1.
Old Testament
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Its counterpart is the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible. The books that comprise the Old Testament canon differ between Christian Churches as well as their order and names. The most common Protestant canon comprises 39 books, the Catholic canon comprises 46 books, the 39 books in common to all the Christian canons corresponds to 24 books of the Tanakh, with some differences of order, and there are some differences in text. The additional number reflects the split of texts in the Christian Bibles into separate books, for example, Kings, Samuel and Chronicles, Ezra–Nehemiah, the books which are part of a Christian Old Testament but which are not part of the Hebrew canon are sometimes described as deuterocanonical. In general, Protestant bibles do not include books in its canon. The Old Testament consists of translations of many books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. The canon formed in stages, first the Pentateuch by around 400 BC, then the Prophets during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books. The Old Testament contains 39 or 46 or more books, divided, very broadly, into the Pentateuch, the books, the wisdom books. For the Orthodox canon, Septuagint titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions, for the Catholic canon, the Douaic titles are provided in parentheses when these differ from those editions. Likewise, the King James Version references some of these books by the spelling when referring to them in the New Testament. The Talmud in Bava Batra 14b gives a different order for the books in Neviim and Ketuvim and this order is also cited in Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7,15. The order of the books of the Torah is universal through all denominations of Judaism and they are present in a few historic Protestant versions, the German Luther Bible included such books, as did the English 1611 King James Version. Empty table cells indicate that a book is absent from that canon, several of the books in the Eastern Orthodox canon are also found in the appendix to the Latin Vulgate, formerly the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings follow, there is a broad consensus among scholars that these originated as a single work during the Babylonian exile of the 6th century BC. The two Books of Chronicles cover much the material as the Pentateuch and Deuteronomistic history and probably date from the 4th century BC. Chronicles, and Ezra–Nehemiah, were finished during the 3rd century BC. Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments contain two to four Books of Maccabees, written in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and these history books make up around half the total content of the Old Testament. God is consistently depicted as the one who created or put into order the world, the Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well
2.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
3.
Biblica
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Biblica is also a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International. Biblica was founded December 4,1809, in New York City as the New York Bible Society by a group including Henry Rutgers, William Colgate. Biblica experienced its first merger in 1819 when it merged with the New York Auxiliary Bible Society, since then it has undergone the following changes, NYBS formed Young Men’s NYBS in 1823. NYBS broke up into Ward Associations in 1827, Ward Associations reformed into New York City Bible Society in 1828. NYCBS merged back into the Young Men’s NYBS in 1832, marine Bible Society merged with YMNYBS in 1840. Name changed to New York Bible Society International in 1971, name changed to New York International Bible Society in 1974. Name shortened to International Bible Society in 1988, Living Bibles merger occurred in 1992. STL merger occurred March 1,2007, name changed to Biblica in July,2009. The organization moved to Colorado Springs from New Jersey in 1988, Biblica’s international ministry began in 1810 with its sponsorship of William Carey’s Bible translation work in India. The worldwide work expanded in 1992 following the merger with Living Bibles International, the reach of Biblica around the world again expanded through its merger with Send the Light in 2007. Biblica has provided more than 650 million Scripture pieces around the world in its 200-year history, in addition, Biblica’s Scripture online provides access to Bible texts in 26 languages to more than 85 million people per month. International Bible Society Bible society Biblicas History Official website
4.
Novum Testamentum Graece
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Novum Testamentum Graece is the Latin name of a compendium source document of the New Testament in its original Greek-language, and the modern day standard for translations and analysis. The first printed edition was the Complutensian Polyglot Bible by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, printed in 1514, the first published edition of the Greek New Testament was produced by Desiderius Erasmus in 1516. Today the designation Novum Testamentum Graece normally refers to the Nestle-Aland editions, the text, edited by the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung is currently in its 28th edition, abbreviated NA28. The Nestle-Aland text is the source for most contemporary New Testament translations. The Nestle-Aland text is also the standard for academic work in New Testament studies, the title Novum Testamentum Graece can also be applied to the United Bible Societies edition which contains the same base text. The Greek text as presented is what biblical scholars refer to as the critical text, the critical text is an eclectic text compiled by a committee that examines a large number of manuscripts in order to determine which reading is most likely to be closest to the original. This view has been criticized by Gordon Fee and Bruce Metzger among others, since the majority of old manuscripts in existence are minuscules, they are often referred to as the Majority Text. The Novum Testamentum Graece apparatus summarizes the evidence for, and sometimes against, while eschewing completeness, this edition does provide informed readers with a basis by which they can judge for themselves which readings more accurately reflect the originals. The critical apparatus is different in the two editions, the UBS4 edition is prepared for the use of translators, and includes fewer textual variants, in 1901, he replaced the Weymouth New Testament with Bernhard Weisss text. In later editions, Nestle began noting the attestation of certain important manuscripts in his apparatus, eberhards son Erwin Nestle took over after his fathers death and issued the 13th edition in 1927. This edition introduced a critical apparatus and began to abandon the majority reading principle. In the apparatus only a few minuscules were included, Kurt Aland became the associate editor of the 21st edition in 1952. At Erwin Nestles request, he reviewed and expanded the critical apparatus and this eventually led to the 25th edition of 1963. The most important Papyri and newly discovered Uncials, as 0189, the great manuscript discoveries of the 20th century had also made a revision of the text necessary and, with Nestles permission, Aland set out to revise the text of Novum Testamentum Graece. Members of the Editorial Committee of the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament comprise, UBS1,1966 Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Bruce Metzger, uBS2,1968 Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Bruce Metzger, Allen Wikgren. UBS3,1975 Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo Maria Martini, Bruce Metzger, the committee consists of Christos Karakolis, David Parker, Stephen Pisano, Holger Strutwolf, David Trobisch and Klaus Wachtel. In all but the Catholic Epistles, the 28th edition of Nestle-Aland reproduces the text of NA27 and presents a critical apparatus. In the Catholic Epistles, the text has been edited in line with the Editio Critica Maior, the result is a change in just over 30 places
5.
