1.
Study Bible
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A study Bible is an edition of the Bible prepared for use by a serious student of the Bible. It provides scholarly information designed to help the reader gain an understanding of. Perhaps the first edition of an English language Bible that qualified as a study Bible was the Geneva Bible, it contained extensive cross-references, synopses, the text of the Geneva Bible was usually not printed without the commentary, though the Cambridge edition was printed without commentary. The Church of England disputed some of the made in the Geneva Bible annotations. This led to the creation of the King James Bible, which was printed with a much less extensive apparatus or none at all. Several commentators have supplied annotated King James Bibles containing their own points of view, but unlike the Geneva Bible, another historically significant study Bible was the Scofield Reference Bible, first printed by Cyrus Scofield in 1909. This study Bible became widely popular in the United States, where it spread the interpretation system known as dispensationalism among fundamentalist Christians, a new version, the Recovery Version, was published in 1985. It holds a similar interpretation, and this study Bible has a large number of cross-references and explanatory. Nearly all Catholic Bibles have explanatory and interpretative footnotes, for example, the Jerusalem Bible is a widely respected study Bible originally made by French monks in Jerusalem, under the auspices of the Catholic Church. Logos International published the Logos International Study Bible in 1972, based on the 1901 American Standard Bible, it is essentially an updated version of The Cross-Reference Bible, published before 1929 and edited by Harold E. Monser. It includes a large number of cross-references, in-text articles. Zondervan claims that its NIV Study Bible has six million in distribution, the ESV Study Bible is a recent addition REDIRECT, which sold well in its pre-release phase, in the fall of 2008. This software normally includes several Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, maps and they also include search engines to enable users to find Bible passages by keyword and by theme. Biblical studies Dake Annotated Reference Bible Thompson Chain-Reference Bible Into Thy Word Bible Study Notes
2.
C. I. Scofield
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Cyrus Ingerson Scofield was an American theologian, minister, and writer whose best-selling annotated Bible popularized futurism and dispensationalism among fundamentalist Christians. Cyrus Scofield was born in Clinton Township, Lenawee County, Michigan, Elias Scofields ancestors were of English and Puritan descent, but the family was nominally Episcopalian. Abigail Scofield died three months after Cyruss birth, and his father twice remarried during Cyruss minority, details of his early education are unknown, but there is no reason to doubt his later testimony that he was an enthusiastic reader and that he had studied Shakespeare and Homer. By 1861, Scofield was living with relatives in Lebanon, Tennessee. At the beginning of the American Civil War, the 17-year-old Scofield enlisted as a private in the 7th Tennessee Infantry, C. S. A. and his regiment fought at Cheat Mountain, Seven Pines, and Antietam. In 1862, after spending a month in Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, Scofield then returned to Lebanon and was conscripted again into Confederate service. Ordered to McMinnville, Tennessee, Scofield deserted and escaped behind Union lines in Bowling Green, after taking the Union oath of allegiance, Scofield was allowed safe passage to St. Louis, Missouri, where he settled. In 1866, he married Leontine LeBeau Cerrè, a member of a prominent French Catholic family in St. Louis, Scofield apprenticed in the law office of his brother-in-law and then worked in the St. Louis assessors office before moving to Atchison, Kansas in late 1869. In 1871, Scofield was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives, first from Atchison for one year and it is possible Scofield was jailed on forgery charges, although there is no extant evidence in the public records. Perhaps in part because of his heavy drinking, Scofield abandoned his wife. Leontine Cerrè Scofield divorced him on grounds of desertion in 1883, according to Scofield, he was converted to evangelical Christianity through the testimony of a lawyer acquaintance. Certainly by the fall of 1879, Scofield was assisting in the St. Louis campaign conducted by Dwight L. Moody. Significantly, Scofield came under the mentorship of James H. Brookes, pastor of Walnut Street Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, the church grew from fourteen to over five hundred members before he resigned its pastorate in 1895. In 1888, Scofield attended the Niagara Bible Conference where he met pioneer missionary to China, taylors approach to Christian missions influenced Scofield to found the Central American Mission in 1890. Scofield also served as superintendent of the American Home Missionary Society of Texas and Louisiana, as the author of the pamphlet Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, Scofield soon became a leader in dispensational premillennialism, a forerunner of twentieth-century Christian fundamentalism. During the early 1890s, Scofield began styling himself Rev. C. I, Scofield, D. D. but there are no extant records of any academic institution having granted him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Royalties from the work were substantial, and Scofield held real estate in Dallas, Ashuelot, New Hampshire, Scofield also joined the prestigious Lotos Club. In 1914, he founded the Philadelphia School of the Bible in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Scofields second wife proved a faithful companion and editing assistant, but his relationships with his children were distant at best
3.
