The term archaeology is made up from the Greek archaios, which means "ancient," and logos, which means "discourse." This study emerged as a formal discipline in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Archaeology seeks to understand how past human culture functioned and how humans behaved (as distinct from paleontology, which is the study of fossils of long-extinct animals, such as dinosaurs). Archaeologists do this by examining what they call archaeological record-the material remains of previous human settlements, including fossils (preserved bones), the ruins of buildings, food remains, and human artifacts, such as tools, pottery, and jewelry.
Archaeological digs in Africa uncovered the origins of humanity and the fossil remains of humans up to 4.5 million years ago, archaeology also examines more recent history. One recent research project involves analyzing the garbage of modern humans in cities across the United States.
There are many different branches of archaeology. Prehistoric archaeology examines ancient cultures that had not developed writing, whether it was 5,000 years ago in parts of southwestern Asia or as recently as the nineteenth century A.D. in central Africa. Historical archaeology examines past cultures that did use writing. Geoarchaeology examines the ancient landscape and environment. Ethnoarchaeology is the study of living people in order to deduce how past cultures might have functioned; for example, present-day and ancient hunter-gatherers share common features. Underwater archaeology uses special methods and sophisticated diving techniques to study shipwrecks and other archaeological sites that lie beneath water. Experimental archaeology uses models and reconstruction of sites and artifacts and even the growing of ancient varieties of crops and animals to learn about the past. Archaeological studies have three aims:
chronology (the age of the excavated material), reconstruction (creating models), and explanation (scientific hypotheses).
Increasingly, archaeologists are using less intrusive methods, such as radar and imaging techniques known as remote sensing (from airplanes or spacecraft), which reduce the need for excavation. It's not all about digging up bones anymore.
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
How The Bible Reads ll
56. When The Old Testament writers completed their scrolls, they depended on scribes, men who patiently copied the Scriptures by hand when extra copies were needed and when the original scrolls became too worn to use any longer. By the time Jesus was born, the books of Moses had been copied and recopied over a span of more than fourteen hundred years!
57. Before beginning his work each day, a scribe would test his reed pen by dipping it in ink and writing the word Amalek and then crossing it out (cf. Deut. 25:19). Then he would say, "I am writing the Torah in the name of its sanctity and the name of God in its sanctity."
58. The scribe would read a sentence in the manuscript he was copying, repeat it aloud, and then write it. Each time he came to the name of God, he would say, "I am writing in the name of God for the holiness of His name." If he made an error in writing God's name, the scribe had to destroy the entire sheet of papyrus or vellum that he was using.
59. After the scribe finished copying a particular book, he would count all the words and letters it contained. Then he checked this tally against the count for the manuscript that he was copying. He counted the number of times a particular word occurred in the book, and he noted the middle word and the middle letter in the book, comparing all of these with the original. By making these careful checks, he hoped to avoid any scribal errors.
60. The Bible was written in several languages. Most of the Old Testament books are in Hebrew, but parts of Daniel are in Aramaic. The New Testament books are written in koine ("common") Greek, though they contain Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew phrases.
61. The Masoretes were a group of Jewish scholars who wanted to ensure that the Old Testament documents would not become corrupted over time. Since the Hebrew language has no vowels, they created a system of inserting "vowel points" into the text to help priests and readers know how to pronounce the words properly. Their careful work has led to almost no changes in Old Testament wording for more than a millennium. Translators today still refer to the "Masoretic" text.
62. The Hebrew language slowly changed, as languages do, throughout the centuries after the Old Testament writers passed away. The language of Moses would seem strange to a modern Israeli, just as the language of Chaucer or even Shakespeare is difficult for us to discern.
63. The Greeks, who borrowed the twenty-two-letter alphabet used in Hebrew and Phoenician, added five new letters at the end of their alphabet. These five additional letters are the reason why the Greeks are credited for inventing the vowel system.
64. Approximately two thousand years of history pass within the Bible's pages. Great empires came and went around the ancient Near East: Sumer, Akkadia, Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Greece. Along with those rising and falling empires and cultures, Hebrew and Aramaic fell into disuse and were eventually replaced by Greek. Sometime around 250 B.C. someone decided to preserve those writings in a complete translation of Hebrew scripture.