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
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It is the fourth edition in the Biblia Hebraica series started by Rudolf Kittel and is published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft in Stuttgart. Bhs is a revision of the edition of the Biblia Hebraica, edited by Paul Kahle. It originally appeared in installments, from 1968 to 1976, with the first one-volume edition in 1977, the fifth reprint of the bhs was revised and redistributed in 1997. Initial volumes of the Bible Hebraica Quinta have been available for sale since 2004, completion of the project is intended by 2020. The work has been published in 15 fascicles from 1968 to 1976 according to this release schedule taken from the Latin prolegomena in the book. The processing and development of the Masoretic annotations and notes within all editions of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was the privilege of Gérard E. Weil, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is meant to be an exact copy of the Masoretic Text as recorded in the Leningrad Codex. According to the introductory prolegomena of the book, the editors have accordingly refrained from removing obvious scribal errors, diacritics like the Silluq and Meteg which were missing in the Leningrad Codex also have not been added. The only exception to that is the Rafe diacritic which has been omitted in the BHS due to almost insuperable technical difficulties with its implementation in the typeface. This is not untypical, since almost every Hebrew Bible print edition, like its predecessor the Biblia Hebraica Kittel the BHS adds the letters samekh ס and פ into the text to indicate blank spaces in the Leningrad Codex, which divide the text into sections. One more difference to the Leningrad Codex is the book order, the bhs is composed of the three traditional divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah, Neviim, and the Ketuvim. In the margins are Masoretic notes and these are based on the codex, but have been heavily edited to make them more consistent and easier to understand. Even so, whole books have been written to explain these notes themselves, some of the notes are marked sub loco, meaning that there appears to be some problem, often that they contradict the text. The editors never published any explanation of what the problems were, the sub loco notes do not necessarily explain interesting text variants, they are, in the vast majority, only notes on inaccurate word countings/frequencies. See Daniel S. Mynatt, The Sub Loco Notes in the Torah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Christopher Dost, footnotes record possible corrections to the Hebrew text. Many are based on the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea Scrolls and on early Bible translations such as the Septuagint, Vulgate, the order of the biblical books generally follows the codex, even for the Ketuvim, where that order differs from most common printed Hebrew bibles. Thus the Book of Job comes after Psalms and before Proverbs, the only difference is with Chronicles. Malachi The Ketuvim The Sifrei Emet, the books,14. Proverbs The Five Megillot or Five Scrolls,17, Esther The rest of the Writings,22
6.
Masoretic Text
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The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Tanakh for Rabbinic Judaism. However, contemporary scholars seeking to understand the history of the Hebrew Bible’s text use a range of other sources and these include Greek and Syriac translations, quotations from rabbinic manuscripts, the Samaritan Pentateuch and others such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many of these are older than the Masoretic text and often contradict it, while the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah. The Masoretic Text is widely used as the basis for translations of the Old Testament in Protestant Bibles, in modern times the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown the Masoretic Text to be nearly identical to some texts of the Tanakh dating from 200 BCE but different from others. The Masoretic Text was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE, the Hebrew word mesorah refers to the transmission of a tradition. In a very broad sense it can refer to the chain of Jewish tradition. This Jewish tradition is claimed to be unchanged and infallible, the oldest extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 9th century CE. The Aleppo Codex dates from the 10th century and this copy is mentioned in the Letter of Aristeas, in the statements of Philo, and in Josephus. A Talmudic story, perhaps referring to an time, relates that three Torah scrolls were found in the Temple court but were at variance with each other. The differences were resolved by majority decision among the three. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, dating from c.150 BCE-75 CE, the scrolls show numerous small variations in orthography, both as against the later Masoretic text, and between each other. It is also evident from the notings of corrections and of variant alternatives that scribes felt free to choose according to their personal taste and discretion between different readings. However, despite these variations, most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic text than to any other group that has survived. On the other hand, some of the fragments conforming most accurately to the Masoretic text were found in Cave 4, an emphasis on minute details of words and spellings, already used among the Pharisees as bases for argumentation, reached its height with the example of Rabbi Akiva. Very few manuscripts are said to have survived the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and this both drastically reduced the number of variants in circulation, and gave a new urgency that the text must be preserved. New Greek translations were also made, unlike the Septuagint, large-scale deviations in sense between the Greek of Aquila of Sinope and Theodotion and what we now know as the Masoretic text are minimal. According to Menachem Cohen these schools developed such prestige for the accuracy, differences remained, sometimes bolstered by systematic local differences in pronunciation and cantillation. Every locality, following the tradition of its school, had a standard codex embodying its readings, in the first half of the 10th century Aaron ben Moses ben Asher and Ben Naphtali were the leading Masoretes in Tiberias
7.
Dead Sea Scrolls
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The caves are located about two kilometres inland from the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name. The consensus is that the Qumran Caves Scrolls date from the last three centuries BCE and the first century CE. Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus and continuing until the First Jewish–Roman War, supporting the radiocarbon and paleographic dating of the scrolls. In the larger sense, the Dead Sea Scrolls include manuscripts from additional Judaean Desert sites, most of the texts are written in Hebrew, with some in Aramaic, and a few in Greek. If discoveries from the Judean desert are included, Latin and Arabic can be added, most texts are written on parchment, some on papyrus, and one on copper. Owing to the condition of some of the scrolls, not all of them have been identified. The practice of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earthenware vessels buried in the earth or within caves is related to the ancient Jewish custom of Genizah. The initial discovery, by Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Juma Muhammed, the shepherds discovered seven scrolls housed in jars in a cave near what is now known as the Qumran site. Trever reconstructed the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouin, edh-Dhibs cousin noticed the caves, but edh-Dhib himself was the first to actually fall into one. He retrieved a handful of scrolls, which Trever identifies as the Isaiah Scroll, Habakkuk Commentary, and the Community Rule, none of the scrolls were destroyed in this process, despite popular rumor. The Bedouin kept the scrolls hanging on a tent pole while they figured out what to do with them, at some point during this time, the Community Rule was split in two. The Bedouin first took the scrolls to a dealer named Ibrahim Ijha in Bethlehem, Ijha returned them, saying they were worthless, after being warned that they might have been stolen from a synagogue. Undaunted, the Bedouin went to a market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested they take the scrolls to Khalil Eskander Shahin, Kando, the Bedouin and the dealers returned to the site, leaving one scroll with Kando and selling three others to a dealer for 7 GBP. The original scrolls continued to change hands after the Bedouin left them in the possession of a party until a sale could be arranged. In 1947 the original seven scrolls caught the attention of Dr. John C, in March the 1948 Arab-Israeli War prompted the move of some of the scrolls to Beirut, Lebanon, for safekeeping. On 11 April 1948, Millar Burrows, head of the ASOR, early in September 1948, Metropolitan bishop Mar Samuel brought some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired to Professor Ovid R. Sellers, the new Director of ASOR. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after their discovery, scholars had yet to locate the cave where the fragments had been found
8.
