bible essay
What is the Bible and Why Do We Study It The Bible can be referred to as the “McDonalds” of books; billions of copies have been printed and sold worldwide. It is the most translated and most studied book in the world. It was also the first book ever printed with movable type. There is even a group of religious men called the Gideons who dedicated their lives to spreading God’s word around the world. Their life’s work is to promote Christianity by making Bibles available around the world by placing them in every hotel and motel room. The Bible is a religious text that is the foundation for religious beliefs and social order. Parts of it are considered sacred text by three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many devout believers consider it to be the literal truth, while others interpret it symbolically. In Jewish tradition, the Torah refers to the five “Books of Moses” or what Christians refer to as the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jewish Tanakh refers to the body of scripture known to Christians as the rest of the Old Testament. The Torah is by far the most important part scripture in the Jewish faith because, in addition to including the stories of the Patriarchs, it also details the commandments God gave the Jewish people through Moses. According to Jewish tradition, the oral Torah was passed down orally in an unbroken chain from generation to generation until its contents were finally committed to writing. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in 1949 in Israel, are the oldest known written version of the Old Testament dating from the 2nd Century BCE. They were found by two goat-herders who came upon a cave containing jars filled with manuscripts. Another form in which the Bible serves as a historical artifact is the tradition of Family Bibles. There are countless family bibles preserved today as records of personal family histories. The Bible is considered a historical
References: Miller, Betty. “The Positive Influence of the Bible in America.” July 4, 1973. Web. http://christunlimited.com/answers/aamerica.html Pearce, C.S