How the Bible Was Formed E3 — Today, most Bibles are a single book that’s easy to carry and flip through. But the Bible started as an assortment of scrolls, bound together into a collection. The Hebrew Bible—or the Old Testament—went through a centuries-long, iterative development process with a variety of scribes and prophets. It didn’t come into its final form until roughly the time of Jesus. So how does this history interact with a view of Scripture as God’s word? In this episode, Jon and Tim continue exploring the formation of the Bible, discussing how to hold a high view of these sacred texts while also acknowledging the humans who shaped them.

CHAPTERS

1. An Inspired, Collaborative Work Over Centuries (0:00-12:00)
2. A Final Shaping of the Hebrew Bible After Exile (12:00-26:59)
3. The Second Temple Period’s Flourishing Literary Culture (26:59-43:42)
4. The Tanak’s Standardization as the Masoretic Text (43:42-53:32)
5. Wisdom Literature Designed for Meditation and Formation (53:32-1:00:03)
6. Coming to Peace With the Bible’s Formation (1:00:03-1:05:02)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible by Paul D. Wegner
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Nice Day ft. Marc Vanparla, John Lee” by Lofi Sunday
• “Know My Name” by Lofi Sunday, Opto Music
• “But Hopeful ft. Maddox.” by Lofi Sunday
• “Forever Yours ft. Cassidy Godwin” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, and he also edited today's episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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 How the Bible Was Formed E2 — The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is a collection of 24 scrolls, passed down for generations, that tells the long, complicated story of ancient Israel. But who wrote these scrolls, and how did they come together in their final form? And how do we understand the claim that these books are the very voice of God? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the formation of the Hebrew Bible and the crew who shaped its stories, poems, and laws into intricately designed literary works.

CHAPTERS

1. The First Writing Mentioned in the Torah (2:56-13:01)
2. Prophets as a Spirit-Led, Multigenerational Literary Community (13:01-36:30)
3. Divine Inspiration in a Diverse, Literary Mosaic (36:30-1:03:20)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Lost World Series by John H. Walton and others
• The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority by John H. Walton and Brent Sandy
• The Shape of the Writings (Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures), edited by Julius Steinberg and Timothy J. Stone
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “StrollingThroughThePark ft. Goodiegumdrops” by Lofi Sunday
• “Radiance ft. solae” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, and he also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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How the Bible Was Formed E1 — If you’ve ever compared a Protestant Bible to a Catholic Bible, you may notice some additional books in the Catholic Bible, such as Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, etc. These books, called the Deuterocanon by Catholics and the Apocrypha by Protestants, are Jewish Literature from the period after the Babylonian exile but before the time of Jesus. The Jewish people were back in the land, being ruled by Syria and other empires descended from Alexander the Great. As they read the Hebrew Bible, they created many new literary works, reflecting on stories in Scripture and what was happening in their own day. So how do we understand the status and value of these books when compared to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the background, history, and content of this Second-Temple Jewish literature.

CHAPTERS

1. Multiple Bibles on the Shelf (00:00-21:10)
2. History of the Protestant Apocrypha (21:10-34:35)
3. How Jesus and the Apostles Engaged With These Books (34:35-43:05)
4. Why We’re Talking About the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha (43:05-57:36)

OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

View this episode’s official transcript.

REFERENCED RESOURCES

• The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha by James H. Charlesworth
• Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, edited by Richard Bauckham, James Davila, Alex Panayotov
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.

SHOW MUSIC

• “Pure Joy ft. John Lee” by Lofi Sunday
• “Chillbop ft. Me & The Boys” by Lofi Sunday
• “Answered Prayers ft. PAINT WITH SOUND” by Lofi Sunday
• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

SHOW CREDITS

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who edited today’s episode and also provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.