Bible
The oldest books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation. Scholars of the twenty-first century are only in the beginning stages of exploring the interface between writing, performance, memorization, and the aural dimension of the texts. Current indications are that writing and orality were not separate as much as ancient writing was learned in communal oral performance. The Bible was written and compiled by many people who many scholars say are mostly unknown. They came from a variety of disparate cultures and backgrounds. British biblical scholar John K. Riches wrote that the books of the Bible were initially written and copied by hand on papyrus scrolls. No originals have survived. The age of the original composition of the texts is therefore difficult to determine and heavily debated. Using a combined linguistic and historiographical approach, Hendel and Joosten date the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible to having been composed in the premonarchial early Iron Age. The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the caves of Qumran in 1947 are copies that can be dated to between 250 BCE and 100 CE. They are the oldest existing copies of the books of the Hebrew Bible of any length that are not fragments. The earliest manuscripts were probably written in paleo-Hebrew, a kind of cuneiform pictograph similar to other pictographs of the same period. The exile to Babylon most likely prompted the shift to square script in the fifth to third centuries BCE. From the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew Bible was written with spaces between words to aid reading. By the eighth century CE, the Masoretes added vowel signs.
The list of books included in the Catholic Bible was established as canon by the Council of Rome in 382. This council was followed by those of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397. Between 385 and 405 CE, the early Christian church translated its canon into Vulgar Latin known as the Vulgate. Since then, Catholic Christians have held ecumenical councils to standardize their biblical canon. The Council of Trent held from 1545 to 1563 authorized the Vulgate as its official Latin translation of the Bible. A number of biblical canons have since evolved. Christian biblical canons range from the 73 books of the Catholic Church canon and the 66-book canon of most Protestant denominations to the 81 books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church canon among others. Judaism has long accepted a single authoritative text whereas Christianity has never had an official version instead having many different manuscript traditions. The New Testament is a collection of 27 books of four different genres of Christian literature including Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles, and Apocalypse. Most notably the Synod of Hippo in 393 CE and that of around 400 produced a list of texts of the canon of the Old Testament and the New Testament that are still used today. Jerome produced a definitive Latin edition of the Bible with the canon of which at the insistence of the Pope was in accord with the earlier Synods.
The oldest complete copy still in existence is the Leningrad Codex dating to circa 1000 CE. The first codex form of the Hebrew Bible was produced in the seventh century. The codex is the forerunner of the modern book popularized by early Christians. It was made by folding a single sheet of papyrus in half forming pages. Assembling multiples of these folded pages together created a book that was more easily accessible and more portable than scrolls. The first complete printed press version of the Hebrew Bible was produced in 1488. The Rylands fragment P52 from 125, 175 CE is the oldest existing fragment of New Testament papyrus including phrases from the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John. Modern scholars have come to recognize that the scribes in Alexandria were particularly scrupulous even in these early centuries. There in Alexandria, a very pure form of the text of the early Christian writings was preserved decade after decade by dedicated and relatively skilled Christian scribes. These differing histories produced what modern scholars refer to as recognizable text types. The four most commonly recognized are Alexandrian, Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine. A variant is any deviation between two texts. Textual critic Daniel B. Wallace explains that each deviation counts as one variant regardless of how many manuscripts attest to it.
The Christian Bible is the world's most published book with estimated total sales of over five billion copies. From practices of personal hygiene to philosophy and ethics the Bible has directly and indirectly influenced politics and law war and peace sexual morals marriage and family life letters and learning the arts economics social justice medical care and more. Biblical texts have been the catalyst for political concepts like democracy religious toleration and religious freedom. These have in turn inspired movements ranging from abolitionism in the 18th and 19th century to the civil rights movement the Anti-Apartheid Movement and liberation theology in Latin America. The roots of many modern laws can be found in the Bible's teachings on due process fairness in criminal procedures and equity in the application of the law. Judges are told not to accept bribes and are required to be impartial to native and stranger alike. Those most vulnerable in a patriarchal society children women and strangers are singled out in the Bible for special protection. The Bible has been noted by scholars as a significant influence on the development of nationhood and nationalism first among ancient Jews and later in Christian societies. For the ancient Jews it served as both a national history and a source of law providing a framework that established shared ancestry common history legal codes and cultural markers that defined Jewish collective identity.
The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh from the third and second centuries BCE. It was begun in Alexandria in the late third century BCE and completed by 132 BCE. Probably commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus King of Egypt it addressed the need of the primarily Greek-speaking Jews of the Graeco-Roman diaspora. Existing complete copies of the Septuagint date from the third to the fifth centuries CE with fragments dating back to the second century BCE. Revision of its text began as far back as the first century BCE. Fragments of the Septuagint were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls portions of its text are also found on existing papyrus from Egypt dating to the second and first centuries BCE and to the first century CE. The Bible is currently translated or in the process of being translated into about half of the world's languages. Translations of the Bible into local vernacular languages have supported the development of national literatures and the invention of alphabets. Protestant Reformers wanted all members of the church to be able to read the Bible so compulsory education for both boys and girls was introduced. The term Bible comes from the Greek ta biblia meaning the books which literally means scroll.
Common questions
When was the Bible written and compiled by many people?
The oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible were composed in the premonarchial early Iron Age. The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 are copies dated to between 250 BCE and 100 CE.
Who established the list of books included in the Catholic Bible canon?
The Council of Rome in 382 established the list of books included in the Catholic Bible as canon. This council was followed by those of Hippo in 393 and Carthage in 397.
What is the oldest complete copy still in existence of the Bible?
The Leningrad Codex dating to circa 1000 CE is the oldest complete copy still in existence. The Rylands fragment P52 from 125, 175 CE is the oldest existing fragment of New Testament papyrus including phrases from the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John.
How has the Bible influenced politics law and social movements?
The Christian Bible is the world's most published book with estimated total sales of over five billion copies. Biblical texts have been the catalyst for political concepts like democracy religious toleration and religious freedom inspiring movements ranging from abolitionism in the 18th and 19th century to the civil rights movement.
When was the Septuagint translation of the Tanakh completed?
The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of the Tanakh begun in Alexandria in the late third century BCE and completed by 132 BCE. Existing complete copies of the Septuagint date from the third to the fifth centuries CE with fragments dating back to the second century BCE.