CONCORDIA COLLEGE, INC.

Integrated Basic Education Department

1st Semester A.Y. 2022-2023

Vincentian Spirituality 1
HANDOUTS 1

I. The Bible: A Very Special Book

A. What the Bible is
1. Etymology
- “byblos” (Gk.) = “Biblia” (Lat. & Gk.)
- Papyrus, a reed with which the Egyptians prepared their writing materials
- Sacred Scripture / Scriptures to distinguish it from Sacred Oral Tradition
2. It is the GREATEST LOVE STORY ever written. It speaks of the tremendous love of God for
mankind and God’s enduring, unconditional love for every human being and man’s
response to it.
3. It is the written record of God’s revelation
4. It is one of the two channels through which God’s revelation reaches us. The other
channel is the living tradition of the Church
* Jesus Christ - the most intimate truth about God; the mediator and the sum total
of God’s revelation
5. It has both a DIVINE AUTHOR – GOD – and many human authors.
6. It is a collection of books of different lengths and of a great variety of topics.
7. It is a small library which contains history, edifying stories, prophecies, letters, etc.
8. Its writings are considered SACRED by both Jews and Christians.
- the Jews consider “sacred” only those “books” written before the birth of Christ
- we, Christians consider “sacred” also other writings written after Christ’s birth
9. Its writers – human authors – were under God’s special intervention called “inspiration”
Biblical inspiration, a complex process whereby “God so moved the writers by His
supernatural operation to write, and assisted them in their writing (Encyclical
Providentissimus Deus)
10. Its writing - error-free, a “privilege” called “inerrancy”
> does not apply to grammar, historical information or technical data
11. Its primary concern > to teach us about God & how to respond to His love
12. It can be understood only within a “Faith Dimension”

B. Basic Structure of the Bible

1. OLD TESTAMENT - written before the birth of Christ
2. NEW TESTAMENT - written after the birth of Christ

“Testament”, “testamentum”(“diatheke” Gk., “berith” Heb.)

- used to express the idea of COVENANT, AGREEMENT, ALLIANCE
- revolves around the COVENANT which God made with His people on Mt. Sinai
- the “Covenant” expresses the unique relationship between Yahweh and the people
of Israel
- its basic demand is: “LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul
and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:5)
- most of its books were written in Hebrew, some in Greek
- the Jews divide their Bible (Old Testament) into 3 parts:
* Torah (Law)
* Prophets
* Writings
- we, Christians, divide the O.T. into 4 parts:
* Pentateuch * Wisdom Books
* Historical Books * Prophetic Books

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C. The Books of the Bible

Old Testament - 46
New Testament - 27
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73

D. Books of the Old Testament

PENTATEUCH
a. Genesis d. Numbers
b. Exodus e. Deuteronomy
c. Leviticus
HISTORICAL
a. Joshua g. Ezra
b. Judges h. Nehemiah
c. Ruth i. Tobit
d. 1 & 2 Samuel j. Judith
e. 1 & 2 Kings k. Esther
f. 1 & 2 Chronicles l. 1 & 2 Maccabees
WISDOM
a. Job e. Song of Songs
b. Psalms f. Wisdom
c. Proverbs g. Sirach
d. Ecclesiastes
PROPHETIC LITERATURE
(Major Prophets)
a. Isaiah d. Ezekiel
b. Jeremiah e. Daniel
c. Lamentations
(Minor Prophets)
a. Baruch h. Nahum
b. Hosea i. Habakkuk
c. Joel j. Zephaniah
d. Amos k. Haggai
e. Obadiah l. Zechariah
f. Jonah m. Malachi
g. Micah

E. The Bible is Not One Book

1. But a Library of 73 Books
2. Written by over 40 Men over a period of 1500 Years (1400 B.C. to 110 A.D.)
3. The Forty Writers of the Bible
Were From
Shepherds Rome
Kings Jerusalem
Fishermen Babylon (Iraq)
Peasants Persia (Iran)
Doctors Greece
Tax-collectors Turkey
4. The Old Testament – 46 books
a. All written in the 1500 year period before Jesus’ birth
b. “Testament” means “covenant or agreement”
c. The Old Covenant is an agreement that God made with the nation of ISRAEL
d. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew – the language of Israel
5. The New Testament – 27 books
a. All written AFTER his death (48-120 A.D.)
b. The New Covenant is an agreement that God has made for ALL NATIONS
c. The New Testament was written in Greek
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F. MOSES is attributed with writing the first five books of the Bible:
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
* They are sometimes called the Torah

G. The First Book

1. GENESIS – Chapters 1-11
a. Creation of the world
b. First human family
c. Spread of evil
d. World-wide flood
e. Division of humankind into nations and languages
2. GENESIS – chapters 12-50
a. God chooses the FATHERS of the future nation of Israel
b. Four Generations – grow from 1 couple to 70 people

H. Books 2-5 (Moses) - Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

1. Tells about the beginning of the nation and how God gave them His Laws

I. Books 6-17
1. ARE BOOKS OF HISTORY WRITTEN BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
2. 1400 – 80 B.C.
3. Possession of their land, the establishment of the kingdom, the captivity and return to their land

J. Books 18-22
1. ARE BOOKS OF POETRY AND WISDOM
2. Job is about man’s question about suffering
3. Psalms is a collection of poems put to music
4. Proverbs is a collection of short wise sayings

K. Books 18-28
1. ARE BOOKS OF POETRY AND WISDOM
2. Ecclesiastes tells how to live life in a world where all is vanity
3. Song of Solomon is a poem about true romantic love

L. Books 29-46
1. Throughout the history of Israel, various prophets predicted that SOMEONE from Israel will
one day be a SAVIOR and KING of the world
2. Even the Fathers of the nation of Israel were told by God that one of their descendants would
one day be born and bless the entire world

M. The story of the Old Testament was about SOMEONE IS COMING

1. All the Prophets, Priests and Kings of Israel were ANNOINTED with oil when they took their
office. It was like an inauguration ceremony
2. The Prophets of Israel predicted that one day God would anoint a world leader with his Spirit.
Anoint – English
Messiah – Hebrew
Christ – Greek
3. The message of the prophets of the Old Testament was CHRIST IS COMING.