Books | Translations | Popular passages/stories/events

The bible was written over 16 centuries from 1400 BC - 200 AD by more than 40 authors, although the actual authorship of many books is still debated by biblical scholars.

If you don't have time to read the whole thing a good way to start is:

• John (NT)- One of the four Gospels (about the life of Christ). Written for Gentiles. It is more about a personal relationship with Christ/God, with less facts than other gospels.
• Genesis (OT)- First book of the Old Testament and Jewish Torah. Creation, Noah, Israel's origin (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).
• Proverbs (OT) - Old Testament - A Collection of Wise Sayings of King Solomon and Others.
• James (NT) - A practical guide for Holy living. The Proverbs of the New Testament. (Short - 5 chapters about 5 pages.) (Martin Luther wanted to remove the book of James claiming it "contradicts Paul by teaching justification by works" (Instead of faith alone.)
• Matthew (NT) - A more polished and complete product than Mark.
• Psalms - A collection of praises and prayers from various authors (Daivd has many).
• Isaiah (OT) - Major old testiment prophet. Prose and poetry unveiling the full dimensions of God's judgment and salvation.
• Ecclesiastes (OT) - Life lessons of an old man.
• Ephesians (NT) - Paul's most quoted letter. Written to explain the dimensions of God's eternal purpose and grace.

Books of the Bible

Old Testament - Old Covenant between Abraham and Sara.
 Taken from / shared with the Jewish faith who refer to it as the Hebrew Scriptures.
 Major themes: Sinfulness of man, Judgement.
 Written in Hebrew and Aramaic, but translated into Greek starting in the 3rd century BC.
 Torah (Law): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
  Assembled and written down by four authors in the sixth - fourth centuries B.C. 
  (it was oral before then.)
  Also called the Pentateuch.
 History: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I-II Samuel, I-II Kings, I-II Chronicles, Ezra,
           Nehemiah, Esther
  (Part of categories "Writings" and "Prophets" in Jewish scripture)
 Wisdom: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
  (Part of "Writings" in Jewish Scripture)
 Prophets: 
   Major: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
   Minor: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
    Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

 History, Wisdom and Prophets were assembled in the first century A.D.
 Old Testament Timeline

 Timeline on the inerrancy page
 

New Testament - New Covenant with Jesus Christ
  Written in Greek
 Major themes: Grace, Love, Redemption.
 History
  Gospels (Good News - Life of Christ): 
    First three are the synoptic gospels because they are very similar.
    Matthew - One of the 12 Disciples.  Written to convince his fellow Jews
              that Jesus is their Messiah.   It is the link between the Old
              and  New Testaments.  Itncludes more proof of
              Old Testament prophecies than the other gospels.
              91% of Mark is in Matthew.
    Mark - John Mark a close associate of the Disciple Peter.
            He emphasizes more what Jesus did than what he said.
    Luke - A Gentile by birth, educated in Greek culture, a physician and
          companion of Paul. Main theme is the nature of Jesus' Messiaship
          and mission.
    John - One of the 12 Disciples.  Written for Greek thinkers and other
           Gentiles.  Called "The Gospel of Love," It is more about a personal
           relationship with Christ/God, with less facts than other gospels.
           A good place to start or read if you're only going to read one book.
           

            Elaine Pagels in her book Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas,
            proposes that John wrote his gospel as a refutation of Thomas'
            gospel which was rejected, when the New Testament
            canon  was fixed in 357.  Both gospels center their themes on a
            higher knowledge available in Jesus' words and message, but Thomas
            claimed that light of God is in everyone not just Jesus.
  
  The Acts of the Apostles (Luke)
 Epistles:
  Letters to churches: Romans, I-II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
                          Philippians, Colossians, I-II Thessalonians,
          Most are presumed to be written by Paul although, some scholars
          question his authorship of Ephesians, Colossians and Titus.
          