65. At least three or four centuries elapsed between the close of the Old Testament writings and the opening of the New Testament . This silent period is called the intertestamental period and was comparable in length to the time that the judges ruled, or about the same number of years kings ruled Israel.
57. Before beginning his work each day, a scribe would test his reed pen by dipping it in ink and writing the word Amalek and then crossing it out (cf. Deut. 25:19). Then he would say, "I am writing the Torah in the name of its sanctity and the name of God in its sanctity."
58. The scribe would read a sentence in the manuscript he was copying, repeat it aloud, and then write it. Each time he came to the name of God, he would say, "I am writing in the name of God for the holiness of His name." If he made an error in writing God's name, the scribe had to destroy the entire sheet of papyrus or vellum that he was using.
59. After the scribe finished copying a particular book, he would count all the words and letters it contained. Then he checked this tally against the count for the manuscript that he was copying. He counted the number of times a particular word occurred in the book, and he noted the middle word and the middle letter in the book, comparing all of these with the original. By making these careful checks, he hoped to avoid any scribal errors.
60. The Bible was written in several languages. Most of the Old Testament books are in Hebrew, but parts of Daniel are in Aramaic. The New Testament books are written in koine ("common") Greek, though they contain Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew phrases.
61. The Masoretes were a group of Jewish scholars who wanted to ensure that the Old Testament documents would not become corrupted over time. Since the Hebrew language has no vowels, they created a system of inserting "vowel points" into the text to help priests and readers know how to pronounce the words properly. Their careful work has led to almost no changes in Old Testament wording for more than a millennium. Translators today still refer to the "Masoretic" text.
62. The Hebrew language slowly changed, as languages do, throughout the centuries after the Old Testament writers passed away. The language of Moses would seem strange to a modern Israeli, just as the language of Chaucer or even Shakespeare is difficult for us to discern.
63. The Greeks, who borrowed the twenty-two-letter alphabet used in Hebrew and Phoenician, added five new letters at the end of their alphabet. These five additional letters are the reason why the Greeks are credited for inventing the vowel system.
64. Approximately two thousand years of history pass within the Bible's pages. Great empires came and went around the ancient Near East: Sumer, Akkadia, Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Greece. Along with those rising and falling empires and cultures, Hebrew and Aramaic fell into disuse and were eventually replaced by Greek. Sometime around 250 B.C. someone decided to preserve those writings in a complete translation of Hebrew scripture.
65. At least three or four centuries elapsed between the close of the Old Testament writings and the opening of the New Testament . This silent period is called the intertestamental period and was comparable in length to the time that the judges ruled, or about the same number of years kings ruled Israel.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
How The Bible Reads l
46. More than three thousand versions of the entire Bible, or portions of it, exist in English.
47. Chapter and verse divisions in the Bible were not determined by those who wrote the words we read. These divisions were added to the text hundreds of years after the authors died. The original writers neither planned nor anticipated these divisions.
48. Chapter and verse numbers in the apostles' letters, for example, would appear as strange to them as the following does to us:
Dear Aunt Sue,
Chapter One
Last week we went to town and learned that...
49. "Divided on horseback" was the criticism of Robert Estienne, a French publisher and convert to Protestantism who decided to number the verses in the New Testament in order to make it easier to study and memorize. While Stephen Langton had divided the text into chapters, Estienne then broke each chapter into numbered verses. According to his son, he did much of the work while on horseback-leading critics ever since to suggest the reason some verses' divisions are short and others are long was because of the bumpy ride between his office in Paris and his home in southern France.
50. The Bible was designed more for the ear than the eye. In antiquity people passed history and genealogy from generation to generation by oral tradition-through storytelling or by reading aloud. Those who wrote the Bible did so knowing that their words would be read aloud. So puns, acrostics, and cryptograms are all used widely throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
51. Mgn rdng ths bk wtht vwls. Myb ftr whl y cld fll n sm f th blnks nd fgr t mst f t. Ftr ll, t's smpl nglsh. Bt nw, mgn t s prt f n ncnt lngg tht hs flln nt dss vr svrl cntrs. Tht s hw th Bbl nc pprd. Imagine reading this book without vowels. Maybe after a while you could fill in some of the blanks and figure out most of it. After all, it's English. But now, imagine it as part of an ancient language that has fallen into disuse over several centuries. That is how the Bible once appeared.
