“Deliberately Diverse” represents the individual thoughts and opinions of a group of Taylor friends who almost never completely agree about anything but are gratified by the opportunity to stimulate deliberately diverse discussions in our beloved community.
Today’s column represents the thoughts and opinions of Lisa Drummond, NOT the Taylor Press.
The Bible is a treasured cultural, religious and historical compilation of ancient documents that has undergone a complex evolution over thousands of years. Prior to 325 CE, when the “Holy Bible” was compiled, the books were stories passed down by Jewish people, in the oral tradition. Over a thousand years before the birth of Jesus the history, rules and songs of the Jewish people and their God were written in Hebrew on scrolls of papyrus, leather, stone or copper. Very few people could read and writing was done by scribes. Probably the ability of the Jewish people to write down their history has helped their religion and culture survive for over five thousand years.
These documents made up the Hebrew Bible, “the Tanakh.” Christianity revised the order and emphases of the Jewish scripture in the version of the Tanakh known as the “Old Testament.” The stories and observations of historians, scribes and disciples associated with Jesus began to be written in the first century CE.
The documents, stories and letters were written down, copied and distributed in a variety of languages all around the Middle East, Egypt and Africa until, in 325 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity was wide-spread and practiced so differently in many regions, that in order to organize things, Bishops from all over were called by Constantine to Nicaea, a city in modern day Turkey, to decide on the Christian doctrine; which books would be in the Bible and which would not make the cut. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Letters of Paul were included, Mary, Thomas, Phillip, and many others were not. The original Nicene Creed, still recited in churches, and the doctrine accepted by all of Christianity was established at the Council at Nicaea. Interesting to consider what Christianity would have become had it not been chosen by the Roman Empire.
The Bible required translation from the original Hebrew, Greek and ancient languages and so councils of religious scholars have met regularly to agree on the correct terminology as new science and understanding became available. The King Jame Version (KJV) was written in 1611. The lyrical beauty of the translation stood for over 200 years.
(This is the origin of the scripture quoted by Linus in the “Charlie Brown Christmas” movie.) By the 1850’s so many more documents had been discovered and understanding of ancient languages had developed so that the KJV inaccuracies needed to be revised and addressed. The Bible was updated and revised by committees of scholars several times. In 1947 a treasure trove of documents were discovered in the Dead Sea region which contributed to our understanding of the Bible. Additional text received from the Eastern Orthodox churches in 1977 were incorporated into the Revised Standard Version. (RSV) This version of the Bible was authorized by all major Christian, Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and has been accepted by scholars as the most accurate reconstruction of the original text to date. Due to its value, the Bible will continue to be studied and revered as part of the story of our faith.