  Letters to individuals: I-II Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
  Letter to Hebrews: Hebrews,
  General Letters:  James (Jesus brother) - A practical guide to holy living.
  I-II Peter (Disciple), I-II-III John, Jude,
  The Revelation

CE. 367 - The New Testament was assembled by Athanasius of Alexandria
 (See Biblical Canon Selection)

CE. 397 - The Canon was approved by the Third Synod of Carthage,
 mainly through the influence of St Augustine (See New Testament Canon)

New Testament Timeline

Fifteen additional books called the Apocrypha, are used by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. They were written during the last two centuries before Christ and the first century of the Christian era. They are: The First Book of Esdras, The Second Book of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to the Book of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, ...

See: Canons of the Old Testament at www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/INTRO/INT_TB1.HTM

Thirteen ancient codices containing over fifty texts uncovered in Egypt in 1945 have additional descriptions of Jesus. They are referred to as the Nag Hammadi Library supposedly written by Gnostics.
They include the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Truth.
They paint a different picture of Jesus, for example Thomas claimed that the light of God is in everyone not just Jesus.

The Gnostics (comes from greek "knowledge" or "act of knowing") delineated themselves from other Christians by claiming not simply a belief in Christ and his message, but a "special witness" or revelatory experience of the divine.

See also: Biblical Covenants.

Translations

3rd century BC - Septuagint - Greek Translation
          (Also known as  "LXX," or "Seventy," from the supposed number of
           translators.)
At the reformation, Martin Luther decided for the canon of the Hebrew Bible.
At the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Roman Catholic Church affirmed the
canon of the Septuagint.

There are many other versions listed at www.Invista.com. 

  The "Oxford Annotated Bible" uses the RSV translation
See Also:
Comparison of Translations at the Duff family site. 
Comparison of Translations at Invista.
About the NRSV at the National Council of Churches page.
The Canon Wheel
Jewish Holy Scriptures  - The Tanakh

Other

Some popular passages

See also:
Biblical Genealogies

1. There are several different systems for determining biblical times which result in dates varying by 1,500 years or more. See Bible Dates.

  Twenty-one great topical chapters found in the Bible:

The Ten commandments chapter, Ex. 20.
The faithfulness of God chapter, Josh. 14.
The shepherd chapter, Ps. 23.
The confession of sin chapter, Ps. 51.
The praise of God "chapter," Ps. 103.
The word of God "chapter," Ps. 119.
The wisdom chapter, Prov. 8.
The virtuous woman chapter, Prov. 31.
The majesty of God chapter, Isa. 40.
The Beatitudes chapter, Matt. 5.
The sower and seed chapter, Matt. 13.
The abiding chapter, John 15.
The justification chapter, Rom. 5.
The marriage chapter, I Cor. 7.
The love chapter, I Cor. 13.
The resurrection chapter, I Cor. 15.
The fruit of the Spirit chapter, Gal. 5.
The faith chapter, Heb. 11.
The tongue chapter, Jas. 3.
The reason for suffering chapter, I Pet. 4.
The fellowship chapter, I John 1.

• He who is not with me is against me. Matt 12:30
• The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak - Matt 26:41
• Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. - Cor 13:4
• To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
• "Whoever loves money never has money enough; Ecclesiastes 5:10)

People in the Bible

Subjects There are over 700 direct references and hundreds of indirect references to money in the NT. Nearly 2/3rds of the parables Jesus gave deal with money. Jesus taught more about money than heaven and hell combined. There are over 2000 references to wealth and property in the Bible, that's twice the number for prayer and faith combined. user.cybrzn.com/~faith/page14.html

Authors Old Testament:
New Testament:

Paul

- Originally knows as Saul. He was a Hebrew zealot, Pharisee, roman citizen and well educated in Hebrew as well as Greek history and philosophy. His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus [Acts 22:6] transformed him from an intolerant, bitter, persecuting religious bigot to a patient, kind, enduring and self-sacrificing servant who authored 7 (possibly more) books of the bible.

He studied in the Pharisee academy of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). We know from other sources about Gamaliel, who is a highly respected figure in the rabbinical writings such as the Mishnah, and was given the title 'Rabban', as the leading sage of his day.

What is referred to as the The Gamaliel attitude can be summarized in these simple statements: We should wait to see whether a given religious movement is from God or from men. If the movement is from men, it will fail.

See: The Problem with Paul