Part I Part II

Table of Contents
The Bible: The Book that Bridges the Millennia

Select a Category for Bible I:

1. Beginnings (Ours & the Bible's)
2. Canonization (Inside & Outside Books)
3. Bible Translations
4. Bible & Today

Select a Category for Bible II:

1. Early Church: 30-313
2. Christian Empire: 313-476
3. Middle Ages: 476-1453
4. Reformations & Awakenings: 1453-1870
5. Modern Period of Interpretation: 1800--Present

Part I: Origins and Formation

Beginnings: Our Worldviews & the Bible's

• Beginnings: Worldviews and the Sacred (No Frames)
     Different worldviews at different times and different peoples; how worldviews relate to the sacred and to the world we encounter when reading the Bible. Top Menu
• The Old Testament World
  • Old Testament Timeline
  • Cosmology of Middle Eastern People
• The New Testament World
  • Jewish Factions at the Time of Jesus (excerpt from study book)
  • New Testament Time Line
  • Ptolemaic/New Testament Cosmology
• Today's Worldviews
  • Customs and Rituals and the Bible
  • Encountering the Bible ( excerpt from study book, a story from the Philippines)

From Stories to Manuscripts to the Canon

• Beginnings: Sacred Stories Become Scripture
  Oral and Written Traditions, the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Books of the Tanakh
• From Stories to Scrolls to One Sacred Book
  • Crisis Writings (excerpt from study book)
  • Biblical Timeline Charts
    1. Biblical and World Events Before Christ's Birth
    2. Biblical and World Events After Christ's Birth
    3. Church History Timeline from Jesus to Constantine (30-313)

• Biblical Canons (No Frames) --Inside Books: Definition of "canon"; introduction to "inside" and "outside" books
• How the Biblical Canon Was Chosen: the 5 Cs (stages of canonization)
• Whose Canon? Which Bible? : a look at different Biblical canons
• Canonical Lists
  1. The Samaritan Bible
  2. The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
  3. The Ethiopian Orthodox Old Testament
  4. The Protestant Old Testament
  5. The Roman Catholic Old Testament
• Comparative Charts of Biblical Canons
  1. Protestant Old Testament and Hebrew Bible
  2. Protestant Old Testament, Hebrew Bible, Samaritan Bible
  3. Protestant and Roman Catholic Old Testaments
  4. Roman Catholic and Ethiopian Orthodox Old Testaments

• Other Ancient Texts (No Frame) --Noncanonical Books or Outside Books. Why other books did not make the canon
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Manuscripts tons of information about noncanonical texts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi manuscripts, and the Early Church Fathers
  • Early Christian Heresies
  • Church History Timeline from Jesus to Constantine-- A.D. 30-313
• Ancient Texts in English Translation
  • Noncanonical Texts (links to English translations of the original manuscripts)
  • The Protestant Apocrypha (background and list of books)
  • The Gospel of Mary, a Gnostic Gospel

So Many Bibles: Translations of the Scriptures

• Three Early Biblical Translations: (No Frames)
  • Septuagint
  • Peshitta
  • Vulgate
• Early English Biblical Translations: Caedmon, the Venerable Bede, Alfred the Great, Aldhelm, Eadfrith, Lindisfarne Gospels, and John Wycliffe
• Famous Translators
  • Bede
  • Erasmus
  • John Hus
  • Martin Luther
  • William Tyndale
  • John Wycliff
• Twentieth Century Translations
  • African American Jubilee Bible: New Bible from the American Bible Society
  • Bishop Vaxby Joins Service for New Swedish Bible: New official translation for Sweden
  • "The Bible Under Fire": About the Revised Standard Version

The Bible Today: It Continues to Bridge the Millennia

• The Bible Today: Our Journey:
  Faith and the Bible, First Memories of the Bible
• Hymns and the Bible: Graphics
  How hymns influence our understanding of the Bible.
  • Break Thou the Bread of Life: Text and Music
  • Jesus Loves Me: Text and Music
  • Tell Me the Stories of Jesus: Text and Music
• Art and the Bible: Graphics
  How art influences our understanding of the Bible.
  
  • Jesus as the Good Shepherd
  • Dance and the Bible:
    
  • View The Moving Word!