Samaritan Pentateuch
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The Samaritan Pentateuch, also known as the Samaritan Torah, is a text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, written in the Samaritan alphabet and used as a scripture by the Samaritans. It constitutes their entire biblical canon, some six thousand differences exist between the Samaritan and the Masoretic Text. Nearly two thousand of these textual variations agree with the Koine Greek Septuagint and some are shared with the Latin Vulgate. Throughout their history, Samaritans have made use of translations of the Samaritan Pentateuch into Aramaic, Greek, some Pentateuchal manuscripts discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls have been identified as bearing a pre-Samaritan text type. Samaritans believe that God authored their Pentateuch and gave Moses the first copy along with the two containing the Ten Commandments. They believe that they preserve this divinely composed text uncorrupted to the present day, Samaritans commonly refer to their Pentateuch as קושטה. Samaritans include only the Pentateuch in their biblical canon and they do not recognize divine authorship or inspiration in any other book in the Jewish Tanakh. A Samaritan Book of Joshua partly based upon the Tanakhs Book of Joshua exists, according to a view based on the biblical Book of Ezra, the Samaritans are the people of Samaria who parted ways with the people of Judah in the Persian period. The Samaritans believe that it was not they, but the Jews, modern scholarship connects the formation of the Samaritan community with events which followed the Babylonian Captivity. One view is that the Samaritans are the people of the Kingdom of Israel who separated from the Judaites, others believe that the real schism between the peoples did not take place until Hasmonean times when the Gerizim temple was destroyed in 128 BCE by John Hyrcanus. The script of the Samaritan Pentateuch, its connections at many points with the Septuagint. Manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch are written in a different Hebrew script than is used in other Hebrew Pentateuchs, Samaritans employ the Samaritan alphabet which is derived from the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet used by the Israelite community prior to the Babylonian captivity. Afterwards, Jews adopted a script based on the Aramaic alphabet that developed into the Hebrew alphabet, originally all manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch consisted of unvocalized text written using only the letters of the Samaritan alphabet. Beginning in the 12th century, some show a partial vocalization resembling the Jewish Tiberian vocalization used in Masoretic manuscripts. More recently a few manuscripts have produced with full vocalization. However, many extant manuscripts show no tendency towards vocalization, the Pentateuchal text is divided into 904 paragraphs. Divisions between sections of text are marked with various combinations of lines, dots or an asterisk, the critical apparatus accompanying the London Polyglots publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch lists six thousand instances where the Samaritan differs from the Masoretic Text. However, as different printed editions of the Samaritan Pentateuch are based upon different sets of manuscripts, only a minority are significant, most can be categorized as one of the following types, More matres lectionis in the Samaritan Pentateuch to indicate vowels compared with the Masoretic
9.
Theodotion
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Theodotion was a Hellenistic Jewish scholar, perhaps working in Ephesus, who in c. AD150 translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, whether he was revising the Septuagint, or was working from Hebrew manuscripts that represented a parallel tradition that has not survived, is debated. In the 2nd century Theodotions text was quoted in the Shepherd of Hermas and his finished version, which filled some lacunae in the Septuagint version of the Book of Jeremiah and Book of Job, formed one column in Origen of Alexandrias Hexapla, c. Theodotions translation was so widely copied in the Early Christian church that its version of the Book of Daniel virtually superseded the Septuagints, jerome records the rejection of the Septuagints version of that book in Christian usage. Jeromes preface also mentions that the Hexapla had notations in it, however, Theodotions Daniel is closer to the modern Hebrew Masoretic Text version, that is the basis for most modern translations. Theodotions Daniel is also the one embodied in the edition of the Septuagint published by Sixtus V in 1587. Aquila of Sinope Symmachus the Ebionite Septuagint On Weights and Measures Jewish Encyclopedia, the Unknown Aramaic Original of Theodotions Additions to Daniel in Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology Vol. xvi. Demonstrating that the existing Aramaic text is itself an adaptation from the Greek of Theodotion, not its original
10.
Vulgate
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The Vulgate is a late fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible that became, during the 16th century, the Catholic Churchs officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible. The translation was largely the work of St. Jerome, who, in 382 AD, was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina collection of biblical texts in Latin then in use by the Church. Once published, it was adopted and eventually eclipsed the Vetus Latina and, by the 13th century, was known as the versio vulgata or, more simply. The Catholic Church affirmed it as its official Latin Bible at the Council of Trent, the Vulgate has a compound text that is not entirely the work of Jerome. Its components include, Jeromes independent translation from the Hebrew, the books of the Hebrew Bible, usually not including his translation of the Psalms. Translation from the Greek of Theodotion by Jerome, The three additions to the Book of Daniel, Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna, and The Idol Bel and the Dragon. The Song of the Three Children was retained within the narrative of Daniel, translation from the Septuagint by Jerome, the Rest of Esther. Jerome gathered all these additions together at the end of the Book of Esther, translation from the Hexaplar Septuagint by Jerome, his Gallican version of the Book of Psalms. Jeromes Hexaplaric revisions of other books of Old Testament continued to circulate in Italy for several centuries, free translation by Jerome from a secondary Aramaic version, Tobias and Judith. Revision by Jerome of the Old Latin, corrected with reference to the oldest Greek manuscripts available, Old Latin, more or less revised by a person or persons unknown, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah,3 Esdras, Acts, Epistles, and the Apocalypse. Old Latin, wholly unrevised, Epistle to the Laodiceans, Prayer of Manasses,4 Esdras, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. Jerome did not embark on the work with the intention of creating a new version of the whole Bible, how much of the rest of the New Testament he then revised is difficult to judge today, but little of his work survived in the Vulgate text. Jerome first embarked on a revision of the Psalms, translated from the revised Septuagint Greek column of the Hexapla and he also appears to have undertaken further new translations into Latin from the Hexaplar Septuagint column for other books. But from 390 to 405, Jerome translated anew from the Hebrew all 39 books in the Hebrew Bible, including a further version of the Psalms. This new translation of the Psalms was labelled by him as iuxta Hebraeos, the Vulgate is usually credited as being the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin directly from the Hebrew Tanakh, rather than the Greek Septuagint. Moreover, Augustine in that passage demonstrates his own preference for the Greek thus eliminating any possibility that Saint Jerome translated the OT from Greek. In these letters, Jerome described those books or portions of books in the Septuagint that were not found in the Hebrew as being non-canonical, Jeromes views did not, however, prevail, and all complete manuscripts and editions of the Vulgate include some or all of these books. Their style is markedly distinguishable from Jeromes
11.
