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Christian ScriptureScripture is the Word of God contained in the Old and New testaments ("covenants") of the Bible. (Faithful Christians stand on both sides of the fence as to whether Scripture includes "the Apocrypha.") The 39 books of the Old Testament contain the story of God's love from Creation up to the birth of his son, Jesus Christ. They contain God's laws as He gave them to the Hebrew people. The New Testament contains Christ's teachings, the accounts of his life as told by his followers, and the beginning of his church. It is written in 27 books. Within an Episcopal worship service, Scripture is read in the lessons, the Gospel (the teachings of Jesus), the Psalms (poems from the Old Testament) and other prayers. Additionally, two-thirds of our guide to worship, the Book of Common Prayer, comes directly from the Old and New Testaments. Brief History of Christian ScriptureBibles are common. They can be found on the racks in grocery stores, department stores, book stores -- both religious and secular, and even in many hotel rooms. They are so common that it may not even occur to us that the Bible was not written in English. Most of us have never seen anything but translations of the Bible. The first 39 books are usually called "the Old Testament" by Christians and "the Bible" or "Tanakh" by Jews. Some Christians call these books "the Hebrew Scriptures" because they were written mostly in Hebrew. (Small portions were also written in Aramaic, which is very similar to Hebrew. Imagine an American speaking with an Australian.) During the last three centuries before Jesus was born, there were so many Jewish communities spread through the Greek speaking Mediterranean basin that the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. This translation is called "the Septuagint" (sometimes abbreviated LXX). The Septuagint has its origin in Alexandria, Egypt and was translated between 300-200 BC. Widely used among Hellenistic Jews, it also gave many non-Jews a glimpse into Judaism, attracting many non-Jews toward Judaism. Many of these became converts. Others attended synagogue worship, prayed, and read the Septuagint as admiring outsiders. These were called "God fearers." The word Septuagint (which means "70") reflects an ancient document called the Letter of Aristeas, which says that 70 to 72 Jewish scholars were commissioned during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus to carry out the task of translation. The Septuagint included both the Greek translation of the Old Testament, plus the "Apocrypha." All of the first Christians were Jews, attended synagogue, followed Jewish liturgy, and read Jewish Scripture. When Jewish followers of Jesus were astonished to find that non-Jewish people were also captivated by Jesus, it was very difficult to decide what to do with them. Most thought that non-Jewish people must first become Jews in order to follow Jesus. Some, notably Peter and Paul, argued that that non-Jewish people could follow Jesus without first becoming Jews. This became the history-changing issue of the early Christians. In the end it was decided that non-Jews could become part of the Christian community without first becoming Jews. So non-Jews began to be baptized into these Jewish communities of Jesus-followers. However, not everyone was understanding or accepting of this major change. The New Testament was written, not only to clarify the story of Jesus, but very much to address the question of how Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus were to experience community together, in spite of enormous differences in culture, background and practice. Eventually, so many non-Jewish people became Christians that they overwhelmingly outnumbered the Jewish Christians. One result of this is that Greek, rather than Hebrew, became the most common language among early Christians. For this reason, the most common Bible among Christians was no longer the Hebrew Bible, but the Greek translation (the Septuagint). Later, as the Gospels and Epistles that would become the New Testament were written, they were written in Greek as well. Not only was the New Testament written in Greek, but the quotations of the Old Testament that appear in the New Testament Gospels and Epistles are direct quotations from the Septuagint. That is, New Testament writers were not reading from a Hebrew Bible when they quoted Torah, the Writings, or the Prophets. They were reading from the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. (Since the Septuagint included the Apocrypha, the Bible of the early Christians included both the Old Testament and the Apocrypha. Later the New Testament developed. Later still, the proper content of the Christian Scriptures was first challenged, then examined, and and then carefully debated. The history of this is fascinating and inspiring, and looks nothing at all like the revisionist, psuedo-history claimed by fictional works such as The DaVinci Code. (Read that for fun, if you wish, but don't fall for its silly and utterly false historical claims!) A few centuries later, there were so many Christians in Latin-speaking western Europe, that neither Hebrew nor Greek were accessible to the Bible. Thus the Latin Vulgate appeared. ("Vulgate" meaning, the "common tongue.") Centuries later Martin Luther translated the Scriptures into German for his people. Tyndal, Wycliff and others translated it into English for their people. And organizations today such as Wycliff Bible Translators attempt to make translations available for every language group throughout the whole world. Now there are dizzying possibilities for available translations. FAQ to the
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