52. Hieroglyphics-derived from two Greek words that mean "sacred carvings," since the signs were at first chiseled on stone-were the basic writing system in Egypt
at the time of Moses. Since young Moses was educated in the Egyptian sciences and arts, he no doubt learned to read and write Egyptian hieroglyphics. About 750 pictures were used at first in hieroglyphics. At least twenty-two signs existed for various birds, such as the curved neck of the Egyptian vulture, the flat face of an owl, and the tail feathers of the pintail duck.
53. The alphabet's origin. A few hundred years after the time of Moses, the Phoenicians invented an alphabet. They took the Egyptian syllabic signs and used each to represent a single sound. The Phoenicians and the Hebrews used only twenty-two symbols and had no letters for vowels.
54. The alphabet quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean world colonized by the Phoenicians. About 800 B.C. it was transmitted to the Greeks, who improved it by adding vowels. This is the alphabet that spread to the Romans, who passed it on to us almost in its present form.
55. The Hebrew alphabet has twenty-two letters, all of them consonants. In fact Semitic languages like Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic are still generally written without any vowels, although a system of dots and dashes above and below the line of writing has been added in recent times to aid in knowing what vowels are needed. Readers of classical Hebrew were and are versed in its oral traditions and provide the vowel sounds from memory,
47. Chapter and verse divisions in the Bible were not determined by those who wrote the words we read. These divisions were added to the text hundreds of years after the authors died. The original writers neither planned nor anticipated these divisions.
48. Chapter and verse numbers in the apostles' letters, for example, would appear as strange to them as the following does to us:
Dear Aunt Sue,
Chapter One
Last week we went to town and learned that...
49. "Divided on horseback" was the criticism of Robert Estienne, a French publisher and convert to Protestantism who decided to number the verses in the New Testament in order to make it easier to study and memorize. While Stephen Langton had divided the text into chapters, Estienne then broke each chapter into numbered verses. According to his son, he did much of the work while on horseback-leading critics ever since to suggest the reason some verses' divisions are short and others are long was because of the bumpy ride between his office in Paris and his home in southern France.
50. The Bible was designed more for the ear than the eye. In antiquity people passed history and genealogy from generation to generation by oral tradition-through storytelling or by reading aloud. Those who wrote the Bible did so knowing that their words would be read aloud. So puns, acrostics, and cryptograms are all used widely throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
51. Mgn rdng ths bk wtht vwls. Myb ftr whl y cld fll n sm f th blnks nd fgr t mst f t. Ftr ll, t's smpl nglsh. Bt nw, mgn t s prt f n ncnt lngg tht hs flln nt dss vr svrl cntrs. Tht s hw th Bbl nc pprd. Imagine reading this book without vowels. Maybe after a while you could fill in some of the blanks and figure out most of it. After all, it's English. But now, imagine it as part of an ancient language that has fallen into disuse over several centuries. That is how the Bible once appeared.
52. Hieroglyphics-derived from two Greek words that mean "sacred carvings," since the signs were at first chiseled on stone-were the basic writing system in Egypt
at the time of Moses. Since young Moses was educated in the Egyptian sciences and arts, he no doubt learned to read and write Egyptian hieroglyphics. About 750 pictures were used at first in hieroglyphics. At least twenty-two signs existed for various birds, such as the curved neck of the Egyptian vulture, the flat face of an owl, and the tail feathers of the pintail duck.
53. The alphabet's origin. A few hundred years after the time of Moses, the Phoenicians invented an alphabet. They took the Egyptian syllabic signs and used each to represent a single sound. The Phoenicians and the Hebrews used only twenty-two symbols and had no letters for vowels.
54. The alphabet quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean world colonized by the Phoenicians. About 800 B.C. it was transmitted to the Greeks, who improved it by adding vowels. This is the alphabet that spread to the Romans, who passed it on to us almost in its present form.
55. The Hebrew alphabet has twenty-two letters, all of them consonants. In fact Semitic languages like Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic are still generally written without any vowels, although a system of dots and dashes above and below the line of writing has been added in recent times to aid in knowing what vowels are needed. Readers of classical Hebrew were and are versed in its oral traditions and provide the vowel sounds from memory,
The Human Body (Creationism)
Skeleton:
Your skeleton is made of 206 bones, which provide strength and protection and are joined together by short fibrous cords called ligaments, which provide stability for the joints and hold the bones in place. The end of each bone id covered with cartilage, which acts like a shock absorber to cushion and protect. If this cartilage degenerates, arthritis develops.
Teeth:
Your teeth are the hardest part of your entire body. They are covered in a layer of enamel that stops them from wearing down and protects them from chemicals in food. Because we are omnivores (we eat both plants and animals), our teeth are adapted to both tear food (front teeth-incisors and canines) and chew (back teeth-molars. Children have 20 teeth; the adult set usually contains 32 (including the four wisdom teeth, which don't always appear).
Digestion:
Your body begins to break down food as soon as it enters your mouth. Chewing combined with enzymes in your saliva starts the digestion process. Food then travels through the esophagus to the stomach, where a very strong acid partly digests the food to produce chyme, which travels into your small intestine. Here, proteins are converted into amino acids; carbohydrates are broken down into a simple sugar called glucose; and fats are turned into tiny droplets by bile that is produced in the liver and stored and released by the gallbladder. Nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal wall. Onwards to the large intestine, where some of the water and minerals are removed and "friendly" bacteria help further digestion, then through the colon to the rectum from which solid waste is excreted.
Muscles:
Your skeleton is covered with about 660 muscles that account for about half your body weight. They are made up of fibers that convert energy (from digestion) into action by contracting and releasing. They come in pairs because each muscle can only pull in one direction. Without muscles your body could not move. Your heart is also a muscle, one that is highly specialized for endurance and consistency.
Blood:
The average adult body contains eight pints of blood. Blood is produced in your bones and is the fluid which transports oxygen, food, hormones, and warmth to organs and removes waste products from every cell in your body. There are four blood types: A, B, AB, and O, combined with two Rhesus factors (+ and -). Each drop contains millions of cells in a clear liquid called plasma. The red cells, from which blood gets its color, contain hemoglobin, which enables them to carry oxygen. The white blood cells attack germs or infection and are always on the lookout for disease. After an injury, irregularly shaped, colorless platelets gather at the site of the wound and then break down to form a threadlike structure called fibrin to trap blood cells and form a clot.
Circulation:
Your blood is pumped at very high pressure through about 100,000 miles of blood vessels by your heart, which beats about 1000,000 times each day. With each beat, the top of the heart (atrium) contracts, forcing blood from the lungs into the lower part (ventricle), which contracts a fraction of a second later, sending blood away from the heart in the arteries. The veins bring the deoxygenated (a bluish color) blood back to the heart where it is pumped into the lungs.
Skin:
The whole body is covered with this tough, flexible layer that forms a protective barrier and helps to regulate body temperature. It is made of two main layers. The outer layer, the epidermis, consists of about 25 smaller layers of dead skin and a single layer of dividing cells. The deeper dermis is much thicker and elastic, giving skin its stretchiness. It also contains hair follicles, sweat glands, nerve endings, and capillaries (tiny blood vessels).
Your skeleton is made of 206 bones, which provide strength and protection and are joined together by short fibrous cords called ligaments, which provide stability for the joints and hold the bones in place. The end of each bone id covered with cartilage, which acts like a shock absorber to cushion and protect. If this cartilage degenerates, arthritis develops.
Teeth:
Your teeth are the hardest part of your entire body. They are covered in a layer of enamel that stops them from wearing down and protects them from chemicals in food. Because we are omnivores (we eat both plants and animals), our teeth are adapted to both tear food (front teeth-incisors and canines) and chew (back teeth-molars. Children have 20 teeth; the adult set usually contains 32 (including the four wisdom teeth, which don't always appear).
Digestion:
Your body begins to break down food as soon as it enters your mouth. Chewing combined with enzymes in your saliva starts the digestion process. Food then travels through the esophagus to the stomach, where a very strong acid partly digests the food to produce chyme, which travels into your small intestine. Here, proteins are converted into amino acids; carbohydrates are broken down into a simple sugar called glucose; and fats are turned into tiny droplets by bile that is produced in the liver and stored and released by the gallbladder. Nutrients are absorbed through the intestinal wall. Onwards to the large intestine, where some of the water and minerals are removed and "friendly" bacteria help further digestion, then through the colon to the rectum from which solid waste is excreted.
Muscles:
Your skeleton is covered with about 660 muscles that account for about half your body weight. They are made up of fibers that convert energy (from digestion) into action by contracting and releasing. They come in pairs because each muscle can only pull in one direction. Without muscles your body could not move. Your heart is also a muscle, one that is highly specialized for endurance and consistency.
Blood:
The average adult body contains eight pints of blood. Blood is produced in your bones and is the fluid which transports oxygen, food, hormones, and warmth to organs and removes waste products from every cell in your body. There are four blood types: A, B, AB, and O, combined with two Rhesus factors (+ and -). Each drop contains millions of cells in a clear liquid called plasma. The red cells, from which blood gets its color, contain hemoglobin, which enables them to carry oxygen. The white blood cells attack germs or infection and are always on the lookout for disease. After an injury, irregularly shaped, colorless platelets gather at the site of the wound and then break down to form a threadlike structure called fibrin to trap blood cells and form a clot.
Circulation:
Your blood is pumped at very high pressure through about 100,000 miles of blood vessels by your heart, which beats about 1000,000 times each day. With each beat, the top of the heart (atrium) contracts, forcing blood from the lungs into the lower part (ventricle), which contracts a fraction of a second later, sending blood away from the heart in the arteries. The veins bring the deoxygenated (a bluish color) blood back to the heart where it is pumped into the lungs.
Skin:
The whole body is covered with this tough, flexible layer that forms a protective barrier and helps to regulate body temperature. It is made of two main layers. The outer layer, the epidermis, consists of about 25 smaller layers of dead skin and a single layer of dividing cells. The deeper dermis is much thicker and elastic, giving skin its stretchiness. It also contains hair follicles, sweat glands, nerve endings, and capillaries (tiny blood vessels).
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Nuts and Bolts II Of The Bible
36. In ancient times when parchment was too expensive to possess, peasants would use fragments of pottery to write (scratch) memoranda of business transactions. Many of these have been uncovered by archaeologists, and they reveal much about ancient history. These fragments are called ostraca.
37. The word translated "book" in your Bible is really the word for "scroll." The words of Scripture were written onto pieces of parchment or papyrus; then those pieces were glued together to form scrolls. It wasn't until the second century that the notion of "pages" was invented, when a "codex" was created by gluing several flat sheets to a wooden spine.
38. The Bible wasn't translated into English until the seventh century A.D. The translations weren't precise at that point-they read more as a paraphrasing of the original manuscripts. The copies were known as "manuscript Bibles," and few have survived.
39. Florilegia were popular with the masses before the invention of movable type. Artists would create a collection of Bible verses and pictures, often one particular topic, and produce them in quantities. These small booklets (which get their name from the Latin phrase "to gather flowers") were then used to teach basic Christian doctrine to groups of people.
40. The Glosses were Latin Bibles in which a scholar had taken a pen and written a translation into another language. This was generally done in secret because the Roman Catholic Church had banned Bibles in any language but Latin. By writing a literal translation of each word, those who did it were "glossing" or "explaining" foreign words to future readers. Their notes, written above each line of Latin type, gave rise to the expression "reading between the lines."
41. The Lindisfarne Gospels are one such manuscript Bible that has survived. It was written in Latin around A.D. 700, but it has an English interlinear translation that was added into the original 250 years later.
42. The earliest known fragment of a New Testament papyrus manuscript was recovered from the ruins of a Greek town in ancient Egypt. A mere 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/4 inches, the fragment dates from about A.D. 115 or 125 and contains a portion of John 18:31-33, 37-38. It is commonly called the Rylands Fragment because it is housed in the John Rylands Library of Manchester, England.
43. The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest copy of the complete new Testament. Housed in the British Museum in London, it contains handwritten pages bound to a spine on one side. Written in Greek, it dates from about the year A.D. 350.
44. Count Constantine von Tischendorf discovered the Codex Sinaiticus at the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sanai in 1859. it was written in large Greek letters (uncials) on vellum sheets that measured fifteen by thirteen inches wide. It had been copied in the fourth century A.D., making it the earliest complete copy of the New Testament in existence. Many other manuscripts were written earlier, but they were not complete copies.
45. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript-that is, a lavishly decorated, handwritten copy-of the four Gospels in Latin. Produced in Ireland, it is generally regarded as the most beautiful handcrafted book of all time.
37. The word translated "book" in your Bible is really the word for "scroll." The words of Scripture were written onto pieces of parchment or papyrus; then those pieces were glued together to form scrolls. It wasn't until the second century that the notion of "pages" was invented, when a "codex" was created by gluing several flat sheets to a wooden spine.
38. The Bible wasn't translated into English until the seventh century A.D. The translations weren't precise at that point-they read more as a paraphrasing of the original manuscripts. The copies were known as "manuscript Bibles," and few have survived.
39. Florilegia were popular with the masses before the invention of movable type. Artists would create a collection of Bible verses and pictures, often one particular topic, and produce them in quantities. These small booklets (which get their name from the Latin phrase "to gather flowers") were then used to teach basic Christian doctrine to groups of people.
40. The Glosses were Latin Bibles in which a scholar had taken a pen and written a translation into another language. This was generally done in secret because the Roman Catholic Church had banned Bibles in any language but Latin. By writing a literal translation of each word, those who did it were "glossing" or "explaining" foreign words to future readers. Their notes, written above each line of Latin type, gave rise to the expression "reading between the lines."
41. The Lindisfarne Gospels are one such manuscript Bible that has survived. It was written in Latin around A.D. 700, but it has an English interlinear translation that was added into the original 250 years later.
42. The earliest known fragment of a New Testament papyrus manuscript was recovered from the ruins of a Greek town in ancient Egypt. A mere 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/4 inches, the fragment dates from about A.D. 115 or 125 and contains a portion of John 18:31-33, 37-38. It is commonly called the Rylands Fragment because it is housed in the John Rylands Library of Manchester, England.
43. The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest copy of the complete new Testament. Housed in the British Museum in London, it contains handwritten pages bound to a spine on one side. Written in Greek, it dates from about the year A.D. 350.
44. Count Constantine von Tischendorf discovered the Codex Sinaiticus at the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sanai in 1859. it was written in large Greek letters (uncials) on vellum sheets that measured fifteen by thirteen inches wide. It had been copied in the fourth century A.D., making it the earliest complete copy of the New Testament in existence. Many other manuscripts were written earlier, but they were not complete copies.
45. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript-that is, a lavishly decorated, handwritten copy-of the four Gospels in Latin. Produced in Ireland, it is generally regarded as the most beautiful handcrafted book of all time.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Nuts And Bolts I Of The Bible
26. Jerome (340-420) began his ascetic lifestyle as a hermit but found he needed something to occupy his mind. He took up Hebrew and eventually began teaching classes in Biblical interpretation. In A.D. 382 he would translate the Old and New Testaments from their original languages (Hebrew and Greek) into Latin-what we call "Vulgate."
27. The tests of canonicity included: (1) the book had to have a history of being used in Christian worship; (2) the book had to be written by an apostle, or associated with an apostle; (3) the book had to have evidenced power in the lives of believers.
28. No New Testament. During the entire first century and much of the second century there was no concept of a New Testament canon. Church fathers often quoted from sources that were familiar in tone yet different in the names of the sources. Paul's writings were the most well known and were quoted often, but they were not thought of as scriptural.
29. The term New Testament was created by Tertullian around the year 200. In an attempt to move the church away from Greek and toward Latin, which had become the preferred language of scholars, Tertullian referred to the writings of the Christian church as Novum Testamentum-a phrase we still employ today. Interestingly Tertullian also coined the term Trinity to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
30. A New Testament Canon was not looked upon favorably at first. in fact it was through heretical movements that the New Testament came into being as a legitimate part of the Holy Bible. Marcion was a teacher who broke away from the church in Rome. Around A.D. 150 he rejected the Old Testament and instead chose to accept only ten letters from Paul along with the Gospel of Luke as authoritative Christian Scripture
31. The Muratorian Canon is named for its discoverer, L.A. Muratori, who first published it in 1740. A fascinating look into early church, it reveals that by the year 190, Christians had developed their own New Testament and put it alongside the Jewish scriptures-the former the fulfillment of the latter. It contains in order: Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Romans, Philemon, Titus, 1 and 2 Timothy, the Apocalypse of John (Revelation), the Apocalypse of Peter, and the wisdom of Solomon.
32. Some books of Scripture faced challenges. Christians in the West didn't like Hebrews, while those in the East opposed Revelation. Church historian Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, noted that James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation were the only books "spoken against." Martin Luther would challenge the Book of James in the sixteenth century, calling it "an epistle of straw."
33. Accepted at last. The Eastern church accepted the New Testament as we know it in A.D. 367 with the 39th Paschal Letter of Athanasius, and the Western church followed suit after Pope Damascus called a synod together in Rome in 382.
34. The allegorical method of interpretation went to extreme lengths to try to make the Old Testament into a Christian book. Origen, one of the Christian theologians, believed that "the Scriptures were composed through the Spirit of God, and have both a meaning which is obvious and another which is hidden." He then proceeded to create all sorts of allegorical meanings to the Word of God-infuriating his critics, who felt that Origen was crafting theological implications out of thin air.
35. We get our word paper from the papyrus plant-a tall weed that could be cut into strips, flattened, then woven together and dried to form sheets of paper. It is incredibly resilient, scraps of paper with Scripture on them date back to the early second century. Writing done on sheepskin was known as "parchment."
27. The tests of canonicity included: (1) the book had to have a history of being used in Christian worship; (2) the book had to be written by an apostle, or associated with an apostle; (3) the book had to have evidenced power in the lives of believers.
28. No New Testament. During the entire first century and much of the second century there was no concept of a New Testament canon. Church fathers often quoted from sources that were familiar in tone yet different in the names of the sources. Paul's writings were the most well known and were quoted often, but they were not thought of as scriptural.
29. The term New Testament was created by Tertullian around the year 200. In an attempt to move the church away from Greek and toward Latin, which had become the preferred language of scholars, Tertullian referred to the writings of the Christian church as Novum Testamentum-a phrase we still employ today. Interestingly Tertullian also coined the term Trinity to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
30. A New Testament Canon was not looked upon favorably at first. in fact it was through heretical movements that the New Testament came into being as a legitimate part of the Holy Bible. Marcion was a teacher who broke away from the church in Rome. Around A.D. 150 he rejected the Old Testament and instead chose to accept only ten letters from Paul along with the Gospel of Luke as authoritative Christian Scripture
31. The Muratorian Canon is named for its discoverer, L.A. Muratori, who first published it in 1740. A fascinating look into early church, it reveals that by the year 190, Christians had developed their own New Testament and put it alongside the Jewish scriptures-the former the fulfillment of the latter. It contains in order: Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Romans, Philemon, Titus, 1 and 2 Timothy, the Apocalypse of John (Revelation), the Apocalypse of Peter, and the wisdom of Solomon.
32. Some books of Scripture faced challenges. Christians in the West didn't like Hebrews, while those in the East opposed Revelation. Church historian Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, noted that James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation were the only books "spoken against." Martin Luther would challenge the Book of James in the sixteenth century, calling it "an epistle of straw."
33. Accepted at last. The Eastern church accepted the New Testament as we know it in A.D. 367 with the 39th Paschal Letter of Athanasius, and the Western church followed suit after Pope Damascus called a synod together in Rome in 382.
34. The allegorical method of interpretation went to extreme lengths to try to make the Old Testament into a Christian book. Origen, one of the Christian theologians, believed that "the Scriptures were composed through the Spirit of God, and have both a meaning which is obvious and another which is hidden." He then proceeded to create all sorts of allegorical meanings to the Word of God-infuriating his critics, who felt that Origen was crafting theological implications out of thin air.
35. We get our word paper from the papyrus plant-a tall weed that could be cut into strips, flattened, then woven together and dried to form sheets of paper. It is incredibly resilient, scraps of paper with Scripture on them date back to the early second century. Writing done on sheepskin was known as "parchment."
Egyptian Mummification
Egypt was the first major African civilization. It emerged 6,000 years ago along the banks of the Nile River. Much of our understanding of Egyptian culture has been provided by their belief in an afterlife and the great lengths to which they went to in order to attain it.
They believed that an intact physical body was essential for the afterlife. The earliest Egyptians buried their dead in the baking sand, which quickly dried and preserved the bodies in a natural mummification process. Later they used coffins, and then embalming , to replace the activity of the sand.
The process was very expensive, time consuming, and complicated, so it was only available to pharaohs and the very wealthy. It took more than two months to complete. First the body was washed with spices and a solution of natron (a natural salt mixture found along the Nile). Egyptians recognized that cleanliness was paramount to the preservation process, although they knew nothing of the action of bacteria in decomposition .
The second important step was to remove all moisture from the body. After the brain had been scooped out in a mushy mess through the nose and thrown away, all the internal organs were removed and sealed in four Canopic Jars (The Qebensnuet, Puamutef, Hapy, and Imsety), except for the heart, which was believed to be the seat of thought.
Body cavities were washed out with palm wine and myrrh and filled with bags of natron. Then the body was packed in a 600-pound pile of natron for 35 days at a temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, during which it would lose nearly half its weight as water leeched out. Then the bags of natron were replaced by palm wine, spices, and wood shavings. After a mixture of five different oils-frankincense, myrrh, lotus, palm, and cedar-had been rubbed into the skin, the body was ready for wrapping.
The origin of the word mummification comes from the bitumen like substance called "moumia" that was used to attach the linen strips during this stage. Each linen strip bore hieroglyphic inscriptions, and a total of six layers, and more than 20 pounds of linen were used.
Many intricate rituals were then performed. One of the most important of these was called the "The Opening of the Mouth" to rejuvenate all the senses.
The whole process took 70 days because the star Sirius disappears from the sky and returns 70 days later to signal the Egyptian New Year. The Egyptians equated this with the period between death and rebirth in the afterlife.
They believed that an intact physical body was essential for the afterlife. The earliest Egyptians buried their dead in the baking sand, which quickly dried and preserved the bodies in a natural mummification process. Later they used coffins, and then embalming , to replace the activity of the sand.
The process was very expensive, time consuming, and complicated, so it was only available to pharaohs and the very wealthy. It took more than two months to complete. First the body was washed with spices and a solution of natron (a natural salt mixture found along the Nile). Egyptians recognized that cleanliness was paramount to the preservation process, although they knew nothing of the action of bacteria in decomposition .
The second important step was to remove all moisture from the body. After the brain had been scooped out in a mushy mess through the nose and thrown away, all the internal organs were removed and sealed in four Canopic Jars (The Qebensnuet, Puamutef, Hapy, and Imsety), except for the heart, which was believed to be the seat of thought.
Body cavities were washed out with palm wine and myrrh and filled with bags of natron. Then the body was packed in a 600-pound pile of natron for 35 days at a temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, during which it would lose nearly half its weight as water leeched out. Then the bags of natron were replaced by palm wine, spices, and wood shavings. After a mixture of five different oils-frankincense, myrrh, lotus, palm, and cedar-had been rubbed into the skin, the body was ready for wrapping.
The origin of the word mummification comes from the bitumen like substance called "moumia" that was used to attach the linen strips during this stage. Each linen strip bore hieroglyphic inscriptions, and a total of six layers, and more than 20 pounds of linen were used.
Many intricate rituals were then performed. One of the most important of these was called the "The Opening of the Mouth" to rejuvenate all the senses.
The whole process took 70 days because the star Sirius disappears from the sky and returns 70 days later to signal the Egyptian New Year. The Egyptians equated this with the period between death and rebirth in the afterlife.
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