Targum
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The targumim were spoken paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Jewish scriptures that a Rabbi would give in the common language of the listeners, which was then often Aramaic. That had become necessary near the end of the 1st century BCE, as the language was in transition and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling. The noun Targum is derived from the early semitic quadriliteral root trgm, and it occurs in the Hebrew Bible in Ezra 4,7. and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. Besides denoting the translations of the Bible, the term Targum also denote the oral rendering of Bible lections in synagogue, other than the meaning translate the verb Tirgem also means to explain. The word Targum refers to translation and argumentation or explanation, writing down the targum was prohibited, nevertheless, some targumatic writings appeared as early as the middle of the first century CE. They were then not recognized as authoritative by the religious leaders, some subsequent Jewish traditions accepted the written targumim as authoritative, and eventually, it became a matter of debate. Today, only Jews from the republic of Yemen continue to use the targumim liturgically, as translations, the targumim largely reflect midrashic interpretation of the Tanakh from the time they were written and are notable for eschewing anthropomorphisms in favor of allegorical readings. That is true both for those targumim that are fairly literal as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions, in 1541, Elia Levita wrote and published Sefer Meturgeman, explaining all the Aramaic words found in the Targum. An Aramaic Bible is also used in the Syriac Church, in addition, targumim are used today as sources in text-critical editions of the Bible. In the synagogues of talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse and this custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues. The Yemenite Jews are the only Jewish community to continue the use of Targum as liturgical text and this too refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the haftarot from Neviim. Medieval biblical manuscripts of the Tiberian mesorah sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse and this scribal practice has its roots both in the public reading of the Targum and in the private study requirement. The two official targumim are considered eastern, nevertheless, scholars believe they too originated in the Land of Israel because of a strong linguistic substratum of western Aramaic. Though these targumim were later easternized, the substratum belying their origins still remains, for instance, it serves as a major source in the Torah commentary of Shlomo Yitzhaki, Rashi, and therefor has always been the standard fare for Ashkenazs Jews. For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Tanakh which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text, the Talmud explicitly states that no official targumim were composed besides these two on Torah and Neviim alone, and that there is no official targum to Ketuvim. An official targum was in fact unnecessary for Ketuvim because its books played no fixed liturgical role, the Talmud states The Targum of the Pentateuch was composed by Onkelos the proselyte from the mouths of R. Eleazar and R. Joshua. Uzziel thereupon arose and said, It is I who have revealed Thy secrets to mankind. It is fully known to Thee that I have not done this for my own honour or for the honour of my fathers house, but for Thy honour l have done it, that dissension may not increase in Israel
12.
Latin Psalters
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The Latin Psalters are the translations of the Book of Psalms into the Latin language. They are the premier liturgical resource used in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Latin Rites of the Roman Catholic Church. These translations are typically placed in a volume or a section of the breviary called the psalter. In the Middle Ages, psalters were often lavish illuminated manuscripts, the Latin Church has a diverse selection of more-or-less different translations of the psalms. Three of these translations, the Romana, Gallicana, and juxta Hebraicum, are ascribed to Jerome. Two of these translations, the Pian and New Vulgate versions, were made in the 20th century, many of these translations are actually quite similar to each other, especially in style, the Roman, Gallican, Ambrosian, and Mozarabic psalters have relatively few differences between them. The concord among these similar psalters is attributable to an original translation from the Greek Septuagint. The New Vulgate psalter, though similar to these, diverges rather more from these traditional psalters insofar as it more closely follows the Hebrew Masoretic text. Two of these psalters stand apart as independent translations from the Hebrew, Jeromes juxta Hebraicum, also called the Psalterium Vetus, the psalter of the Old Latin Bible was used in the earliest days of the Latin liturgy in Rome, under Pope Damasus I. A translation from the Septuagint, it provided the basis for Jeromes first revision of the psalter and this is the version used in the Ambrosian rite. It was made in the middle of the 4th century from the Septuagint and it is similar to the version used in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites. The Roman version is used in the Roman Missal, but in the Divine Office, however and it lived on in Britain where it continued to be used until the Norman Conquest in 1066 and in Saint Peters Basilica in Rome and in St. The Versio Gallicana or Psalterium Gallicanum has traditionally been considered Jeromes second revision and this became the psalter of the Vulgate bible, and the basis for Gregorian chant. It is still used today in some monasteries and churches and by traditionalist Catholics and this most influential psalter has a distinctive style which is attributable to its origins as a translation of the Septuagint. Following the Septuagint, it eschews anthropomorphisms, for instance, the term rock is applied to God numerous times in the Hebrew Psalter, but the Latin term petra does not occur as an epithet for God in the gallicana. Instead more abstract words like refugium, refuge, locus munitus, place of strength, or adiutor and this psalter retains many Hebraisms by way of the Greek, the most noticeable being the redundant demonstrative. The relative pronoun is indeclinable in Hebrew, and so is accompanied by a redundant demonstrative and this use is reproduced in the Latin, although Latin has no need for it. For instance, Ps 18,4, quorum non audiantur voces eorum, also Ps 32,12, Beata gens cujus est Dominus Deus ejus, blessed is the nation whose God, its God, is the Lord
13.
Dynamic and formal equivalence
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Dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two dissimilar translation techniques used to achieve differing levels of literalness between the original and target languages of a text. Both of these techniques are used in biblical translation, the two terms have often been understood fundamentally as sense-for-sense translation and word-for-word translation. The desire is that the reader of both languages would understand the meanings of the text in a similar fashion, in later years, Nida distanced himself from the term dynamic equivalence and preferred the term functional equivalence. It is possible to associate functional equivalence with how people interact in cultures, formal equivalence is often more goal than reality, if only because one language may contain a word for a concept which has no direct equivalent in another language. In such cases, a dynamic translation may be used or a neologism may be created in the target language to represent the concept. The more the language differs from the target language, the more difficult it may be to understand a literal translation without modifying or rearranging the words in the target language. Translators of the Bible have taken various approaches in rendering it into English, ranging from a use of formal equivalence
14.
Zondervan
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Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version Bible in North America. Zondervan was founded in 1931 in Grandville, MI, a suburb of Grand Rapids, by brothers Peter and Bernard Zondervan, the company began in the Zondervans farmhouse and originally dealt with selling remainders and publishing public domain works. The first book it published was Women of the Old Testament by Abraham Kuyper, within a few years it developed a list of its own, and began publishing Bible editions. The Berkeley Version appeared in 1959, and the Amplified Bible in 1965, the NIV New Testament was published in partnership with the International Bible Society in 1973, and the complete NIV Bible appeared in 1978. The company was bought by HarperCollins, a division of News Corp, in 1988, scott Macdonald was appointed President and CEO in May 2011. Zondervan also publishes many books by Christian authors focusing on topics of interest to Christians. In the 1970s it published The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, NOOMA is a series of short spiritual films. In 2004, Zondervan expanded to include Renee Altson, Shane Claiborne, Sarah Raymond Cunningham and Margaret Feinberg, in 1980, Zondervan and Paragon Associates bought Christian record label Benson Records in a partnership to own and operate for $3 Million. The resulting company was one and a half times the size of its closest competitor, Zondervan bought out Paragon in 1983, and eventually sold Benson to Zomba Label Group in 1993, now a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Pradis was the name for Zondervans native format for biblical software. On 22 September 2009, Logos Research Systems, Inc, and Zondervan announced a new partnership, thirty-one titles were slated for availability in early 2010 in the LOGOS Bible Software format
15.
