Bible Course for the Laity - 2004, DVK, Bangalore

Full Reports on the Bible & Theology Course - 2004

Fr Paul Savio started the first session of the bible course with a highly enlightening introduction of the Bible. He summarized into two pages a world of information on the Bible, its origin, its interpretations, and its importance.

1.1   Introduction

The Bible is not a book, but a collection of 73 religious books. As St Jerome said, the Bible is "a divine library." It is the Book of books, the Book that gives inspiration to thousands of books. Never has any book exerted as much influence on humanity and civilization as has the Holy Bible. The Bible is unique in that it has God as its author. We read the Bible to strengthen our faith in God and to discern God's message to us. The 73 books of the Bible were written during a long period of about 1200 years beginning from 1100 BC to 100 AD. The Bible gives testimony to the faith, history, and the culture of a people with whom God had entered into a special relationship. The Bible is an inspired literature. As literature, it contains different literary forms such as narrative, history, poetry, sayings, laws, prayers, hymns, laments, prophecies, exhortations, warnings, parables, proverbs, riddles, sermons, miracle stories, letters, myths, etc.

1.2   Interpreting the Bible

Is it possible to understand the Bible correctly merely by reading it? Some people still think that the message of the Bible is so clear that it does not require any interpretation. However, with several obscurities, inconsistencies, and apparent contradictions, and having been written in ancient languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek around 3,000 to 1,900 years ago, scholars of all times have adopted different methods and approaches to interpret the Bible. God speaks to men and women using their language, history, culture, and life pattern, especially those of the people of Israel, all these being significantly different from ours. Therefore, to grasp the meaning of God's word, we must bridge these gaps and enter into the world of biblical writers. In other words, we need interpretative help to correctly understand the message of the Bible.

1.3   Origin of the Bible

It is significant to have an insight into how the Bible got its name, and the early biblical period.

The word "Bible"

The term "Bible" originated from the Greek word "biblia" meaning "books". "Books" later became "the Book" by common consent. The Bible is referred to as "the Book". Being known as "the Book" without any qualification (that is, without any particular name as in the case of other books) indicates the special position that the Bible enjoys among all books of the world.

Early days of the Bible

Originally, the Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew and Aramaic (The Old Testament), and Greek (The New Testament). All of the Bible was initially written as whole without any division into chapters or verses. The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century, and the chapters into verses in the 16th century. It is significant that the sacred writers wrote the biblical books initially as a continuous work without any division into chapters and verses. St Gregory the Great, in AD 595, qualified the Bible as "a Letter from God to his human creatures". The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Relation says: "In the Sacred Books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet His children, and talks with them." In the Bible, God's talking and God's word come to us in human words. Up until the invention of printing in 15th century, the bible copies were all hand-written, and these are known as manuscripts. The original manuscripts (Autographs) of the Biblical books were lost. The manuscripts we have today are the copies of the copied manuscripts of the original manuscripts.

The "Bible Course - 2004" presents a life-oriented approach, rather than just an academic perspective, to the study of the Bible.

Module-1 is to continue into Day 2 of the "Bible Course for the Laity - 2004".

Module 1, Part 1   Module 1, Part 2   Bible Course Index   Bible Course Outline

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