How was the Bible formed? (Edition – Part Four)
“Holy Spirit, Soul of my soul” (Fr. Joseph Kentenich – Founder of the Schoenstatt Movement)
Holy Spirit, you are the soul of my soul. I humbly adore you. Enlighten me, strengthen me, guide me, comfort me. And as far as it corresponds to the eternal plan, Father, God, reveal your desires to me. Let me know what eternal Love desires in me. Please let me know what I need to do. Let me know what I must suffer. Let me know what I must accept, carry, and bear with quiet modesty and prayer. Yes, Holy Spirit, make known to me your will and the will of the Father. For all my life, I do not want to be anything other than a perpetual 'yes' to the desires and will of the eternal Father God. Amen.
Introduction
The process of bible formation includes the entire process from writing, gathering, collecting, and editing texts for inclusion in the scriptures. The process was undertaken by scribes and editors who were invested in preserving and perpetuating the traditions which they believed. The bible that we read today is the end result of various texts that have gone through the editing process in order to eventually be included in either the Hebrew Bible or New Testament. These texts that made it into the scripture we have today undergone this transformation over many centuries from oral storytelling to scripture.
HOW WAS THE BIBLE FORMED? EDITION…
From the times of the events described onwards, both the oral and written tradition, the community began the edition of the Sacred Texts of the Bible. The scribes and then the editors who came later played an essential role in the recording, the compilation and the edition of these traditions, in order to perpetuate them, in order to compose the canonical books.
The Hebrew Bible:
In Hebrew, the Law, the Prophets and the Writings are called Torah (תּוֹרָה), Nevi'im (נְבִיאִים) and Ketuvim (כְּתוּבִים) respectively. The Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim together form the Tanakh (תָּנָ״ךְ), the Hebrew Bible. The three parts are also commonly referred to using the Hebrew acronym Tanakh formed from the first Hebrew letter of each of the three parts. The name Tanakh itself does not appear in the biblical text but is a later compilation of the three sections as they were known in the time of Jesus and Josephus.
The Law, which is also known as the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) includes the books that tell the origin of nations. The Prophets are divided into major prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings) and minor prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). All these prophetic books are a permanent call to live the faith through the Covenant of Love that God made with the people of Israel.
The Torah, (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), was given in its present form by scribes, court officials, and priests, who were also editors, called redactors, who eliminated polytheistic allusions and finalized stories. In some scholarship, the Torah is thought to have been shaped into its present form by a process involving many authors and redactors (editors).
As for the Old Testament, many of the Old Testament stories were told first in oral and written traditions as we have already mentioned. Scribes started writing these traditions down probably as early as the time of King David and into the exile. It was during this process of edition that the Hebrew Bible is arranged in three sections: the Torah (Law), the Nevi’im (Prophets), and the Ketuvim (Writings).
The arrangement of the books of the Old and New Testaments is also the result of editing. The books do not appear in the order in which they were written, but in the order in which they were published. The Hebrew canon has 39 books that are divided into three categories: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.
The Septuagint or Greek Old Testament:
Three century before Christ the translation and edition of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint entered in function. The Septuagint is the Greek Old Testament, or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. It was made for Greek speaking Jews in the diaspora This biblical canon abbreviated LXX have an inclusion of the Deuterocanonical books in the Septuagint (called Apocryphal for our Protectant brothers and sisters) used in Greek speaking Orthodox churches.
The Deuterocanonical books refer to texts or passages that are considered canonical books of the Old Testament by some Christian denominations, primarily the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East. These books are sometimes also referred to as the Apocrypha, particularly within Protestant traditions.
Examples of deuterocanonical books (accepted by the Catholic Church and most Orthodox traditions):
Tobit
Judith
Baruch (including the Letter of Jeremiah)
Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon)
Greek additions to Esther
Greek additions to Daniel
Psalm 151 (Orthodox Church)
Acceptance varies:
Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches: Accept these books as canonical. Use the term deuterocanonical. Deuterocanonical literally means “second canon” but in the sense of “late canon,” referring to when canonical status was recognized, but not as a “secondary canon” in the sense of a lower or lesser level of authority.
As we mentioned the Protestant Churches tend to treat these books as Apocrypha (that is, non-canonical; outside the scope of what is considered divinely inspired scripture), so are not included in Protestant Bibles. However, some Protestant denominations, including the Anabaptist and Anglican churches, highly regard these texts and read them for their historical or moral teachings, or even include them in their lectionaries.
Why the discrepancy?
