The Encyclopedia of World Religions

52 S Bible, biblical literature

Torah, sometimes translated “law” rather than “teaching,” is for Jews the most important part of the Bible. It consists of the first five books, tra ditionally attributed to M OSES . Through stories of CREATION and the FLOOD ; A BRAHAM , S ARAH , and their descendants; and the E XODUS , Torah teaches how god wants his people to live ( see T EN C OMMAND MENTS ). Nevi’im contains two kinds of prophets. The “Former Prophets” detail how God was active in his people’s past. They include the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The “Latter Prophets,” describe how God was active at their time. They include the books of I SAIAH , J EREMIAH , E ZEKIEL , and The Twelve. (Christians print The Twelve as 12 separate books and call them “Minor Prophets.”) Jews consider Ketuvim the least important part of the Bible. It contains a variety of books, such as P SALMS , Proverbs, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles, J OB , and D ANIEL ( see also WISDOM LITERATURE ). The Bible for Christians Christians call the Hebrew scriptures the Old Testa ment and recognize them as part of their Bible. To this Old Testament they add another 27 books that they call the N EW T ESTAMENT . The formulation of the canon of the New Testament took place from the second to the fourth centuries. The New Testament contains several types of material. It begins with four GOSPELS , Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They present the “good news” (or gospel) of C HRISTIANITY by recounting the life and sayings of J ESUS . The A CTS OF THE A POSTLES tells how the followers of Jesus, known as APOS TLES , spread that good news out from Jerusalem through the eastern Mediterranean world (Turkey and Greece today) to Rome. The most prominent apostle in Acts is P AUL , and the next portion of the New Testament consists of several EPISTLES or letters that he allegedly wrote. Some of them are almost certainly not by Paul. The New Testament also contains letters by other followers of Jesus—J AMES , P ETER , John, and Jude—and an anonymous letter known as Hebrews. The final book, the R EVELATION to John, is an example of APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE .

It provides a symbolic account of how God will defeat those who are tormenting Christians and establish a new HEAVEN and earth. For Protestants, the Bible consists simply of an Old Testament that is identical with Tanakh but is divided into 39 books and the New Testament. But for Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians the Old Testament contains more books than the Hebrew Bible. That is because Christian ity arose before the canon of the Hebrew Bible was set. The earliest Christians used a larger collection of writings as their Old Testament, and Catholics and Orthodox Christians continue to do so. Catholics call the extra writings in their Old Testament “deuterocanonical.” The term means that although these writings are not in the Hebrew scriptures, they are equally authoritative. Protes tants call these books the A POCRYPHA . They include story literature (Tobit and Judith), wisdom lit erature (Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus), history books (1 and 2 Maccabees), writings attrib uted to Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch, and parts of the books of Esther and Daniel that are not in the Hebrew Scriptures, such as the story of Susanna. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians differ somewhat on the deuterocanoni cal books. In addition to the books that Catholics accept, Eastern Orthodox churches also accept a book that has several names, depending upon the collection in which it is found: 2 Ezra, 1 Esdras, and 3 Esdras. Other Biblical Literature Jews and Christians have always known about writings that were omitted from the Bible. Such writings include books like the Shepherd of Her mas and the Didache (the Teaching) of the Twelve Apostles. Before the canon was set, some people thought of them as authoritative scripture. In the early 19th century, European scholars began to comb through ancient manuscript col lections in the Middle East. They also began to uncover ancient writings in archaeological excava tions. In the process, they have found copies of many works of biblical literature, some of which