Scripture in Christianity Flashcards
What makes up the 27 compositions that comprise the New Testament?
- 21 different letters addressed to Christian communities
- 4 narratives written by 4 different authors detailing the life of Jesus (The Gospels)
- 1 account of the very early expansion of the movement (the cat of Apostles)
- one mystical, visionary ‘book’ called Revelation
Where was the bible written?
The eastern Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire
What place did the bible grow and arise?
The roman empire
The ____________ was an imperial state that controlled all the lands bordering on the Mediterranean Sea for a good four or five hundred years
Roman Empire
Who wrote the bible
Hebrews wrote the Tanakh and 1st century Jews the New Testament
What is the Gospels
They are narratives from 4 different perspectives and the detailed life of Jesus
What is the book of Revelation?
It is a mystical interpretation of the message of Jesus
How is the bible creative?
Because the different writers of each section and how they have each creatively told the story or interpreted the way to guide their lives
What unique characteristics of the Bible helped spread Christianity?
Individual Christians could carry their faith with them– All the essential information about their beliefs could be found within this convenient and transportable form–a book
How did the structure of the Bible separate Christians from their original community as Jews?
Christianity started to diverge early on, partly because Jewish scriptures were then in the process of being unified–it might have stayed a small sect within Judaism
How were Christians perceived during the period when the New Testament was written?
Christians were considered a Jewish sect and attached their writings to the Hebrew Scriptures.
What marked the beginning of Christianity as a multicultural religion?
The attraction of non-Jews to Christianity marked the beginning of it becoming a multicultural religion.
What cultural influences shaped the formation of the Bible?
The Bible’s formation was influenced by a diverse cultural context, with early writers using a form of Greek called koine
In what languages was the Bible initially written, and what was its later translation?
The Bible was initially written in Hebrew and koine Greek, later translated into Latin, the empire’s official language.
How did the Bible’s portability contribute to its widespread dissemination?
Being written as a ‘book’ made the Bible easily portable, contributing to its accessibility and aiding missionaries in spreading it to new regions.