The early church used the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament) as its Old Testament, which included these books. These books were written during the intertestamental period (roughly 400 BC to the first century AD), a time when Jewish thought and tradition were developing. They provide a window into that era and some traditions see them as instructive for the period leading up to the New Testament. The Catholic Church officially confirmed in the Council of Trent (1546) the deuterocanonical books as scripture during in response to the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther[1] and other reformers removed these books from the Old Testament canon, citing the Masoretic Text (a medieval version of the Hebrew Bible that does not include them) and on the basis of doctrinal disputes. It's also crucial to recognize that the term “deuterocanonical” itself indicates a variance in acceptance and canonization history across different Christian traditions.
The Writings (Daniel, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes (Qohelet), Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Psalms...) The books of Tobit, Judith, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees, and Wisdom are also added in the Catholic Tradition in the Writings. The Writings are books that speak of the reinterpretations and new understandings that the chosen people needed after their experience of the Babylonian exile.
This summary shows the development of the Old and New Testament biblical canons. The main difference between Christian Old Testaments is the inclusion of the Deuterocanonical books in the Septuagint (LXX) used in Greek speaking Orthodox churches. The New Testament canon, agreed upon by most churches is shown in comparison with the Old Testament. Note the inclusion of books into the Septuagint over time.
The New Testament:
The first writing of the New Testament is not the Gospel of St. Matthew (which is the first in order) but the First Letter to the Thessalonians as we mentioned in our preview intervention. The Church Fathers taught that the first Gospel written was Matthew, they are not saying this was the first to be written, they say first is Matthew and they just give the order they believe to be correct. There are early Church Fathers that agree on the order and are before the closing of the canon. In the order the first is Matthew, and Mark was then written, the third is Luke, and the last is John according to the Church Fathers. You do have people like Papias, Irenaeus, and Augustine who are early Church Fathers.
The first reason they went with Matthean priority is they went with the opinion that Matthew was first written in Hebrew and Aramaic and then translated into Greek and that Mark summarized and used the Matthew's account in a shortened and adapted form (according to some). You have to realize not all scholars today go with this and it wasn’t the majority view even among the first Christians but at the same time a large majority did. I incline to side with the teaching of the Church Fathers.
I know that many of you are wondering how the Bible came to be what it is today. We owe this to those who had the task of editing God’s Word. The editors of the Old and New Testaments drew on the bequeathed oral and written traditions to classify, clarify, and arrange them in an order that was not necessarily historical but theological and pastoral. The first published books of the Bible were the first five, the so-called Pentateuch. This editing took place after the Exodus, probably in the time of King David, since this was a time when peace and security had come (1000 B.C. ).
As they went through both oral and written traditions, the editors found that there were narratives that contradicted each other. They did not choose between them but included both. That is why we find more than one narrative on an event or several points of view alluding to a given event. This is especially evident in the Old Testament, although it also happens in the New Testament.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospels are three separate examples of these edited redactions of oral and written traditions about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Luke, at the beginning of his gospel, explains this whole process as follows: “Many have sought to relate in an orderly manner the events that took place among us, as they were handed down to us by those who have been eyewitnesses and servants of the Word from the beginning. Therefore, after carefully informing myself of everything from the beginning, I too have decided to write for you, Most Excellent Theophilus, an orderly account, so that you may know well the soundness of the teachings you have received” (Luke 1:1 4). We can see how Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness, but rather how he explains that he was the editor of an inherited oral and written tradition of events. All the Christian traditions agree on the New Testament canon, 27 books.
Conclusion
To conclude, the bible and the way in which it has formed over centuries is representative of both tradition, but also of faith, and active community investment. The separation between the various canons of the scriptures, and the difference in deuterocanonical texts between Catholic and Orthodox Christians and Protestant Christian is a large one, and it is reflective of how these communities have different beliefs in what they believe is inspired. However, all the discrepancies between the different canons between the various denominations of Christianity have not altered the basic concepts and teachings that are at the center of what all Christian denominations can agree on. Furthermore, the history of the bible itself helps one to get a deeper and greater appreciation for the various texts themselves.
In the following intervention, we will reflect on the canonicity but also inspiration and revelation of the Bible.
[1] Over 30 years ago, I was stationed with the US Army in Germany, and the military chaplain invited me to go with him at the Martin Luther House Museum (known as the Lutherhous that is Luter’s house museum in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany). Luther’s personal Bible contains (because still exists today) the Deuterocanonical books. In fact, according to many historians, the only comment Luther made about the Deuterocanonical books was that “since the Jews of Jamnia did not accept the Deuterocanonical books, we do not have to accept them either.”