Word of Life

  By Emmanuel Gomes   This article concludes the introduction to the Old Testament, and discusses on how under the infallible authority of the Catholic Church the canon of the Scriptures according to Catholic faith was finalized.   There are video lectures at the end of this article. After studying this article, it is recommended to watch the four videos for a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the Bible.    From next article onwards, we will begin with the study of the Pentateuch, starting with the book of Genesis. For this Bible Study, we will be following the canonical order.   The Development of the Canon in the Early Church –   In the previous article , we saw how different sects of Judaism had divergent views on the Jewish Scripture during Jesus’s time. So when did the Jewish community reach a consensus on their canon as described in our first article?   Jewish traditions do not have a central authority like the Catholic Church and does not claim to hold infallible cou

By Emmanuel Gomes Most people today don’t give it much thought on how the Bible came to be in its current form. How did we get the Bible? Where did it come from? And most importantly of all, who decided on which books should be included in the Bible? In this and subsequent article(s) we will try to dig into these questions further. The main objective of this article is to – Give a historical insight (a timeline) on the development of the Bible (specifically the OT). What did the various sects of ancient Jews think about the Scriptures. What was the Jewish Scripture during Jesus’s time. What is the meaning of the word canon? ‘Bible’ comes from the ancient word for ‘book’ or ‘scroll’ (Greek  biblos).  The Old Testament is a collection of books (a library) written by human beings over the course of many centuries.  The answer to the questions mentioned above is what is known as the  canon  of Scripture. The word ‘canon’ comes from  kanon  (Greek) which itself comes from  qaneh  (Hebrew),

By Adrian Mathew   Disclaimer – The following article is meant for educational purpose only and not for any commercial purpose. The Catholic Church's classification of the Canon of the Old Testament is based on the Latin Vulgate by St. Jerome. As a note, the term "canon" is Latin derived from the Greek "kanon" which means "cane". In Early Christianity "canon" came to mean a rule, measure or authoritative standard against which to evaluate doctrine. The canonization of the Scriptures in the Catholic Church can be identified with formal decisions of Church Councils. By the end of the fourth century, the Churches in communion with Rome settled on the canon recognized by the Catholic Church today, as can be seen from the Council of Rome (382 AD). The Catholic Old Testament consists of 46 books, which are divided into four main sections:  1)   The Pentateuch/Torah/Law: The first five books of the Old Testament are known as the Pentateuch or th

By Adrian Mathew What is the Jewish Tanakh? The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, also known in Hebrew as Miqra, is the canonical collection of Hebrew scriptures. Tanakh, an acronym derived from the names of the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible. The meaning of TANAKH is the Jewish Scriptures comprising the books of law, the prophets, and collected writings. (Taken from the internet) Classification of the Old Testament based of the Jewish Tanakh The phrase “the law and the prophets” is common in the New Testament as a way to refer to the Hebrew Tanakh and its basic division into 2 parts, Torah and Prophets. In Luke 24:44 Luke has Jesus refer to “the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms” which reflects the three- part division of Torah, Prophets and Writing of the Tanakh. The total number of books in the Jewish Tanakh is 24. 1) Pentateuch/Torah/Law – The Torah is the foundation document of Judaism and the heart of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah consists of 5 individual books: Genesis, Exodus