There is a complicated history behind the collection of books we call the Bible. Because we usually experience it as a single book between two covers, we don’t often think about its complexity. But the history is fascinating, and getting to understand that history can enrich our understanding of the scriptures we read. In this first session of the series, Doug Chaplin will lead us in thinking about how the Old Testament came together.
Christians don’t agree on how many books there are in the Old Testament. Jews and Protestants have the same books, but arrange and count them differently – and for Jews, of course, these books are the entire Bible, not the Old Testament. Catholics and Protestants have the same arrangement of books, but Roman Catholics have some additional books which Anglicans put in a separate section called the Apocrypha. And if you’re an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, you have more books in both your Old and New Testaments than anyone else in the world.
Come along and explore the history of how the Old Testament section of the biblical library was put together.
Doug Chaplin is the Discipleship and Lay Training Officer for the Diocese.