BibleByDon

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Purpose of this Blog:
I want to learn about the History of the Bible and how it was written, and this will be one place where I can store some information and notes as I work on this long term Project.

Comment:
Many years ago I volunteered to do a Sunday School class on the History of the English Bible but after a bit I realized it would take longer than I planned to prepare and that the bigger story was the History of the whole Bible. I withdrew my offer to do the class and have been working on the  bigger project over the years. I might finish in 10 years or so - or never finish. The fun is in working on it for I never with acquire enough understanding to finish this project in an adequate manner.

Though these notes are mainly for  giving me a place to put ideas, feel free to give me info and feed back if you want. 

Here are some issues prompting me to learn more about this subject

1. What is the right Bible, is it the original writing or is it later revisions. what is the right source of the Bible . . is it the oldest source. In general I have thought the older the more accurate, but is an older version always more accurate; not if the "original" was lost of course. Witherington says  "the bottom line is that you want a translation that conveys most accurately the original meaning of the Biblical text" (page 140). Do I agree?
2. Want to know a lot about these people and more
1. John Wycliffe
2. John Hus
3. Johann Gutenberg
4. Thomas Linacre
5. John Colet
6. Erasmus
7. William Tyndale
8. Martin Luther
9. Myles Coverdale
10. John Rogers
11. Thomas Cranmer
12. King Henry VIII
13. Queen Mary
14. John Foxe
15. John Calvin
16. John Knox
17. J B Phillips  -  in 1972 revised ealier version of NT where he had paraphrased and interpolate 
18. King James I
19. John Bunyan
20. John Eliot
21. Noah Webster
22. Constantine
23. John Wesley

1. Differences in the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament Bible
2.  Differences in the Christian Protestant and Catholic Bible
3. According to many scholars, Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible.
4. The Exile into Babylonia and failure of what the Jews expected from God (and vice versa) had much to do with getting the Bible organized
5. Did Jesus use the right Bible when quoting.
6. "Everyone" says the Bible is inspired by God. Which Bible, which version
7. What Bible did Ezra find after returning from Babylonia
8. Errors in the Septuagint were carried over into  many later Bibles , especially the King James and other English ones.
9. The Catholic Church used Latin translations and did not want it translated into the language of the people, in England the Church 's objections led to the deaths of Bible translators. My take on this that "Job Security" was the reason the Catholic preists and leaders of the church did not want others to be able to read the Bible.
10. A side story not related too much is the subject of the Crusades.
11. Merit of not including the Old testament because of the examples of a vengeful God(123)
12. Are all the people writing and revising the Bibles "inspired?"
13. Is the Bible inerrant meaning "free from error" according to Webster, all of it?
14. What is the history of the Jewish Bible vs the history of the Christian Bible.
15. When were verse numbers added, and chapters, and vowels.
16. What material was the Bible written on  and when.
17. Importance of Dead Sea Scrolls, Constantine, Cyrus, Egypt in the history of the Bible.
18. Jews wrote in Hebrew (and Aramaic), Jesus spoke Aramaic, New Testament in Greek, Rome used Latin,King James spoke English, Martin Luther German , etc
19. What are important dates, memorize them. Captivity, building of Temple twice, various Bibles.
20. Know about the various versions of the Bible. James likes the RSV but Ben does not so much. He likes the T.... which I found I did not much.
21. Who are all the famous translators  with dates and accomplishments.
22. What are the Jewish terms such as  Torah which I thought were just first 5 books but find in Jewish Bible preface that can be their whole  Bible.
23. Did Jesus write anything (maybe). Could he read (yes)
24. Place of the apocrypha in the various versions and religions.
25. Why Apocrypha is in some Bible and not in others
26. What about the Bible by Smith
27. What parts of Bible are generally accepted as wrong
28. In the Septuagint writing, what sources were used that were later found not to be older or more reliable.to be
29. Names like Origan, Tyndale, Martin Luther, and a hundred more I want to have a working knowledge of.
30. Differences between the  various popular Bibles RSV, NRSV, King James, Latin, Great Bible, Living . . . on and on
31. 24 was the great commission  part of the original Bible or was it added later to make a good story. Same for Mary after the tomb . . plus other similar situations . .  what do scholars say about such variations.
32. Two different versions of Creation and other similar variances even in the same type version of the Bible.
33. The slant toward male dominance.
34. The anti Jewish bias some say exists.
35. The role and differences of a  Pharisee and Sadducee
36. First printed Bible, first in USA, First printed English Bible.
37. What happened during the  time from the Old Testament ending and beginning of new. 
38. Spong suggests that Paul's problem was homosexual , page 122 of his xxxx (later will add)..
39. Spong says Paul had something to do with the writing of Math Mark Like and John as Paul wrote before those books were written and he feels those books used some of Paul's thoughts.. That is significant in the History of the Bible; I only heard that from one source
40. role of j p q etc in development of the Bible