Hodder & Stoughton
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Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodders employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union. In 1861 the firm became Jackson, Walford and Hodder, but in 1868 Jackson and Walford retired, Hodder & Stoughton published both religious and secular works, and its religious list contained some progressive titles. These included George Adam Smiths Isaiah for its Expositor’s Bible series, there was also a sympathetic Life of St Francis by Paul Sabatier, a French Protestant pastor. Matthew Hodder made frequent visits to North America, meeting with the Moody Press and making links with Scribners, the secular list only gradually accepted fiction, and it was still subject to moral censorship in the early part of the twentieth century. Matthew Hodder was doubtful about the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the company refused Michael Arlens The Green Hat, a novel published by Collins in 1924. In 1922 Hodder and Stoughton published an edition of Lewis Carrolls Alices Adventures in Wonderland, in 1928, the company became the exclusive British hardback publisher of Leslie Charteriss adventure novel series, The Saint, publishing all 50 UK first editions of the series until 1983. In this decade they took over ownership of the medical journal. Hodder & Stoughton were also the originators of the Teach Yourself line of self-instruction books, as the company expanded at home and overseas, Hodder & Stoughtons list swelled to include the real life adventures in Pearys North Pole and several works by Winston Churchill. During the war, Ralph Hodder Williams set up the Brockhampton Book Co. to sell off overstocks of theological works. The manager, Ernest Roker, had an interest in books and managed to persuade author Enid Blyton to write a series of books for them about four children. In 1942, the Famous Five series was born with Five on a Treasure Island, in 1962, Brockhampton took over the childrens writer Elinor Lyon, whose novels the parent company had introduced in 1948. Hodder & Stoughton also published the Biggles books by Captain W. E. Johns, Hodder & Stoughton published their first original Biggles book in 1942 with Biggles Sweeps the Desert around Sept/Oct of that year and the Brockhampton Press published Johns Gimlet books from 1947. Hodder & Stoughton also published some of Johns Worrals books, Hodder & Stoughton eventually published 35 Biggles first editions and Brockhampton Press published a further 29 Biggles first editions. In 1953 they published Sir John Hunts successful The Ascent of Everest, in the 1970s, they brought the Knight and Coronet imprints into common use. The latter is memorable for David Nivens much-celebrated autobiography The Moons a Balloon. The non-fiction publishing included Anthony Sampsons era-defining The Anatomy of Britain in 1962, another notable title in the childrens sphere was the 1969 Brockhampton Press publication of Asterix the Gaul by Goscinny and Uderzo. In 1974, John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was published to critical acclaim
16.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
17.
Bible translations into English
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Partial Bible translations into languages of the English people can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle English. More than 450 translations into English have been written, the New Revised Standard Version is the version most commonly preferred by biblical scholars. Although John Wycliffe is often credited with the first translation of the Bible into English, there were, in fact, the English Bible was first translated from the Latin Vulgate into Old English by a few select monks and scholars. Such translations were generally in the form of prose or as interlinear glosses, very few complete translations existed during that time. Rather, most of the books of the Bible existed separately and were read as individual texts, thus, the sense of the Bible as history that often exists today did not exist at that time. Instead, a rendering of the Bible was more common. Toward the end of the 7th century, the Venerable Bede began a translation of scripture into Old English, aldhelm translated the complete Book of Psalms and large portions of other scriptures into Old English. This is the oldest extant translation of the Gospels into the English language, the Wessex Gospels are a full translation of the four gospels into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Produced in approximately 990, they are the first translation of all four gospels into English without the Latin text, in the 11th century, Abbot Ælfric translated much of the Old Testament into Old English. The Ormulum is in Middle English of the 12th century, like its Old English precursor from Ælfric, an Abbot of Eynsham, it includes very little Biblical text, and focuses more on personal commentary. This style was adopted by many of the original English translators, for example, the story of the Wedding at Cana is almost 800 lines long, but fewer than 40 lines are the actual translation of the text. An unusual characteristic is that the translation mimics Latin verse, and so is similar to the known and appreciated 14th-century English poem. Richard Rolle wrote an English Psalter, many religious works are attributed to Rolle, but it has been questioned how many are genuinely from his hand. Many of his works were concerned with personal devotion, and some were used by the Lollards, the 14th century theologian John Wycliffe is credited with translating what is now known as Wycliffes Bible, though it is not clear how much of the translation he himself did. This translation came out in two different versions, the earlier text is characterised by a strong adherence to the word order of Latin, and might have been difficult for the layperson to comprehend. The later text made more concessions to the grammar of English. Early Modern English Bible translations are of between about 1500 and 1800, the period of Early Modern English and this, the first major period of Bible translation into the English language, began with the introduction of the Tyndale Bible. The first complete edition of his New Testament was in 1526, Tyndale used the Greek and Hebrew texts of the New Testament and Old Testament in addition to Jeromes Latin translation
18.
Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
19.
Trinity Christian College
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Trinity Christian College is a four-year liberal arts college in Palos Heights, Illinois, a southwestern suburb of Chicago. The college was founded in 1959 by a group of Chicago businessmen who wanted to establish a college providing students with a Christian higher education in a Reformed tradition and this accredited, four-year liberal arts college offers degrees in more than 70 programs of study. Backstory On April 5,1956, a group of business leaders decided to open a Christian college in the Chicago area. - The first board of trustees was elected in 1959, and they purchased the Navajo Hills Golf Course in suburban Palos Heights, Illinois, for the campus. After remodeling the former clubhouse and pro shop, the then two-year college opened that fall with a class of 37 students taught by five faculty members, in 1966, the board initiated the process for the College to become a four-year, degree-granting institution. The first baccalaureate degrees were awarded in May 1971, building on the Foundation of Reformed Christianity Trinity serves students from a wide range of denominations and traditions. The College’s roots, however, are found in Reformed Christianity, a connection that is both foundational and pervasive today. ”At the Core The original curriculum of Trinity focused substantially on philosophy, history, English. While the core requirements of Trinity have evolved over the years. Moreover, areas of specialization have expanded to include over 80 programs and majors, including the areas of business, education, nursing. From the beginning and continuing today, students learn from dedicated professors who integrate a Christian worldview into their pedagogy, the Adult Studies Accelerated Program was added in 1999 and offers degrees in business, education, psychology and special education. In addition Trinity now offers a 100% online program in Criminal Justice,2002, The Heritage Science Center opens, providing 38,000 square feet of classrooms, lab space, and a lecture hall. 2008, The Bootsma Bookstore Café is dedicated, honoring former College president Dr. Ken Bootsma,2008, The long-envisioned 44, 000-square-foot Art and Communication Center is dedicated. 2009, Plans for the expansion of the gym coincide with development of the new Rt.83 athletic fields,2011, The DeVos Athletics and Recreation Center opens. New athletics fields and a new athletics complex have been in development with completion of the DeVos Athletics, the facility features a state of the art lab for exercise students, a bouldering wall, and a fitness center. The eighth college president is Kurt D. Dykstra, Trinity Christian College developed a cohesive approach to its core curriculum of philosophy, history, English, and theology. In the years since its vision was conceived, the college has kept pace with the changing educational landscape by offering a broader scope of courses. The curriculum expanded to include business, criminal justice, education, many pre-professional programs are also offered, including pre-medicine, pre-physical therapy, pre-seminary, pre-law, allied health sciences, and most recently, pre-speech and language pathology. The traditional student body has swelled to more than 1000 undergraduates, with a student/faculty ratio of 11,1, Trinity students receive individual attention that affirms their spiritual and academic experience
20.
