SACRED

SCRIPTURES
 What is Bible?
Where does it’s name bible
come from?
• Latin and Greek “biblia” plural of
“biblion”meaning booklet.
• Biblion comes from the word
“byblos”-papyrus-the writing
materials of the Egyptians.
• Concretely the Bible is:
-a collection of books, written under
the inspiration of God and recognized
by the Church-CANON.
 The Bible
• The Bible tells
us of God who
calls, invites
and elects man
to a life of
friendship,
intimacy and
union with
Him.
• It is a
Bible: The so called “Word of God”
• It was the result of the process
of listening to God’s Word in
history and in the RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE OF THE NATION.
• The reflection of God’s word was
articulated and expressed in the
forms of stories which were
handed down by word of mouth
to the community.
 The two parts of the Bible:

Old Testament New Testament

(Hebrew) (Greek)
 What do you mean by
“Testament”?
• The word “testament” is derived from the
Latin word “testamentum”; in Greek
“diatheke” which means either a LAST
WILL or an AGREEMENT.
• In the Bible the word “DIATHEKE” signify
COVENANT
• In Hebrew belief, the covenant is the
formula of the --- RELATIONSHIP OF
YAHWEH AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.
 What do people say the Bible
is?Hebrews, Israelites
• A long story about the
and Jews.
• A book of endless battles and wars.
• A library of Books.
• The greatest literature ever written.
• A book that can inspire and change lives.
• A love story of God and His people.
⮚ What is Sacred Scriptures?

• Any writing that is regarded as sacred by a

religious group. A writings that are venerated for
the worship of a canon deity.

• A collection of books accepted as holy scripture

especially the books.

Commonly known as the

“BIBLE”
 ⮚ How the Bible exist?
⮚ Who made the
Bible?
⮚ What are the contents of the Bible?

⮚ What makes our Bible Catholic?

To answer these questions let us find out

the origin of the Bible. Later on you will
realize that no other than who made the
Bible, but only our Church. “THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH”
 STORY OF THE BIBLE

It was Melito, bishop of Sardis who first

tried to have an Old Testament Canon, but
many of the inspired books are not seen in
his list. The council of Laodicea, with the
permission of the Pope in Rome, produced
the first canon of the Bible.
It is only in the year of Pope Damasus that a
great effort was done to form the Bible. This
Holy Pope compiled the books which he
considered genuine and ordered.
POPE
DAMASUS
Saint Jerome to translate them into Latin
which was the official language of the
Church. Saint Jerome went to Jerusalem and
lived for 30 years in a cave to do the job. At
397 A.D., he finished his works and
presented it to the Pope. This is known as
“Latin Vulgate”. Pope Siricus called it “The
Bible” which means “collection of books”.
 PAPYRUS

Saint Jerome
The term New Testament was given by
Tertulian. The divisions by chapters and
verses in the Bible was created by an
Archbishop cardinal Hugo de Santo Caro in
A. D. 1244 – 1248. the Bible is divided into
Old and New Testament.
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The Old Testament was actually written over
a period of more than one thousand years,
from the 12th century to the 1st century
before Christ. The New testament took at
least 50 years to be completed from 50 A.D.
to 100 A.D. Bible therefore is the product of
the Church. Without the Church we would
not have Bible.
 ⮚ Why the Bible was formed?

In early centuries of the church, there

Appeared more than 50 gospels, which
Include 4 gospels such as James,
Thomas,the
Hebrews and the others. There were 22
Book of Acts, Acts of the Apostles, Acts of
Paul, and Acts of Thecla among others.
There were numerous Epistles that we see
in New Testament such as Paul’s letter to
the Laodiceans, Epistle of Barnabas.
Early Christian preachers

Apostles and
disciples of Christ
This created total confusion among early
Christians because some of the books and
letters were ‘spurious’ and others genuine.
Some of them contained even superstition
and funny stories of the miracles of Jesus
and apostles. Many false prophets appeared
with different theologies contrary to the
apostolic teaching.
For Arius, Jesus is not a God.
For Apolinarius, Jesus is not a man.
Macedonius preached that the Holy Spirit is
not God.
For Maricionites, all gospels are false.

