The history of the Christian Bible that is used today, the process of its compilation has gone through a long period of time. It began with the formation of the Torah as explained in the previous article.
According to historians, approximately in the third century in 260 BC, King Tolemy 2 Philadelphus formed a team to translate the Torah into Greek and called the Septuagint.
Furthermore, in 200 BC several apocryphal books appeared including the books of Sirach, Tobit, Prologue, Judith, Solomon's Wisdom, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees (the story is taken from the history of the Maccabee rebellion).
The translation of the Torah into Greek (Septuagint) was completed in the first century or 63 BC, which contained the stories of the prophets plus several apocryphal books.
Jesus Christ is estimated by historians to have lived between 4 BC and 30 AD when the writing of the Torah was completed and finished.
After 30 AD to 70 AD when Jesus was no longer around, Paul's letters appeared claiming to have met Jesus and become his followers.
Who is this Paul figure, you can read in my previous article
Furthermore, in 200 BC several apocryphal books appeared including the books of Sirach, Tobit, Prologue, Judith, Solomon's Wisdom, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees (the story is taken from the history of the Maccabee rebellion).
The translation of the Torah into Greek (Septuagint) was completed in the first century or 63 BC, which contained the stories of the prophets plus several apocryphal books.
Jesus Christ is estimated by historians to have lived between 4 BC and 30 AD when the writing of the Torah was completed and finished.
After 30 AD to 70 AD when Jesus was no longer around, Paul's letters appeared claiming to have met Jesus and become his followers.
Who is this Paul figure, you can read in my previous article
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The first letter of Paul in sequence in 48 BC, namely Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians 1, Thessalonians, and Philemon
As a result, two groups emerged in the Israelites, namely the group that still followed the teachings of the Torah that had been translated into Greek, and the second group that followed Paul's teachings.
In Paul's time, the Bibles of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John appeared. The contents of the books of Matthew and Luke are mostly adapted from the contents of the first book of Mark written, plus the book of John and the letters of Paul.
The authors of the 4 Bibles Mark, Matthew, Luke and John according to New Testament historians, it is not clear who the authors are. Studies of the history of ancient manuscripts reveal that the authors of the 4 Bible books are difficult to trace.
Two church fathers, namely Saint Papias in 135 AD, and Saint Irenaeus in 185 BC, were the first to attribute the names of the books of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John
The combination of the 4 books of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John plus the book of Acts, 13 letters of Paul, the letter of the Hebrews, 7 general letters and the book of Revelation is what is called the New Testament.
Furthermore, the Jewish Torah Bible was taken and labeled the Old Testament, then combined with the New Testament into a complete holy book and used by Christians.
The development of copies of the Bible from time to time
From the Greek Septuagint book, as told at the beginning of the post, it was then translated into Latin in the 4th century AD and called the Vulgate.
The most meritorious person in the process of translating the Septuagint into the Vulgate was Jerome who was ordered by Pope Damasus 1.
From the Vulgate, the Bible called Wycliffe was derived in the 14th century AD, The Great Bible in the 16th century AD while the Bible was also made in Greek called Textus Receptus.
From the Textus Receptus, it was then combined with the Great Bible to become the Bishops Bible in the 16th century. From this Textus Receptus, it was also written in Latin to become the Geneva Bible in 1560.
The Geneva Bible was still in Latin, well then from the Bishop Bible and the Geneva Bible, this was the forerunner of the emergence of the King James version of the Bible in 1611.
That from this Vulgate, the Catholic Bible was also derived, called the Douay Rheims in the 16th century or 1582 AD.
When the King James Version was published, a school of textual criticism emerged that did not fully accept the contents of the King James Version, and finally published the English Revised Version of the Bible in 1885 AD or the 19th century.
From the English Revised Bible, it was translated again into the American Standard Version by Christians in America in the 20th century.
Here are some versions of the Bible that are translated from the American Standard Version
1. JPS Tanakh in 1917
2. Revised Standard Version in 1952
3. New American Standard Bible in 1971
4. The Living Bible in 1971
5. New Revised Standard Version in 1982
6. English Standard Version in 2001
7. New Living Translation in 1996
8. NRSV Updated Edition in 2021
Examining the long history of the emergence of so many Christian Bible translations, it will be easy to find contradictions in complex verses in the bible.
How unfortunate, if the Christian bible is still called a holy book because it has clearly been revised many times with different names. Let's reflect !!!!
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