Palos Heights, Illinois
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Palos Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,515 at the 2010 census, according to the 2010 census, Palos Heights has a total area of 3.878 square miles, of which 3.78 square miles is land and 0.098 square miles is water. As of the 2000 census, there were 11,561 people,4,123 households, the population density was 2,978.6 people per square mile. There were 4,268 housing units at a density of 1,129.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 96. 39% White,0. 44% African American,0. 09% Native American,2. 06% Asian,0. 25% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 43% of the population. The top five ancestries reported in Palos as of the 2000 census were Irish, German, Polish, Italian,22. 2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the family size was 2.98. In the city, the population was out with 20. 2% under the age of 18,8. 2% from 18 to 24,18. 6% from 25 to 44,27. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 47 years, for every 100 females there were 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males, the median income for a household in the city was $69,907, and the median income for a family was $81,100. Males had an income of $61,786 versus $37,188 for females. The per capita income for the city was $32,895, Palos Heights is served by four school districts. The four districts are, Palos Heights School District 128, Palos Community Consolidated School District 118, Community High School District 218, District 128 operates one pre-school, two elementary schools, and a junior high school. District 118 also operates two schools and a middle school. The districts Palos East elementary is situated within the citys boundaries, Community High School District 218s Alan B. Shepard High School serves Palos Heights and several neighboring communities. In addition, students can participate in a roster of sports. Consolidated High School District 230s Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, located in Palos Hills and it also offers more than 200 courses designed to meet the academic needs of college-bound students and the training needs of career-oriented students. Several private and parochial schools in Palos Heights offer alternatives to school education
21.
Christian Reformed Church in North America
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The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The Christian Reformed Church split from the Reformed Church in America in an 1857 secession, in 1857 four churches with about 130 families seceded. In March, the Noordeloos church of the Classis of Holland left the Reformed Church in America, on March 19, some members of Second Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, organized a church that became First CRC, Grand Rapids, Michigan. On April 8, churches in Graafschap and Polkton also left the Classis of Holland, two ministers, Koene VanDen Bosch and Hendrik Klijn, joined the separatists, although Klijn returned to the Reformed Church six months later. For the two years the denomination had no corporate name, in 1859 Holland Reformed Church was adopted, which was changed to Free Dutch Reformed Church in 1861. Two years later True Dutch Reformed Church was approved which was changed to Holland Christian Reformed Church in 1880, in 1894 congregations also could use Christian Reformed Church as well. The full adoption of Christian Reformed Church came in 1904, which became Christian Reformed Church in North America in 1974, in 1875 the denomination opened a theological school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Preparatory Department of the school became Calvin College, while the Theological Department became Calvin Theological Seminary, by 1880 the denomination had grown to 42 congregations. Ten years later the number had grown to 100 located in 11 states, during the 1890s congregations from the True Protestant Dutch Reformed Church joined the CRC. During the 20th century a number of congregations from the disbanding German Reformed Churches also joined the CRC, by 1920 the denomination had grown to 350 congregations. He founded the Gereformeerde Kerken, a newspaper, the Free University of Amsterdam, after the Second World War a new wave of immigration of Dutch Calvinists occurred this time mostly to Canada. During the 15 years after the war almost one-half of the new congregations were in Canada. During the early 1920s the CRC had adopted three doctrinal points regarding common grace, three ministers, Herman Hoeksema, George Ophoff, and Henry Danhof, rejected these three points as being contrary to the Reformed confessions. This dispute led to the three ministers and their followers leaving the CRC and forming what is now the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. During the early 1950s a division within the Protestant Reformed Churches in America led to the majority of the forming the Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church. In the last decades of the 20th century, the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church enacted changes that were troubling to some of its conservative members. The 1995 decision to ordain women led to the formation of the United Reformed Churches in North America, because of the decision to ordain women, NAPARC suspended the CRCs membership in 1999 and terminated it in 2001. This gradual shift has spurred some of the more conservative congregations to leave, the CRC was a charter member of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, which organized at Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946
22.
National Association of Evangelicals
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The National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its stated goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States, today it works in four main areas, Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations, Chaplains Commission, and World Relief. The NAE is a member of the World Evangelical Alliance, the mission statement of the association is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelical Christians. The National Association of Evangelicals was formed by a group of 147 people who met in St. Louis, the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy and the related isolation of various evangelical denominations and leaders provided the impetus for developing such an organization. Houghton called for a meeting in Chicago, Illinois in 1941, a committee was formed with Wright as chairman, and a national conference for United Action Among Evangelicals was called to meet in April 1942. Harold Ockenga was appointed the first president, carl McIntire and Harvey Springer led in organizing the American Council of Christian Churches in September 1941. It was a militant and fundamentalist organization set up in opposition to the Federal Council of Churches. McIntire invited the Evangelicals for United Action to join with them, the tentative organization founded in 1942 was called the National Association of Evangelicals for United Action. In 1943 the proposed constitution and doctrinal statement were amended and adopted, by the 1950s, NAEs Washington, D. C. office gained a reputation as a service organization that could get things done. President Eisenhower welcomed an NAE delegation to the White House — a first-time honor for the association, the NAE filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in 1982 in Bob Jones University v. United States and Goldsboro Christian Schools v. United States. Federal regulations had denied tax-exempt status to private schools and universities that discriminate on the basis of race, and the NAE unsuccessfully urged the court to overturn those regulations. At the NAEs 1983 conference in Orlando, Florida, NAE President Rev. Arthur Evans Gay, the 50th anniversary of the organization was celebrated in 1992 at the annual March Convention at the Chicago Hyatt Hotel. President George H. W. Bush spoke to the World Relief annual luncheon at the invitation of the organizations president Arthur Gay, during the convention Billy Graham spoke for the last time at an NAE gathering, calling on evangelicals to a renewed commitment to spread the gospel. In a move signaling its primary focus, the NAE changed its annual convention venue from hotels, in 2003, the first church-hosted convention was held at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. In 2004, the NAE adopted For the Health of the Nation, there are over 40 denominations representing approximately 45,000 churches in the organization. The organization is headquartered in Washington, D. C, Leith Anderson has been its president since November 7,2006. In 1944, the NAE formed the National Religious Broadcasters at its convention in Columbus, NRB was the first of many related service agencies NAE would charter with a particular purpose in mind. NRB, after holding its own constitutional convention later that year, responded to the challenge, in addition to NRB, NAE created the Chaplains Commission in 1944 to assist evangelical chaplains in the military
23.