All of them started to quote the scriptures

available at that time. To defend the true
Church and its doctrines from the
apostasies, the Catholic decided to select
some books that seemed genuine and
inspired. It is known as the canon of Bible.
 CONTENTS OF CATHOLIC BIBLE
Old Testament
❖PENTATEUCH
• is a name given to the first five books of the Bible
- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. It is derived from two Greek words,
pente, meaning five, and teuchos, meaning
volumes. Pentateuch means five volumes.
• Pentateuch as The Law, or The Book of the Law. It
has always been at the beginning of the Bible, not
only because its events occurred first, but because
it formed the rationale for the rest of the sacred
books.
❖HISTORICAL

• There are twelve books in this part of the

Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1
Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1
Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther. These books were composed at
different times and places but have been
arranged in a sequence that tells the story
of God’s people from the occupation of
Canaan through the rise and fall of the
northern and southern kingdoms, and the
return and rebuilding of Jerusalem in the
Persian period.
 ❖WISDO
M
• The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, composed
the wisdom.
• The wisdom literature of the Bible is the fruit
of a movement among ancient oriental
people to gather, preserve and express, the
results of human experience as an aid
toward understanding and solving the
problems of life.
❖PROPHETIC

• The Prophetic Books are divided between

the Major and Minor Prophets. The terms
"major" and "minor" are meant to describe
their length and the importance of their
message. To put it simply, God chose to
disclose more through the Major Prophets
than through the Minor Prophets.
 New Testament

❑ GOSPEL
• The word Gospel usually designates a
written record of Christ's words and deeds.

❑ ACTS of the APOSTLES

• The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the

New Testament, written between AD 70 and 90
which the author is Luke. Acts is an account of the
early preaching about Jesus Christ, the growth of
the primitive Christian community, and the spread
of the Christian message.
• The early chapters of Acts contain an idyllic portrait of
the Jerusalem community praying together, practicing
common ownership of property, and preaching.

❑ PAULINE LETTERS

• Paul was one of the most important early Christian

missionaries. The story of his work and travels is told in
the book of Acts. During his travels Paul wrote letters or
“epistles” to various congregations and individuals.
These letters are the oldest extant Christian writings.
Thirteen letters are attributed to Paul: Romans, 1
Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2
Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon.
 ❑ EPISTLES
• The Epistles are letters written to the fledgling churches
and individual believers in the earliest days of
Christianity. The Apostle Paul wrote the first 13 of these
letters, each addressing a specific situation or problem.
Paul's writings constitute about one-fourth of the entire
New Testament.

❑ REVELATION
• The book of Revelation is John's record of that vision. John
was a Christian leader of Jewish origin who was in exile on
the Roman prison island of Patmos.
• The book of Revelation is an example of "apocalyptic"
writing - a form that delivers a message using symbols,
images and numbers.
INDICATIONS OF A CATHOLIC BIBLE
There are seventy-three books in the Canon of the
Catholic Bible; forty-six in the Old Testament and
twenty-seven in the New Testament.

Old Testament Daniel

Hosea
Genesis
2 Kings Psalms Joel
Exodus
1 Chronicles Proverbs Amos
Leviticus
2 Chronicles Ecclesiastes Obadiah
Numbers
Ezra Song of Songs Jonah
Deuteronomy
Nehemiah Wisdom Micah
Joshua
Tobit Isaiah Nahum
Judges
Judith Jeremiah Habakkuk
Ruth
Esther Lamentation Zephaniah
1 Samuel
1 Maccabees Baruch Haggai
2 Samuel
2 Maccabees Ezekiel Zechariah
1 Kings
Job Malachi
 New Testament

Matthew Philippians
Mark Colossians
Luke 1 Thessalonians 1 Peter
John 2 Thessalonians 2 Peter
Acts 1 Timothy 1 John
Romans 2 Timothy 2 John
1 Corinthians Titus 3 John
2 Corinthians Philemon Jude
Galatians Hebrews Revelation
Ephesians James