Dispensationalism
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Dispensationalism is a religious interpretive system for the Bible. It considers Biblical history as divided deliberately by God into defined periods or ages to each of which God has allotted distinctive administrative principles. According to dispensationalist interpretation, each age of the plan of God is thus administered in a certain way, and humanity is held responsible as a steward during that time. The harmony of history is demonstrated as focusing on the glory of God and puts God at its center as opposed to a focus on man. A dispensational perspective of scripture is claimed to explain apparent contradictions, the system was embraced by early Fundamentalist Christianity as a defense of the Bible against liberalism and modernism and became the majority position within Fundamentalism. Each dispensation is marked by a cycle, God reveals himself, humanity is held responsible to conform to that revelation. Humanity rebels and fails the test, God judges humanity and introduces a new period of probation under a new administration. Ultimately, dispensationalism demonstrates the progress of Gods revelation to man, the number of dispensations discerned by theologians within Biblical history vary typically from three to eight. The three- and four-dispensation schemes are often referred to as minimalist, the typical seven-dispensation scheme is as follows, Innocence – Adam under probation prior to the Fall. Ends with expulsion from the Garden of Eden, some refer to this period as the Adamic period or the dispensation of the Adamic covenant or Adamic law. Conscience – From the Fall to the Great Flood, human Government – After the Great Flood, humanity responsible to enact the death penalty. Ends with the dispersion at the Tower of Babel, some use the term Noahide law in reference to this period of dispensation. Promise – From Abraham to Moses, ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness. Some use the terms Abrahamic law or Abrahamic covenant in reference to this period of dispensation, law – From Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ends with the scattering of Israel in AD70, some use the term Mosaic law in reference to this period of dispensation. Grace – From the cross to the rapture of the church. The rapture is followed by the wrath of God comprising the Great Tribulation, some use the terms Age of grace or the church age for this dispensation. Millennial Kingdom – A1000 year reign of Christ on earth centered in Jerusalem, ends with Gods judgment on the final rebellion. Numerous purposes for this cycle of administrations have been suggested, God is seen to be testing humanity under varying conditions, while vindicating His ways with humanity in originally granting them free will
4.
Oxford University Press
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Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, and the second oldest after Cambridge University Press. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the known as the delegates of the press. They are headed by the secretary to the delegates, who serves as OUPs chief executive, Oxford University has used a similar system to oversee OUP since the 17th century. The university became involved in the print trade around 1480, and grew into a printer of Bibles, prayer books. OUP took on the project became the Oxford English Dictionary in the late 19th century. Moves into international markets led to OUP opening its own offices outside the United Kingdom, by contracting out its printing and binding operations, the modern OUP publishes some 6,000 new titles around the world each year. OUP was first exempted from United States corporation tax in 1972, as a department of a charity, OUP is exempt from income tax and corporate tax in most countries, but may pay sales and other commercial taxes on its products. The OUP today transfers 30% of its surplus to the rest of the university. OUP is the largest university press in the world by the number of publications, publishing more than 6,000 new books every year, the Oxford University Press Museum is located on Great Clarendon Street, Oxford. Visits must be booked in advance and are led by a member of the archive staff, displays include a 19th-century printing press, the OUP buildings, and the printing and history of the Oxford Almanack, Alice in Wonderland and the Oxford English Dictionary. The first printer associated with Oxford University was Theoderic Rood, the first book printed in Oxford, in 1478, an edition of Rufinuss Expositio in symbolum apostolorum, was printed by another, anonymous, printer. Famously, this was mis-dated in Roman numerals as 1468, thus apparently pre-dating Caxton, roods printing included John Ankywylls Compendium totius grammaticae, which set new standards for teaching of Latin grammar. After Rood, printing connected with the university remained sporadic for over half a century, the chancellor, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, pleaded Oxfords case. Some royal assent was obtained, since the printer Joseph Barnes began work, Oxfords chancellor, Archbishop William Laud, consolidated the legal status of the universitys printing in the 1630s. Laud envisaged a unified press of world repute, Oxford would establish it on university property, govern its operations, employ its staff, determine its printed work, and benefit from its proceeds. To that end, he petitioned Charles I for rights that would enable Oxford to compete with the Stationers Company and the Kings Printer and these were brought together in Oxfords Great Charter in 1636, which gave the university the right to print all manner of books. Laud also obtained the privilege from the Crown of printing the King James or Authorized Version of Scripture at Oxford and this privilege created substantial returns in the next 250 years, although initially it was held in abeyance. The Stationers Company was deeply alarmed by the threat to its trade, under this, the Stationers paid an annual rent for the university not to exercise its full printing rights – money Oxford used to purchase new printing equipment for smaller purposes
