The Story of the Bible

Luke Timothy Johnson

Lecture 1: Telling the Story of a Book

1. The Bible is best known for the many stories it contains, many of which have had powerful influences on Western culture.

   1. Hebrew Bible as the collection of stories of the Jewish people seeks to explain God and humanity’s relationship with God.

   2. New Testament portrays Jesus his teaching, life, ministry, death and resurrection and the impact his life had on the disciples and early Christian communities.

2. Epic stores in the Bible

   1. Abraham and other patriarchs as saga of our ancestors.

   2. Exodus as an epic claim to land and identity.

   3. Jesus’ death and resurrection as the basis for a new religious identity.

3. The whole story of the Bible offers a sweep of narratives from Genesis to Revelation: creation of the earth, and creation of a new heaven and earth.

4. Considering the Bible as a collection of books (ta biblia means collection of books) has a story apart from the contents in the book.

1. Printing 5 billion copies since 1815 in 2,100 languages

2. Gideon Bible in hotels, hospitals, schools seeks to share the Bible with everyone

5. The Bible has power that goes beyond the sum of its content.

   1. Authority of the Bible

   2. Special treatment and place in worship

   3. Biblical religion is a phrase that means adherence to some or particular understanding of the authority of the biblical content.

6. Telling the story of the Bible involves complex considerations: 5 of these are important:

   1. Where does the story begin?

   2. In what forms does the bible appear?

   3. How many Bibles are there?

   4. In how many languages does the Bible appear?

   5. How does the interpretation of the Bible become part of its story?

7. This course traces the story of the Bible through 4 chronological stages:

   1. The origins of the biblical compositions and the process through which Jewish and Christian authorities collected books for inclusion in the Bible.

   2. Multiple versions of the Christian Bible in antiquity and the pattern of interpretation within Judaism and Christianity through the Middle Ages.

   3. Multiple strands of the Bible’s story as a consequence of the renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment.

   4. The Bible in modernity: historical criticism and contemporary responses to it.

Discussion questions:

1. How does the idea of looking at the Bible from its origin forward appeal to you?

2. What concerns do you have after hearing the first lecture?

3. What implications of referring to both Jewish and Christian Scriptures as “the Bible” have for you?