BIBLE 101

FIRST THINGS FIRST: If you are new to the Bible, please read this basic introduction.

STUDY UNITS

· Preface: Some Explanations

· Unit 1. Introduction - What is the Bible?

· Unit 2. A Record

· Unit 3. How to Write a Record

· Unit 4. A Complete Written Record

· Unit 5. A Selective Record

· Unit 6. A Historical Record Part 1

· Unit 7. A Historical Record Part 2

· Unit 8. A Historical Record Part 3

Expanded Sections

Definitions

Lists and Tables

Resources

Have you ever tried to construct a definition of what the Bible is?

It is a lot harder than it sounds, trust me! It took a while, but I finally managed something that I could work with. Warning: it's not a "spiritual" definition at all. In fact, you could use the format to describe most books, not just the Bible.

As Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) said:
"We approach the Bible like any other book, to find that the Bible is unlike any other book".

Hort was a key figure in the field of Biblical textual criticism who, with his partner Brooke Foss Westcott, produced the Westcott and Hort Greek New Testament in 1881, a foundational text for modern New Testament scholarship for many decades. Hort understood that approaching the work of creating the best possible text of the Greek New Testament with a "pious" attitude could easily lead to a sub-standard document – what was needed was the rigorous objectivity of serious scholarship as it was applied to any other ancient document.

I'm not nearly at that level of scholarship, but I decided to try and remove the blinkers of traditional "Christianese"

as much as I could. I wanted to look at the Book from a new angle, and see what I would find. And I was convinced more strongly than ever before that we are dealing with a book like no other.

To understand the value of such an approach, consider the following description of what we need urgently in the fight against climate change:
"Self-replicating, solar-powered machines that synthesize carbon dioxide and rainwater into oxygen and sturdy building materials on a planetary scale."

It's not science fiction, we have these machines. We call them trees. But reading a description like this makes us see them with new eyes, as the incredible entities they are, and why they should be protected.

So join me in discovering, or rediscovering, the most incredible Book in existence. We'll try to steer clear of traditional Christian jargon and theological terms, and look with fresh eyes.

This is a work in progress, and I will announce new material here as it becomes available.

¤ Study Unit 6 is now available.

¤ Timelines of Biblical history from creation to the period of the Judges were added to the Lists & Tables page.

Please come back often, and journey along.

¤ A list of the 10 earliest non-Biblical references to Jesus has been added to the Lists and Tables page (under Resources)

¤ The first part of Study Unit 5 is now available.

¤ A Lists And Tables page has been added to the Resources.

Please come back often, and journey along.

[A slowly-growing list of suggested resources can be found at "Resources".]