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Geneva Bible
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The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James Version by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th-century English Protestantism and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne and it was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower. The Geneva Bible was used by many English Dissenters, and it was respected by Oliver Cromwells soldiers at the time of the English Civil War. Because the language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous, in the words of Cleland Boyd McAfee, it drove the Great Bible off the field by sheer power of excellence. The Geneva Bible followed the Great Bible of 1539, the first authorized Bible in English, whittingham was directly responsible for the New Testament, which was complete and published in 1557, while Gilby oversaw the Old Testament. The first full edition of this Bible, with a further revised New Testament, appeared in 1560, over 150 editions were issued, the last probably in 1644. The very first Bible printed in Scotland was a Geneva Bible, some editions from 1576 onwards included Laurence Tomsons revisions of the New Testament. Some editions from 1599 onwards used a new Junius version of the Book of Revelation, the Geneva Bible had also motivated the earlier production of the Bishops Bible under Elizabeth I, for the same reason, and the later Rheims-Douai edition by the Catholic community. The Geneva Bible remained popular among Puritans and remained in use until after the English Civil War. The Geneva notes were included in a few editions of the King James version. Like most English translations of the time, the Geneva Bible was translated from editions of the Greek New Testament. The English rendering was substantially based on the translations by William Tyndale. However, the Geneva Bible was the first English version in all of the Old Testament was translated directly from the Hebrew. The Geneva Bible was the first English Bible to use verse numbers based on the work of Stephanus and it also had an elaborate system of commentary in marginal glosses. This annotation was done by Laurence Tomson, who translated LOiseleurs notes on the Gospels, in 1576 Tomson added LOiseleurs notes for the Epistles, which came from Bezas Greek and Latin edition of the Bible. Beginning in 1599 Franciscus Junius notes on Revelation were added, replacing the original notes deriving from John Bale, bales The Image of both churches had a great effect on these notes as well as Foxes Book of Martyrs. Both the Junius and Bullinger-Bale annotations are explicitly anti-Roman Catholic and representative of much popular Protestant apocalypticism during the Reformation, the 1560 Geneva Bible was printed in Roman type—the style of type regularly used today—but many editions used the older black-letter type. Of the various later English Bible translations, the next to use Roman type was the Douay-Rheims Bible of 1582, the Geneva Bible was also issued in more convenient and affordable sizes than earlier versions
8.
James Ussher
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James Ussher was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. The year before Christ 4004, that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC according to the proleptic Julian calendar, Ussher was born in Dublin to a well-to-do family. His maternal grandfather, James Stanihurst, had been speaker of the Irish parliament, Usshers father, Arnold Ussher, was a clerk in chancery who married James Stanihursts daughter, Margaret, who was reportedly a Roman Catholic. Usshers younger, and only surviving, brother, Ambrose, became a scholar of Arabic. According to his chaplain and biographer, Nicholas Bernard, the brother was taught to read by two blind, spinster aunts. A gifted polyglot, he entered Dublin Free School and then the newly founded Trinity College, Dublin on 9 January 1594 and he had received his Bachelor of Arts degree by 1598, and was a fellow and MA by 1600. Ussher went on to become Chancellor of St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin in 1605 and he became Professor of Theological Controversies at Trinity College and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1607, Doctor of Divinity in 1612, and then Vice-Chancellor in 1615 and vice-provost in 1616. In 1613, he married Phoebe, daughter of a previous Vice-Provost, Luke Challoner, in 1615, he was closely involved with the drawing up of the first confession of faith of the Church of Ireland. In 1619 Ussher travelled to England, where he remained for two years and his only child was Elizabeth, who married Sir Timothy Tyrrell, of Oakley, Buckinghamshire. She was the mother of James Tyrrell and he became prominent after meeting James I. In 1621 James nominated him Bishop of Meath and he became a national figure in Ireland, becoming Privy Councillor in 1623 and an increasingly substantial scholar. A noted collector of Irish manuscripts, he made available for research to fellow-scholars such as his friend. From 1623 until 1626 he was again in England and was excused from his duties to study church history. He was nominated Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh in 1625 and succeeded Christopher Hampton, after his consecration in 1626, Ussher found himself in turbulent political times. Ussher was a convinced Calvinist and viewed with dismay the possibility that people he regarded as anti-Christian papists might achieve any sort of power. He called a meeting of the Irish bishops in his house in November 1626. The Judgement was not published until it was out at the end of a series of sermons against the Graces given at Dublin in April 1627. In the end, the Graces were not confirmed by the Irish Parliament, during a four-year interregnum between Lord Deputies from 1629 on, there was an increase in efforts to impose religious conformity on Ireland
9.
