Unit 2, Assignment 1 - "the Old Testament" (due Dec. 14)
It's Advent and Christmas is soon here! Before you start reading take a while for this Advent prayer:
"Come, Lord Jesus, come as King. Rule in our hearts, come as love. Rule in our minds, come as peace. Rule in our actions, come as power. Rule in our days, come as joy. Rule in our darkness, come as light.Rule in our bodies, come as health. Rule in our labours, come as hope.
Your Kingdom come among us!
Amen."
The Bible is the single most important book in the history of the Western world, and it continues to be a bestseller. First we will look at the Old Testament, also called the Hebrew Bible. It is a holy scripture for three of the world's great religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Full of rich tales, shining heroes, and even more colorful villains, it has inspired some of the world's greatest works of art, music and literature. But it is also a deeply religious book and can speak to one's heart, stirring the imagination and the soul.
If you are in the Jewish tradition, the Old Testament is the collection of sacred writings from ancient Israel and is called the Hebrew Bible, as it is written in the Hebrew language, or Hebrew Scriptures, or Written Torah (to distinguish it from the Oral Torah of the rabbis). If you are in the Christian tradition, the Hebrew Bible is called the Old Testament--old because Christians view it as the essential introduction to the New Testament. Some people have suggested the use of Older Testament or First Testament in order to avoid any suggestion that it is out of date. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament may contain the same collection of books depending on which Christian Bible you are using, though the order of individual books may differ.
The Hebrew Bible is one book, as it is typically bound as a single volume. At the same time, it is a collection of books--a library of twenty-four originally separate works. In fact, the term Bible comes from the Greek ta biblia which means "the books." The individual books came from many different authors who wrote over a span of one thousand years or more. They were gathered together and included in a single work we call the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish community that gave rise to the Hebrew Bible divided the various books into three collections: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.
A final authoritative collection of books is called a canon. This means that other books were available but were not chosen. The biblical canon institutionalizes the choices that were made. There were, in fact, many more Jewish writings, written in both Hebrew and Greek.
Traditionally Jews and Christians have traced the origin of the Bible to God. Using human agents, God "inscripturated" his word for humankind. Many groups and individuals were responsible for handing down the material contained in the Old Testament and for giving the individual books their final shape. Most remain nameless to this day. Even the books of identifiable prophets such as Isaiah and Amos were not entirely written by those men. The books are collections of their sayings, which anonymous editors gathered together.Much of the material that eventually was included in the Hebrew Bible started out as folktales, songs, and religious liturgies. The common people inherited these stories and passed them on from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Oral tradition, as it is called, was the source of many of the stories that have survived about Israel's ancestors and early history. Priests and highly trained scribes, typically employed by the king, were the only ones able to read and write. They were responsible for gathering materials from oral and written sources, organizing them, and compiling them into books. Probably the earliest that any books were written down was around 950 B.C. during the reign of Solomon, the king of Israel at its golden age.
The Hebrew Bible took centuries to shape. After individual books were completed, they were joined into collections of books until we finally got the version that we have today.
Questions:
Now, I’m sure that you have heard some of the stories or about some of the heroes in the Old Testament. Do you remember any of them? If so; name them.
The most known part of the collection of Law in the Old Testament are the ten commandments. Do you know any of them by heart?
You can check them out in your Bible in the book of Exodus, chapter 20.
It's Advent and Christmas is soon here! Before you start reading take a while for this Advent prayer:
"Come, Lord Jesus, come as King. Rule in our hearts, come as love. Rule in our minds, come as peace. Rule in our actions, come as power. Rule in our days, come as joy. Rule in our darkness, come as light.Rule in our bodies, come as health. Rule in our labours, come as hope.
Your Kingdom come among us!
Amen."
The Bible is the single most important book in the history of the Western world, and it continues to be a bestseller. First we will look at the Old Testament, also called the Hebrew Bible. It is a holy scripture for three of the world's great religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Full of rich tales, shining heroes, and even more colorful villains, it has inspired some of the world's greatest works of art, music and literature. But it is also a deeply religious book and can speak to one's heart, stirring the imagination and the soul.
If you are in the Jewish tradition, the Old Testament is the collection of sacred writings from ancient Israel and is called the Hebrew Bible, as it is written in the Hebrew language, or Hebrew Scriptures, or Written Torah (to distinguish it from the Oral Torah of the rabbis). If you are in the Christian tradition, the Hebrew Bible is called the Old Testament--old because Christians view it as the essential introduction to the New Testament. Some people have suggested the use of Older Testament or First Testament in order to avoid any suggestion that it is out of date. The Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament may contain the same collection of books depending on which Christian Bible you are using, though the order of individual books may differ.
The Hebrew Bible is one book, as it is typically bound as a single volume. At the same time, it is a collection of books--a library of twenty-four originally separate works. In fact, the term Bible comes from the Greek ta biblia which means "the books." The individual books came from many different authors who wrote over a span of one thousand years or more. They were gathered together and included in a single work we call the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish community that gave rise to the Hebrew Bible divided the various books into three collections: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.
A final authoritative collection of books is called a canon. This means that other books were available but were not chosen. The biblical canon institutionalizes the choices that were made. There were, in fact, many more Jewish writings, written in both Hebrew and Greek.
Traditionally Jews and Christians have traced the origin of the Bible to God. Using human agents, God "inscripturated" his word for humankind. Many groups and individuals were responsible for handing down the material contained in the Old Testament and for giving the individual books their final shape. Most remain nameless to this day. Even the books of identifiable prophets such as Isaiah and Amos were not entirely written by those men. The books are collections of their sayings, which anonymous editors gathered together.Much of the material that eventually was included in the Hebrew Bible started out as folktales, songs, and religious liturgies. The common people inherited these stories and passed them on from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Oral tradition, as it is called, was the source of many of the stories that have survived about Israel's ancestors and early history. Priests and highly trained scribes, typically employed by the king, were the only ones able to read and write. They were responsible for gathering materials from oral and written sources, organizing them, and compiling them into books. Probably the earliest that any books were written down was around 950 B.C. during the reign of Solomon, the king of Israel at its golden age.
The Hebrew Bible took centuries to shape. After individual books were completed, they were joined into collections of books until we finally got the version that we have today.
Questions:
Now, I’m sure that you have heard some of the stories or about some of the heroes in the Old Testament. Do you remember any of them? If so; name them.
The most known part of the collection of Law in the Old Testament are the ten commandments. Do you know any of them by heart?
You can check them out in your Bible in the book of Exodus, chapter 20.
posted by SMK at
12:05 p.m.
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