Today's New International Version
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Todays New International Version is an English translation of the Bible developed by the Committee on Bible Translation. The CBT also developed the New International Version in the 1970s, the TNIV is based on the NIV. It is explicitly Protestant like its predecessor, the books are not part of the translation. The TNIV New Testament was published March 2002, the complete Bible was published February 2005. The rights to the text are owned by Biblica, Zondervan publishes the TNIV in North America. Hodder & Stoughton publish the TNIV in the UK and European Union, forty other scholars, many of them experts on specific books of the Bible, reviewed the translations teams work. They came from a range of Evangelical denominational backgrounds, with the 2011 release of an updated version of the NIV, both the TNIV and the 1984 NIV have been discontinued. The intent of the TNIV translators was to produce an accurate, for translation a wide range of manuscripts were reviewed. The Dead Sea Scrolls were occasionally followed where the Masoretic Text seemed inconsistent, the United Bible Societies Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament text was used for the New Testament. There are a number of changes in the TNIV, craig Blomberg stated in a 2003 paper titled The Untold Story of a Good Translation that the changes in the TNIV move in a more literal direction three times more often than not. Mark L. Strauss has stated that the majority of changes are based on advances in scholarship, linguistics. In Matthew 1,18, where the NIV says that Mary was with child, in Luke 12,38, the phrase second or third watch of the night employed in the NIV is changed to middle of the night or toward daybreak in the TNIV. The TNIV translators have, at times, opted for more traditional Anglo-Saxon or poetic renderings than those found in the NIV. For example, the heavens is sometimes chosen to replace the sky, as is the case in Isaiah 50,3, I clothe the heavens with darkness, at times the TNIV offers a different or nuanced understanding of a passage. For example, in the NIV, Psalm 26,3 reads, For your love is ever before me, the TNIV reads, For I have always been mindful of your unfailing love / and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness. There are a number of changes in one verse. The TNIV translators took this word to more than simple honesty in Psalm 26,3. The word for Spirit, where there is a chance it means the Holy Spirit, is now capitalized
24.
Pauline epistles
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The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the 13 New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents and they provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity and as part of the canon of the New Testament they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics. The Pauline epistles are usually placed between the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles in modern editions. Most Greek manuscripts, however, place the General epistles first, in the order they appear in the New Testament, the Pauline epistles are, This ordering is remarkably consistent in the manuscript tradition, with very few deviations. The evident principle of organization is descending length of the Greek text, the only anomaly is that Galatians precedes the slightly longer Ephesians. In modern editions, the formally anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews is placed at the end of Pauls letters and this practice was popularized through the 4th century Vulgate by Jerome, who was aware of ancient doubts about its authorship, and is also followed in most medieval Byzantine manuscripts. With hardly any exceptions, though, the manuscripts do include Hebrews somewhere among Pauls letters. The placement of Hebrews among the Pauline epistles is less consistent in the manuscripts, omitted, F and G In all of these epistles besides Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul does claim to be the author and writer. However, the letters may have been forgeries, as that seems to have been a problem among the early church as a whole. “The Problem of Anonymity and Pseudonymity in Christian Literature of the First Two Centuries. ”Journal of Theological Studies 12, bahr, Gordon J. “Paul and Letter Writing in the First Century. ”Idem, “The Subscriptions in the Pauline Letters. ”Journal of Biblical Literature 2, 27–41. Journal of Biblical Literature 107, 469–94, craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter. Dan O. Via, Jr. Philadelphia, Fortress,1988, “‘Girls Trained in Beautiful Writing’, Female Scribes in Roman Antiquity and Early Christianity. ”Journal of Early Christian Studies 6.4, 629–46. A Theological Introduction to Pauls Letters, “Ancient Amanuenses and the Pauline Epistles. ”New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C, idem, “On the Form, Function, and Authority of the New Testament Letters. ”D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Paul the Letter-Writer, His World, His Options, His Skills, the Secretary in the Letters of Paul. Idem, “The Codex and the Early Collection of Paul’s Letters. ”Bulletin for Bulletin Research 8, idem, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, Secretaries, Composition, and Collection. “Composition and Dictation in New Testament Books. ”Journal of Theological Studies 18, wall, Robert W. “Introduction to Epistolary Literature. ”The Marcionite Prologues to the Pauline Epistles Chronological Order of Pauls Letters Chronology of Pauls Letters
25.
Koine Greek
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It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, Koine Greek remained the court language of the Byzantine Empire until its dissolution in 1453, while Medieval and eventually Modern Greek were the everyday language. Literary Koine was the medium of much of post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch, Koine is also the language of the Christian New Testament, of the Septuagint, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as Biblical, New Testament and it continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church. The word koinē is the Greek word for common, and is understood as referring to the common dialect. The word is pronounced /kɔɪˈneɪ/, /ˈkɔɪneɪ/ or /kiːˈniː/ in US English, the pronunciation of the word in Koine gradually changed from Greek pronunciation, to Greek pronunciation. Its pronunciation in Modern Greek is, the term was applied in several different senses by ancient scholars. Others chose to refer to Koine as the Alexandrian dialect or the dialect of Alexandria, the former was often used by modern classicists. Koine Greek arose as a dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. Under the leadership of Macedon, their newly formed common variety was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia and it replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. The passage into the period, known as Medieval Greek. The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic, the linguistic roots of the Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period, most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα. The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis, who showed that, despite the composition of the Four, the stable nucleus of Koine Greek is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, the degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic World. The literary Koine of the Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is mentioned as Common Attic. Koine Greek was therefore considered a form of Greek which was not worthy of attention
26.