Ussher chronology
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The Ussher chronology is a 17th-century chronology of the history of the world formulated from a literal reading of the Old Testament by James Ussher, the Archbishop of Armagh. Usshers work was his contribution to the theological debate on the age of the Earth. This was a concern of many Christian scholars over the centuries. The chronology is sometimes called the Ussher-Lightfoot chronology because John Lightfoot published a similar chronology in 1642–1644 and this, however, is a misnomer, as the chronology is based on Usshers work alone and not that of Lightfoot. Ussher deduced that the first day of creation began at nightfall on Saturday, October 22,4004 BC and he elsewhere dates the time to 6 pm. Lightfoot similarly deduced that Creation began at nightfall near the autumnal equinox, but in the year 3929 BC. This view was held as recently as AD2000, more than six years after 4004 BC. The chronologies of Ussher and other biblical scholars corresponded so closely because they used much the same methodology to calculate key events recorded in the Bible, in his article on Usshers calendar, James Barr has identified three distinct periods that Ussher and others had to tackle, Early times. Ostensibly the easiest period, as the Bible provides an unbroken lineage from Adam through to Solomon complete with the ages of the individuals involved. However, not all of the versions of the Bible provide the same ages — the Septuagint gives much longer ages, Ussher resolved this problem by relying on the Hebrew Bible instead. The lineage breaks down at point, with only the length of the kings reigns being provided. Ussher had to cross-reference the Biblical records with known dates of other people, no information at all is provided in the Bible. Ussher and his counterparts therefore had to try to link a known event from this period with an event in another culture. For instance, the death of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar II could be correlated with the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, using these methods, Ussher was able to establish an unadjusted Creation date of about 4000 BC. He moved it back to 4004 BC to take account of an error perpetrated by Dionysius Exiguus, Ussher chose 5 BC as Christs birth year because Josephus indicated that the death of Herod the Great occurred in 4 BC. Thus, for the gospel of Matthew to be correct, Jesus could not have been born after that date, however, according to the gospel of Luke, Jesus was born during the period that Quirinius was governor of Syria which was roughly 10 years after Herods death. The season in which Creation occurred was the subject of theological debate in Usshers time. Many scholars proposed it had taken place in the spring, the start of the Babylonian, Chaldean, others, including Ussher, thought it more likely that it had occurred in the autumn, largely because that season marked the beginning of the Jewish year. Ussher further narrowed down the date by using the Jewish calendar to establish Creation as beginning on a Sunday near the autumnal equinox
10.
Gap creationism
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Gap creation allowed religious geologists to reconcile their faith in the Bible with the new authority of science. According to the doctrine of natural theology, science was in this period considered a revelation, Gods word in nature as well as in Scripture. From 1814, gap creationism was popularized by Thomas Chalmers, who attributed the concept to the 17th century Dutch Arminian theologian Simon Episcopius. Chalmers became a divinity professor at the University of Edinburgh, founder of the Free Church of Scotland, other early proponents included Oxford University geology professor and fellow Bridgewater author William Buckland, Sharon Turner and Edward Hitchcock. It gained widespread attention when a creative act was discussed prominently in the reference notes for Genesis in the influential 1917 Scofield Reference Bible. Religious proponents of this form of creationism have included Oral Roberts, for some, the gap theory allows both the Genesis creation account and geological science to be inerrant in matters of scientific fact. A short list of examples is given below, The word was in Genesis 1,2 for some adherents is more accurately translated became, such a word choice makes the gap interpretation easier to see in modern English. God is perfect and everything He does is perfect, so a newly created earth from the hand of God should not have been without form and void and shrouded in darkness. Deuteronomy 32,4, Isaiah 45,181 John 1,5 The Holy Spirit was renewing the face of the earth as he hovered over the face of the waters. Psalms 104,30 Angels already existed in a state of grace when God laid the foundations of the Earth, so there had been at least one creative act of God before the six days of Genesis. Job 38, 4-7 Satan and his angels caused war in Heaven and had fallen from grace in the beginning which, since the serpent tempted Adam and Eve, had to have occurred before the Fall of man. Isaiah 14, 12-15, Ezekiel 28, 11-19, John 8,44 Answers in Genesis Dating Creation Yom Chafer, without Form and Void, A Study of the Meaning of Genesis 1,2. The History of the Scofield Reference Bible, the Creationists, From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition
