Читать книгу A Contemporary Introduction to the Bible - Colleen M. Conway - Страница 19

This prologue helps you learn the basic characteristics and background of the Bible that you will use across the course. As you will see, not all Bibles are the same. Judaism and different forms of Christianity include different books in their Bibles. Also, ancient manuscripts of the Bible diverge from one another, and contemporary translations follow different manuscript readings and translation practices. By the end of this chapter you should know the differences between the bibles of Judaism and Christianity, as well as the relationship of the Islamic Qur’an to both sets of scriptures. You will also learn how the study of different readings of ancient manuscripts of the Bible, “textual criticism,” and advances in knowledge of ancient languages have led to major progress in translation of the Bible since the King James Version was completed in 1611. Finally, you will learn some basic things to keep in mind in choosing and using an up-to-date English translation of the Bible.

EXERCISES

1 Using the parallels provided at the end of the chapter in Appendix 1, compare the translations of (and paraphrase) Isa 52:13–15. What differences do you notice?

2 Take a look at two pages of a biblical book in your Bible. Make a list of all types of elements on those pages aside from the actual text of the Bible. Using the discussions in this chapter, identify where those elements came from.