King James Version
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The King James Version, also known as Authorized Version or simply King James Bible, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, a section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha. It was first printed by the Kings Printer Robert Barker and was the translation into English approved by the English Church authorities. The first had been the Great Bible, commissioned in the reign of King Henry VIII, the translation is noted for its majesty of style, and has been described as one of the most important books in English culture. The translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England. In common with most other translations of the period, the New Testament was translated from Greek, the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic, and the Apocrypha from Greek and Latin. In the Book of Common Prayer, the text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible for Epistle and Gospel readings, over the course of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate as the standard version of scripture for English-speaking scholars. Today the unqualified title King James Version usually indicates that this Oxford standard text is meant, the title page carries the words Appointed to be read in Churches, and F. F. For many years it was not to give the translation any specific name. In his Leviathan of 1651, Thomas Hobbes referred to it as the English Translation made in the beginning of the Reign of King James. Similarly, a History of England, whose edition was published in 1775, writes merely that new translation of the Bible, viz. that now in Use, was begun in 1607. King Jamess Bible is used as the name for the 1611 translation in Charles Butlers Horae Biblicae and this name was also found as King James Bible, for example in a book review from 1811. The phrase King Jamess Bible is used as far back as 1715, the use of Authorized Version or Authorised Version, capitalized and used as a name, is found as early as 1814. For some time before this, descriptive phrases such as our present, and only publicly authorised version, our Authorised version, the Oxford English Dictionary records a usage in 1824. In Britain, the 1611 translation is known as the Authorised Version today. As early as 1814, we find King James version, evidently a descriptive phrase, the King James Version is found, unequivocally used as a name, in a letter from 1855. The next year King James Bible, with no possessive, appears as a name in a Scottish source, in the United States, the 1611 translation is generally known as the King James Version today. The followers of John Wycliffe undertook the first complete English translations of the Christian scriptures in the 14th century and these translations were banned in 1409 due to their association with the Lollards
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Anglicanism
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Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising the Church of England and churches which are historically tied to it or hold similar beliefs, worship practices and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to the Magna Carta and before, adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans. As the name suggests, the churches of the Anglican Communion are linked by bonds of tradition, affection and they are in full communion with the See of Canterbury, and thus the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his person, is a unique focus of Anglican unity. He calls the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, chairs the meeting of primates, Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic Church, apostolic succession, and writings of the Church Fathers. Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity, having declared its independence from the Holy See at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Many of the new Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century corresponded closely to those of contemporary Protestantism, the word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans, as an adjective, Anglican is used to describe the people, institutions and churches, as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the Church of England. As a noun, an Anglican is a member of a church in the Anglican Communion, the word is also used by followers of separated groups which have left the communion or have been founded separately from it, although this is sometimes considered as a misuse. The word Anglicanism came into being in the 19th century, although the term Anglican is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. Elsewhere, however, the term Anglican Church came to be preferred as it distinguished these churches from others that maintain an episcopal polity, as such, it is often referred to as being a via media between these traditions. Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as containing all necessary for salvation and as being the rule. Reason and Tradition are seen as means to interpret Scripture. Anglicans understand the Apostles Creed as the symbol and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. Anglicans celebrate the sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries and it was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world, in 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. The founding of Christianity in Britain is commonly attributed to Joseph of Arimathea, according to Anglican legend, Saint Alban, who was executed in 209 AD, is the first Christian martyr in the British Isles. A new culture emerged around the Irish Sea among the Celtic peoples with Celtic Christianity at its core, what resulted was a form of Christianity distinct from Rome in many traditions and practices
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Assemblies of God
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As an international fellowship, the member denominations are entirely independent and autonomous, however, they are united by shared beliefs and history. The Assemblies originated from the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century and this revival led to the founding of the Assemblies of God in the United States in 1914. Through foreign missionary work and establishing relationships with other Pentecostal churches and it was not until 1988, however, that the world fellowship was formed. As a Pentecostal fellowship, the Assemblies of God believes in the Pentecostal distinctive of baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, the World Assemblies of God Fellowship is structured as a loose alliance of independent national and regional Pentecostal denominations. The AG is Trinitarian and holds the Bible as divinely inspired, baptism by immersion is practiced as an ordinance instituted by Christ for those who have been saved. Baptism is understood as an sign of an inward change. As an ordinance, Communion is also practiced, the Assemblies of God also places a strong emphasis on the fulfillment of the Great Commission and believes that this is the calling of the church. As classical Pentecostals, the Assemblies of God believes all Christians are entitled to, the AG teaches that this experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of salvation. The baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers the believer for Christian life, the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. In addition, it believes in the present day use of other spiritual gifts. The Assemblies of God USA, for example, adheres to the Statement of Fundamental Truths, the Assemblies of God has its roots in the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century. The Pentecostal aspects of the revival were not generally welcomed by established churches and these people sought out their own places of worship and founded hundreds of distinctly Pentecostal congregations. By 1914, many ministers and laymen began to realize just how far-reaching the spread of the revival. Concerned leaders felt the desire to protect and preserve the results of the revival by uniting through cooperative fellowship, a remaining fellowship emerged from the meeting and was incorporated under the name General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America. In 1919, Pentecostals in Canada united to form the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada which formally affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA the next year. The Assemblies of God in Great Britain was formed in 1924 and would have an influence on the Assemblies of God in Australia. The Australian Assemblies of God was formed in 1937 by a merger of the Pentecostal Church of Australia, the Queensland AG had formed in 1929, though, it was never formally affiliated with the AG in America. The Assemblies of God of South Africa was founded in 1925, prior to 1967, the Assemblies of God, along with the majority of other Pentecostal denominations, officially opposed Christian participation in war and considered itself a peace church
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Baptists
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Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency, salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, elders and deacons, Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity. Historians trace the earliest church labeled Baptist back to 1609 in Amsterdam, in accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christs atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. Thomas Helwys formulated a distinctively Baptist request that the church and the state be kept separate in matters of law, Helwys died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of English dissenters under King James I. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies, in the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening contributed to Baptist growth in both New England and the South. Baptist missionaries have spread their church to every continent, the largest Baptist denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention, with the membership of associated churches totaling more than 15 million. Modern Baptist churches trace their history to the English Separatist movement in the century after the rise of the original Protestant denominations and this view of Baptist origins has the most historical support and is the most widely accepted. Adherents to this position consider the influence of Anabaptists upon early Baptists to be minimal and it was a time of considerable political and religious turmoil. Both individuals and churches were willing to give up their theological roots if they became convinced that a more biblical truth had been discovered, during the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church. There were some Christians who were not content with the achievements of the mainstream Protestant Reformation, there also were Christians who were disappointed that the Church of England had not made corrections of what some considered to be errors and abuses. Of those most critical of the Churchs direction, some chose to stay and they became known as Puritans and are described by Gourley as cousins of the English Separatists. Others decided they must leave the Church because of their dissatisfaction, historians trace the earliest Baptist church back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with John Smyth as its pastor. Three years earlier, while a Fellow of Christs College, Cambridge, reared in the Church of England, he became Puritan, English Separatist, and then a Baptist Separatist, and ended his days working with the Mennonites. He began meeting in England with 60–70 English Separatists, in the face of great danger, Smyth and his lay supporter, Thomas Helwys, together with those they led, broke with the other English exiles because Smyth and Helwys were convinced they should be baptized as believers. In 1609 Smyth first baptized himself and then baptized the others, in 1609, while still there, Smyth wrote a tract titled The Character of the Beast, or The False Constitution of the Church. In it he expressed two propositions, first, infants are not to be baptized, and second, Antichristians converted are to be admitted into the true Church by baptism. Hence, his conviction was that a church should consist only of regenerate believers who have been baptized on a personal confession of faith