Part II: Interpretation and Authority

From Jesus to Constantine: 30-313

   Imagine a time when Christians had no written Gospels but only a spoken tradition of the sayings and stories of Jesus. Top Menu

• History: Birth, Growth, Change, Martyrdoms
  No Frames
  • Timeline
  • Christian Martyrs
    *Ignatius the second bishop of Antioch during a time of severe persecution
    *Origen Origen’s writings were some of the most influential in the early church
    *Polycarp Polycarp opposed heresy and became a Christian martyr
    
  • Outside Links
• Authority: Controversies and Heresies
  • Church Fathers
    *Ignatius the second bishop of Antioch during a time of severe persecution
    *Irenaeus Irenaeus served as Bishop of Lyons in southern Gaul (France) and opposed heresies
    *Origen Origen’s writings were some of the most influential in the early church
    *Polycarp Polycarp opposed heresy and became a Christian martyr
    *Tertullian North African teacher Tertullian wrote extensively against the Gnostics
    
  • Heresies Definitions and historical background for key Christian heresies in the early centuries of the church
  • Book Excerpt
    *The Christian Covenant (The Old and New Covenants)
    
• Interpretation
  • The Allegorical Method
    *Philo of Alexandria, Jewish exegete who used allegory
    *Clement of Alexandria
    *Prodigal Son, an example of the allegorical method by Clement
    *Origen of Alexandria
    *Sarah & Hagar, an example of the allegorical method by Paul
    
  • Christian Art
    *Quick Quiz
  • Book Excerpts
    *Jewish Followers
    *Four Gospels: Four Different Interpretations of Christ
    *3 Approaches to Interpretation: Prophecy, Allegory, and Typology

Christian Empire: 313-476

   The status of Christianity changed considerably in the fourth century because of one person, Emperor Constantine the Great. Top Menu

• History: Christianity Becomes Dominant
  No Frames
  • Constantine I: Constantine the Great
    
  • Edict of Milan: The persecution of Christians when Constantine of the West and Licinius of the East proclaimed this edict
    
  • Book Excerpt
    *The Christian Empire
    
  • Outside Links
• Authority: Christianization, Creeds, Canonization
  • Post-Nicene Church Fathers
    *Athanasius:"Father of Orthodoxy."
    *Augustine: Augustine and Some Principal Heresies
    
  • Creeds and Canons
    *The Apostles' Creed (traditional and modern ecumenical versions)
    *The Nicene Creed (traditional and current United Methodist versions)
    *Athanasius' Canon (39^th Festal Letter)
    
  • Heresies
• Interpretation: Alexandria, Antioch, Edessa
  • School of Alexandria
    *Clement of Alexandria
    *Prodigal Son by Clement of Alexandria
    *Origen of Alexandria
    
  • School of Antioch
    *John Chrysostom (Antioch)
    
  • School of Edessa
    *Ephraim of Syria (Edessa)
  • Christian Art

Middle Ages: 476-1453

   During this era, there were "wars and rumors of war" and a lot of suffering including the bubonic plague. The Apocalypse seemed near. Top Menu

• History: Crusades, Monasticism, Millennium
  No Frames
  • Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor (No Frames). Charles the Great, 742-814, was not only a military man and ruler but also a reformer of both church and society.
  • The Crusades: The era the Crusades the first began in 1095 with Pope Urban II's famous speech and the ended in 1291 when Acre, the last of the Latin holdings in Palestine, was lost.
  • Sack of Constantinople: The conquering of the great Christian city in 1204 ended the Fourth Crusade and had significant religious and political consequences.
  • Book Excerpts
    *The Western Church: In the early Middle Ages the authority of the Bishop of Rome increased.
    *Christian Campaigns: Attempts to purify the church and society led to efforts to rid the Christian world of non-Christians.
    *Francis of Assisi: He preached a message that called for lives of poverty, caring love, and peace.
    
  • Outside Links

Reformations & Awakenings 1453-1870

• History: Discovery and Discontent-- New ideas and Worlds-- Persecution and Oppression
  No Frames
  • Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish priest who sought to stop oppression of native peoples
  • Book Excerpt
    
    *Reformations: From the Fall of Constantinople to the End of the Seventeenth Century
  • Outside Links
• Authority: A religious awakening began. Many wanted a religion that depended more on the authority of the Bible.
  • Erasmus, the man who "laid the egg that Luther hatched."
• Interpretation
  • Reformers
    *Calvin
    *Erasmus
    *Luther
    *Wesley
    

Modern Period of Interpretation: 1800--Present

• History
  (No Frames)
  • Book Excerpts
    *The American Experiment
    *New Roles for Women
    
  • Outside Links
• Authority
  • Book Excerpts
    *United Methodists & Scriptural Authority
• Interpretation
  • Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
  • The Moving Word! a video about interpreting Bible through dance
  • Book Excerpts
    *Slavery & Bible
    *Contextual Interpretation
    *Encountering the Bible
    *Women & Interpretation