Christianity

Christianity
the bible as a source of wisdom in daily life.

*the bible grew up around Jesus.
"these were written to testify about me"
the Hebrew scriptures "the old testament" the bible in Jesus' day.
the gospels and letters sent to people to teach people about Jesus.
the old testament was before Jesus and the new testament is about Jesus life and after Jesus these two come together to make the canon.

2. How were the decisions made?
On what basis did Jews accept or reject books that made it into the canon? There were several factors:
1. The books had to survive
2. They must have supported the Torah (sometimes referred to as the “canon within the canon”
3. They had to be recognized by a wide variety of Jews in supporting their faith and practice.

4. Protestant Bibles
Protestants use the term “Apocrypha” to refer to these books, this word means “hidden”. Protestant bibles placed the “Apocrypha” into a separate section of the Bible or left them out completely. These books are not seen as canonical. This collection is also called Intertestamental literature as these books were written between the closing of the Hebrew canon and the beginning of the New Testament.

6. How New Testament books were chosen
As with the Hebrew Bible there are no written criteria to guide the selection of the books to the canon. However there are three factors of influence:
1. Had to have a connection to the Apostles
2. Had to have a connection with the churches and support faith and practice
3. Had to conform to the faith of Christianity.

8. Why is order important?
You may think the Bible follows a chronological order, from the creation of the world to the announcement of the coming of the new heaven and new earth in the Book of Revelation. However, this is not always the case. In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ruth follows the Song of Solomon even though it refers to events far earlier. In the New Testament the first book that was written (Thessalonians in the early 50s) has been placed after the Gospels which were composed decades later. Clearly more is going on it the order of Biblical books than at first appears.

10. The order of the New Testament
1. In the New Testament the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the “canon within the canon”; it is therefore placed first.
2. Narrative of the birth of the Church (Acts).
3. The letters if Paul.
4. Letters not attributed to Paul.
5. The book of Revelation.