February 19, 2024

History of the English Bible | The Bible in English E1

38 minutes

Tim walks us through the key contributors of getting the Bible into English and why they faced resistance. We also discuss why some early Christian writings are not included in our Bibles. Lastly, we look at the hurdles translators have to work through.

Apostolic Fathers: A reference to a specific set of Christian writings composed during the late first to early second centuries CE. Manuscripts of these works, including the Didache, The Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement, and Epistle of Barnabas are commonly found alongside canonical NT writings, indicating they were widely read in early christianity, but not necessarily viewed as Scripture.

Canon: from the Greek word meaning “measure, standard,” in biblical studies this refers to the collection of books regarded as inspired Scripture by Christians. For Protestants, this means the sixty-six books in most Bibles.

Codex: A collection of manuscripts bound together in a form similar to modern-day books. Evidence indicates early Christians preferred this format over traditionally scrolls.

Coptic: the language of Egypt prevalent during the first few centuries of the Christian era.

Dead Sea Scrolls: refers broadly to the collections of texts discovered in the mid-twentieth century around the ancient city of Qumran. These include biblical books, theological treatises, and community rules. The biblical manuscripts represent the oldest existing witnesses of the OT, dated primarily between 200 BCE and 100 CE.

New Testament Apocrypha: A broad term referring to several early Christian writings which were not, and rightly so, deemed as canonical Scripture including works such as the Gospel of Peter, Acts of Paul, and the Apocalypse of Thomas. Although not authoritative or inspired, these works provide insight into the multi-faceted developments in early Christian theology.

Old Testament Apocrypha: A collection of Jewish historical and theological writings composed primarily during the period between the OT and NT. They are not viewed as Scripture by Protestant Christians, but are useful for understanding Judaism during the Second Temple and NT periods.

Pseudepigrapha: meaning “falsely written,” these apocalyptic, theological, and often messianic, Jewish writings were composed during the Second Temple period and generally ascribe their authorship to long-dead OT persons even though there was no real expectation by the authors for their audiences to accept this authorship.

Septuagint: often abbreviated LXX, this is a term used to describe Greek translations of the OT made generally between 250 BE and 100 CE.

Textus Receptus: Latin for “received text,” this refers to a Greek NT compiled and revised primarily during the sixteenth century. It is the base Greek NT text for the KJV and NKJV.

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By Mt. Juliet Church of Christ

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