The Bible

[Oliver]

Is there an original bible? Or the earliest bible found that can be studied?

Why is there a different bibles for different religions, my example being Catholic and Protestant? Is the bible not neutral?

[Brother Adam]

You are opening a can of worms there! I will try to lay some ground work here in a non-scholarly manner. I am sure other Church Scholars will have more to add. There is no way to truly do your topic justice on a message board.

As a more in-depth resource, I recommend reading Henry Graham's "[url="http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm"]Where we Got the Bible[/url]" It is available online for free. That will give you a better sense of how the Bible came to be. It is best read with the Second Vatican Council's [url="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html"]Dei Verbum[/url], on Divine Revelation for a fuller picture of the place of the Holy Bible within the whole of the history of Salvation. The Bible cannot stand alone as a means of understanding God's plan for salvation. It is meant to be read and understood within the Christian Church.

1. The Bible is a group of inspired individual writings written by many different authors over a long period of time in different languages. Together they make up one "canon of scripture". The canon is an infallible list of inspired writings. It is a way in which God reveals himself and his plan for us.

"Through divine revelation, God chose to show forth and communicate Himself and the eternal decisions of His will regarding the salvation of men. That is to say, He chose to share with them those divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding of the human mind." - Dei Verbum, 6.

2. Scripture flows forth, properly, from Sacred Tradition which comes before Scripture. Thus, there is no "original" Bible in the sense that someone sat down and wrote a book. We do not have the original manuscripts - those letters and words penned by the actual authors, but we do have very early manuscripts preserved by the Church. Some of them are very incomplete - not even a whole book, other later copies we can read in their fulness, such as St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate from the 4th century.

[quote]
"Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence."[/quote]

3. Over time these manuscripts were brought together into various canons of scripture. There are different early lists of what books and letters out to be included in scripture. Both the Old Testament, accepted by Christians, and the New Testament came into being. The Church formally decided which books would belong in the Bible in council. Protestants have a different list that they accept. This is complex and a discussion on the Septuagint and the deutocanonicals, along with the history of the canon is laid out in an easy to read way in the above book by Henry Graham.

[quote]Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings (5) for the sake of salvation. Therefore "all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living, so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text). - Dei Verbum 11[/quote]

4. Translation is a science and an art. Since the scriptures were not originally written in English they are translated from other texts - usually Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, or Latin, or even other languages like German which themselves were translated. Translators also use different methods to translate the Bible. Some attempt to be as close to the original language as possible, translating it word for word as best as they can. Often there is no English equivalent of the other language, and they have to guess. Others simply paraphrase the Bible (the worst method of translation) into whatever they think the author meant. One of the finest translations accepted by both Protestants and Catholics is the Revised Standard Version. There is a specific 2nd Catholic Edition published by Ignatius Press that I recommend.

5. From these different translated texts and through the work of "exegesis" scholars and theologians interpret scripture to formulate creeds and doctrines that Christians must live by. Only the Catholic Church guarantees through the protection of the Holy Spirit that these interpretations are without error.

[quote]Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church. Holding fast to this deposit the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the common life, in the breaking of the bread and in prayers (see Acts 2, 42, Greek text), so that holding to, practicing and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort. (7)

But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, (8) has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, (9) whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed.

It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. - Dei Verbum 10[/quote]