The Bible as a source of wisdom and authority
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The Bible as a source of wisdom and authority - Leaderboard
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| 🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 |
| What does the word canon mean? | The word ‘canon’ is Greek for ‘measuring rod’ |
| What are the two different uses of the word canon? | Norm: the standard by which we judge something, or a standardised list |
| What is the Christian claim about the canon? | That the books comprised in the Old and new testament are canon |
| Why is this a striking claim? | Because these books span a thousand years in time with a dozen of different writers writing in different languages |
| How did they decide which books in the new testament were canonical? | To have been written by or have a strong connection to an apostle, be recognised as helpful in Christian formation by churches and, affirm the central teaching in the resurrected Jesus as Lord and saviour. |
| What books were seen as key and important to all Christians? | The Hebrew scriptures, the letters of Paul and the four gospels |
| What is key about the Jewish canon? | It is comprised of much more than the old testament, in fact the Jewish do not regard the old testament as old but rather as God's revelation to Israel |
| How did Jews decide which books were canonical? | The book had to survive, we hear mention of the book of Jashar in Joshua 10:13 which we have no record of today and books must be seen as supporting the Torah |
| What three fold division are these books presented in? | The Law (Torah), the prophets, and a diverse set of writings (Kethuvim) |
| What is the Jewish Law? | The five books traditionally thought to be written by Moses |
| What does the prophets division include? | The former prophets and latter prophets, the 12 minor prophets and a |
| Examples of only greek writings included in the bible of the early church? | 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch |
| What does the order of the books reflect? | Order reflects importance |
| What does TNK stand for? | Torah, Nevi'im and Kethuvim |
| What is near the beginning of the Old testament? | Near the beginning of the Hebrew Bible is the law of Moses |
| What books were invaluable for all the early Christians? | The Hebrew scriptures, the letters of Paul and the four Gospels |
| What do many scholars believe the three parts of the Jewish bible represent? | Three successive stages in the formation of the Jewish canon |
| What happened to some of the writings only in Greek? | Excluded from the Jewish canon remained in the version adopted by the early church |
| What is at the beginning of the new testament? | At the beginning of the New Testament are the Gospels. |
| What does the term canon within the canon mean? | The idea that within the canon there are central ideas or themes that strongly influenced the basis on which the writings were chosen |
| What does the Christian Old testament end with? | The Christian Old Testament ends with the minor prophets and the prophecy of the return of Elijah. |
| What version of the Hebrew bible did new testament writers use? | The Greek version (the Septuagint) |
| What books are accepted in the Catholic version of the bible but excluded from the Jewish version? | Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and additions to Daniel and Esther |
| What term do protestant use to refer to the added books in the catholic version of the bible? | Apocrypha |
| What does apocrypha mean? | "hidden" applied positively as these books were thought to contain hidden wisdom |
| Why did the word apocrypha soon start to mean heretical? | Luther saw 2 Maccabees 12:46 as supporting purgatory, which goes against his view of justification by faith |
| How was the new testament canon formed? | In the early days messages from the apostles and Jesus were delivered orally, then Paul wrote the letters to the churches which were seen as prized possessions and copied and circulated then came the writing of the four gospels |
| What did many churches in Syria use? | A diatessaron - a harmony of the four gospels |
| Which is the oldest new testament canon? | The Muratorian canon |
| How many of the books in the Muratorian canon are still in the latest version today? | 22 out of the 27 |
| What are some of the disagreements about the New testament? | A church leader named Marcion created a bible with only the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul which was rejected by the church fathers |
| What order is the Old testament in? | Starts with the Torah which includes the history before God established the covenant, then the prophets describing the highs and lows of Israel living with that covenant. then various insights on living faithfully in different situations |
| What order is the New testament in? | The birth, life and resurrection of Jesus, followed by narratives of the church (Acts) then the letters to the churches by Paul, then some more letters not written by Paul, then the book of prophecy |
| What are the arguments for the bible being the inspired word of God? | ‘Plenary verbal inspiration, the view that some Christians take that the bible is God’s inspiration completely and absolutely with the role of human authors being irrelevant. some argue God worked through human writers and their individual personalities so they are more than mere stenographers, scripture is referred to as ‘God breathed’ |
| What are the arguments against the bible being the inspired word of God? | The limitations in terms of science and history brought up by Bultmann show why scripture isn’t innerant and cannot be seen as inspired |
| What did Karl Barth argue against the bible being the inspired word of God? | Karl Barth believed Jesus was the inspired word of God rather than the bible, the bible is a testimony to Jesus that can become God’s work when read with a humble heart but is not Gods word automatically |
| What did Schleirmacher argue against the bible being the inspired word of God? | Schleiermacher viewed the bible as written by inspired writers but not itself to be inspired. |
| What are the arguments for whether the biblical canonical order is inspired? | Order doesn’t have to reflect importance as any teacher God has a plan for his people which included learning some things before others, this is shown with the ‘canon within the canon’ in the Hebrew bible |
| What are the arguments against whether the biblical canonical order is inspired? | If God has put an order it could be viewed that some books are more important/inspired than others, which means one should prioritise these books over others, catholic and Protestants have different books and there are different orders between the Jewish and Christian bibles |
| What are example of the times God spoke directly in the bible? | There are many times God speaks directly such as Moses and the burning bush, and through the words of Jesus, |
| What does the term inspire mean? | The term ‘inspire’ means ‘to breathe’ |
| How is the term inspired supported in scripture? | II Timothy 3:16 says that the scriptures have been ‘God-breathed’ |
| What does scripture being 'God-breathed' mean for Christians? | Christians view the Bible as the Word of God. Some Christians take an ‘objective’ view of inspiration |
| What does scripture being 'God-breathed' mean for more extreme Christians? | At the extreme end of this is the view that humans played only a passive role and that God used plenary (absolute), verbal means to inspire the Bible. |
| How do more liberal Christians interpret scripture being 'God-breathed'? | Some Christians take a ‘subjective’ view; at the extreme end of this is the view that the Bible is not directly inspired but that human beings were inspired by witnessing meaningful events |
| How do more subjective Christians see God's work in Scripture? | They believe that God worked through the personalities of the authors in conveying her/his message. In this sense, God is a ‘producer’. |
| What is accommodation? | Refers to ‘making provision’ for a person |
| What did John Calvin argue God was doing through the bible? | He believed that God, who is beyond language, has accommodated our relatively limited minds through the Bible |
| What analogy did Calvin use to demonstrate his point? | A nurse making ‘baby talk’ to an infant; God is the nurse and the Bible is this ‘baby talk’. God adapts his truth – though there is no error. |
| How have recent theologians used Calvins concept of accommodation? | To defend the Bible as God’s word despite errors of science and history. God worked through the incorrect scientific assumptions of the writers to convey morality and spirituality |
| Key quote from the Catholic Cathechism? | “In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness, God speaks to them in human words.” |
| Key quote by Dawkins about the bible's order? | "... the bible is ... a chaotically cobbled - together anthology of disjointed documents" |