Gospels

History

Sermons

Apocalyptic Literature

8. +
Basic Dates for Early Christianity

6-4 BCE – Birth of Jesus

10 CE – Birth of Paul

29 CE – Death and
Resurrection of Jesus

31-33 CE – Paul’s
Transformation

50-60 CE – Letter’s of Paul

64 CE – Death of Paul and
Peter

65-70 – Gospel of Mark written

9. +
What Scriptures did Early Christians
Use

Hebrew Scriptures (Old
Testament)

Jesus’ words and teachings.

Paul’s Letters

Gospels

Later Writings

10. +
There Were Many Early Christian
Writings

Gospels

Acts/Histories

Revelations

Which ones should be used?

11. +
Athanasius: Bishop of Alexandria

367 CE – Letter to his
Churches in Egypt.

Instructed them to use the 27
books that made up the New
Testament.

12. +
Council of Carthage – 394 CE

Finalized the List of Books that
we use today in Western
Christianity.

Eastern Christians still used: I
Clement, Barnabas, Shepherd
of Hermas. Omitted
Revelation.

13. +
Criteria for Which Books Were
Selected

Rule of Faith: Consistent with
basic teaching of the Apostles.

Apostolic Authorship.

Accepted and Used by Many
Churches.

No agreement over which was
the most important.

14. +
What About the Apocrypha

Books that are from the Hebrew
tradition, but not part of the Old
Testament. Valued and used
by Early Christians.

Baruch, Tobit, Psalm 151, 1-4
Maccabees, Wisdom of
Solomon, Letter of Jeremiah.

Some Bibles include these
today!

15. +
Manuscripts

We do not have the original
copies of the books.

There are over 5,500
manuscripts, fragments or
papyri.

Copying was done by hand, not
by printing presses.

16. +
How Do We Get Our Bibles Today

Scholars work with Manuscripts
and Fragments to determine
what the originals may have
looked like.

Put together into a common
Greek version. (Hebrew for
OT).

Different translations from that.

17. +
Final Thoughts

Translations: Common English
Bible or New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV).

Don’t just read the Bible, study
it!

If you would like to know more,
email me at:
bopalinski@echristchurch.org