LESSON 3. The Historical Development of the Bible.

How the Bible Came to Us (4 Hours)

Lesson for September 6,7, 13, 14
Engage
● Individual/Class Prayer

Learning Outcomes:
● Discuss the stages in the historical development of the Bible
● Articulate the importance of the development of the Bible
● Trace how the Bible came to us through translation

Introduction
This lesson shall provide brief discussion of the historical development of the Bible .

Explore
The Bible underwent a long and crucial stages before it came to us in the form of a book, these stages are
namely: A. Oral Tradition, B. Written Tradition, C. Canonization, and D. Translation
A. Oral Tradition
The Bible did not miraculously fall down from heaven; it is a product of a long process of
development from the oral stage to its present form. It started as stories of people’s encounter with the
Living God, preserved in the collective memory of the community. These stories were orally transmitted
from one generation to another. They were remembered, especially in celebrations (cf. Dt. 26:4-10; Lk.
22:14-23), in the preaching, teaching or in responding to pastoral calls in the community of faith.

B. Written Tradition
The stories of faith now recorded in the Old Testament, which were handed down from one
generation to another were finally put down into writing; firstly, in very crude forms, like tablets of
stones, barks of trees, skins of animals or papyrus. Later on, they were preserved in scrolls. The stories
were written independently from each other. Then, these independent writings were compiled, edited, and
formed into books. The New Testament writings basically underwent the same process. Stories about
Jesus Christ were not written down immediately due to the belief in Jesus’ return and imminent end.
The motives in writing the faith experiences, statements/declarations of faith/beliefs of the Chosen
people, the life, teachings and works of Jesus are namely:
1. The desire to communicate. Since the believers were separated by space and travel in the
Eastern Mediterranean lands. Imprisonment, distance or preoccupation elsewhere prevented
them from conversing face to face.
2. The capacity of written materials for multiplication. It could be passed on from one reader or
community to the other and did not require that all for whom it was intended should be
congregated at one place or at one time.
3. The preservation of records was another motive or writing for the benefit of the coming
generations.

C. Canonization
Canonization is a process in development of the Bible in which a particular writing is declared
and accepted as a standard or basis for faith and practice. The written books were canonized. Canon
comes from the Hebrew word Kaneh, which means, a reed. A reed can be use to measure something, the
Greek word for it, Kanon, means measuring rod. Canon is referred to a norm of revealed truth, a rule of
faith. A list of books recognized by the Church as divinely inspired writings.
The Hebrew canon or the Old Testament has 39 books. These books were canonized by the
Jewish Rabbis and scholars which was fixed in 90 CE. The Protestants adhere to the Hebrew canon, with
the New Testament canon which was fixed in 4th Century CE with 27 books. The Protestant Bible canon
is composed of 66 inspired books.
The Roman Catholic Bible canon is of more books compared to the Protestants particularly in the
Old Testament books. The Council of Trent of 1543-1563 of Roman Catholic added 7 books, called
Deutero-canonical books (1-2 Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Wisdom and Sirach) to the 39 Hebrew
books. These books were believed to have same level of inspiration with the latter. Thus, from this period
the Roma Catholic used these 7 books in addition to the original 39 books. The Old Testament is then
comprised of 46 books, the 27 books of the New Testament, the Roman Catholic Bible canon therefore is
composed of 73.

The Canon rule for selecting OT/NT books are namely:

1. The belief in one God (OT)
2. The belief in Jesus Christ (NT)

D. Translation
The Old Testament was written for the most part in Hebrew. A few sections were written in
Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew. Some of the later books were composed in Greek. The whole of the
Old Testament was translated into Greek about 200 years before Christ (285-246 B.C). it was known as
Septuagint. It literally means seventy, the number of Jewish scholars who, according to an ancient legend,
did the translation. The Septuagint was used by Christian missionaries among Greek-speaking
non-Christians.
The whole New Testament, on the other hand was written in Greek. When Latin becomes the
dominant language and when missionaries took Christianity to other people who did not know Greek, it
was clear that translations must be done.
Translation is also interpretation. Hebrew and Greek words are so rich with meanings that is quite
difficult to capture them in English language. For instance, the word Shalom could mean peace, good,
health, or wellbeing. Now it is up to the translator to select the best meaning. This is where personal
biases would come in. But, in this case translators come from different religious persuasions t avoids
biases.
There are two approaches in translating the Bible. One approach is the Traditional approach,
wherein the original Hebrew or Greek literary form is translated as it is in English. The focus is on the
preservation not only of the content, but most especially the literal form. Example of this approach are the
King James Version and the Revised Standard Version.
Another approach is called the dynamic equivalence approach. The translator focuses more on the
content of the text rather than the literal form and translates the content of the text rather than the literal
form, and translates the content in the language of the particular target readership. Both the original
content and the language of the readership are to seriously considered in this approach. An example is the
Good News Bible and the New Revised Standard Version.

How The Bible Came To Us (through Translation, 200BCE to 1995 only)

Dates Significant Developments
200 BCE (Before the Common Era) Greek Old Testament (Septuagint)
50-100 CE (Common Era) New Testament Books Written
90 CE OT Canon Fixed
300-500 CE Syriac Old Latin Coptic Translation
500 Latin Vulgate Bible Translation, NT Canon Fixed
700-1000 Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Bible
1380-1384 Wyclif Bible Translation (Revised in 1395)
1456 First Printed Latin Bible
1522 Luther’s German NT
1525 Tyndale First Printed NT
1528 Pagninus Latin Bible
1534 Luther’s German Bible
1535 Coverdale Bible (First Printed English Bible)
1537 Matthew’s Bible
1539 Great Bible
1557 Beza’s Greek And Latin Testaments
1560 Geneva Bible
1568 Bishop’s Bible
1582-1610 Rheims-Douai Bible
1611 King James Version
1749-1750 Challoner’s Revision
1881-1885 English Revised Version
1901 American Standard Version of English Revised Version
*The phrase Before the Common Era (BCE) replaces the old designation Before Christ (BC), while the
phrase Common Era (CE) replaces Anno Domini (AD) or the Year of our Lord. This is due to the desire to
make the timeline designations more inclusive and ecumenical.

1902 Weymouth NT
1917 Jewish Publication Society, OT
1924 Centenary, NT; Moffatt Bible
1927 Smith-Goodspeed Bible
1941 Confraternity NT
1946 Revised Standard Version NT
1952 Revised Standard Version Bible
1952-1966 Confraternity Bible
1966 Jerusalem Bible
1970 New American Bible
1971 New English Bible (NT 1961)
Living Bible (Paraphrase)
New American Standard Bible
1976 Good News Bible (NT 1966)
1978 New International Version Bible (NT 1973)
1988 Christian Community Bible
1989 New Revised Standard Version
1995 Contemporary English Bible
Apply/Assess
Accomplish the following:
Activity 4.
1. State an example of Oral and Written tradition from the Bible and how it transformed your
life to become a better Christian in the context of being a: a) Student, b? Daughter/son, 3.
Citizen. 30pts

2. Illustrate in a diagram the historical development of the Bible. 20pts