(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading...I am happy to say that I have nearly finished writing the rough draft of my Introduction to the Bible; those of you who have been on the blog for a while know: this is a college level textbook (so, written for 19 year olds) for a one-semester course on the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. I’ve actually enjoyed doing it. In preparation I spent a couple of years teaching the Introduction to the Hebrew Bible course at UNC, refreshing my memory on the Jewish Scriptures and getting back abreast of scholarship, after I had not done much in Hebrew Bible for 25 years. And I realized, once I started getting into it, that some of the “knowledge” I had 25 years ago was given me by professors nearing retirement age who were, as a result, giving me information that was at that time 25 years out of date.
So, well, I was 50 years behind the times. Not good.
But I retaught myself Hebrew – which was fun; I’m still reading a bit every day. I’m not an expert, or even close to being an expert, but it’s so much more enjoyable and enlightening to read the texts in the original, even if I need a lexicon to help me along. And I learned what scholarship has been doing over the past few decades. And I constantly reminded myself that my book was not for experts, but for students who knew next to nothing about the Bible.
I finished the Hebrew Bible portion a few weeks ago, and sent it off to three friends/colleagues who really are experts, asking them to track down all the really stupid things I said and to let me now where the real howlers were. One of them has gotten back to me with just the advice I was looking for. He found a few mistakes here and there, but basically thought that it was good to go. I’m still waiting for the other two.
In the meantime I have finished now the New Testament chapters in rough draft. This was hard but not as painful as I thought it would be. I had five chapters for the NT (the book had to be 15 chapters long, to fit into a semester; I had one that was an Introduction to the Bible; eight on the Hebrew Bible itself; one a transition dealing with the Greco-Roman world and Judaism at the time of Jesus; five on the NT; and then a final long Appendix on the text and canon of both testaments) : (a) the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), including the Synoptic Problem; (b) John, the later Gospels, and the historical Jesus; (c) the Life and letters of Paul (just the seven undisputed); (d) Other portrayals of Paul: the book of Acts and the six Deutero-Pauline epistles; (e) the General epistles (8 of them) and Revelation.
Tomorrow I will write the chapter /Appendix (probably just 20 pages or so? The other chapters are all around 40 pages in manuscript) dealing with the question of “how we got the Bible” – in two senses. (1) How did we get the books that are in the Bible – why the 39 Books of the OT (24 in the Hebrew Bible)? Why not others? Why the 27 books of the NT? Why these? And why not others? And (2) How did we physically get these books? The authors didn’t publish electronically and they didn’t have printing presses – so how were these books transmitted over the ages, and what problems are presented by the fact that we don’t have any originals but only much later copies? These two sets of problems apply to both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, although in each case the problems end up being different, for a host of historical reasons. Anyway, that’s tomorrow’s fun.
I have already posted a few bits of the book in rough draft, and will probably post a couple more just to give a general sense of what it’s all about and what level I’m pitching it at.
Can’t wait for the book.
It’s been over 4 decades since I was 19 years old, but I’m really looking forward to this book.
You did delineate the Synoptic Problem BEFORE injecting the inevitable Q, didn’t you? I would hate for you to start getting harassing emails from Dr Goodacre. 😉
Ah, Mark’s a friend and colleague, at cross-town rival Duke. We don’t see eye-to-eye on basketball or Q!
If I may be so presumption as to add a brief footnote to the above. (Most definitely _not_ a correction. And I certainly understand Dr Ehrman knows all this. I’m simply writing as someone who experienced some confusion over these numbers when I first heard them, all those years ago.)
— As stated, the Protestant Old Testament contains 39 books.
— In addition to these books, the Catholic Old Testament includes seven additional Deuterocanonical/apocryphal books, as well as additions to two other books (Esther and Daniel).
— Also, as stated, the Hebrew Scripts comprise 24 books. However, to be clear, these books contain the same material as the 39 “common” books in the Christian Old Testament, but they are grouped somewhat differently (i.e. each pair of the “First/Second” books in the Christian Old Testament –Samuel, Kings, Chronicles– are collected into a single book in the Hebrew Scriptures. Likewise Ezra/ Nehemiah is a single book. Finally the twelve “minor prophets” –Hosea to Malachi– are all grouped as a single book.)
P.S. The mnemonic that our youth minister taught us for remembering the numbers of the books in each Testament, was “To Remember the Trinity”.
I.e. the NT contains [3 * 3 * 3] = 27 books.
The OT contains [3 “+” (3 * 3)] = 39 books.
I would be very interested in reading part or all of the “How We Got the Bible” chapter. Those two questions: Which books and which texts and translations of those books are crucial starting points?
OK, I may post some selections….
Mazal tov! 😉
How about a new course for the Teaching Company? When will you write ” How Jesus became God”?
Can’t think of a new course to do! I’ll write How Jesus Became God, if all goes to plan, Spring 2013 for publication Spring 2014.
Prof Ehrman
Since you’ve refreshed yourself in Hebrew Bible scholarship what do make of the whole “minimalist” controversy, in some quarters as controversial as the arguments about New Testament historicity in your own field? No historical King David or at best a local tribal chieftain around whose exploits stories were told, that the whole “Exodus” story is pretty much fiction and the very interesting possibility that the Hebrew people were not invaders but seem to have been indigenous Canaanites? Fascinating stuff.
I lean toward a minimalist view myself, I’m afraid.
What is the best bible to read for ease of understanding and accuracy for what was actually said? I heard the NRSV is a good choice.
That’s my preference. I especially like an annotated edition, such as the HarperCollins Study Bible.