Biblical studies is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts. For Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (the two split from one another in 1054 A.D.), and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16, the Bible traditionally comprises the New Testament The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament. Unlike the Old Testament, the contents of the New Testament deal explicitly with Christianity, although both the Old and New Testament are regarded, together, as Sacred Scripture. The New Testament and Old Testament The Old Testament is the collection of books that forms the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. The contents of the Old Testament canon vary from church to church, with the Orthodox communion having 51 books: the shared books are those of the shortest canon, that of the major Protestant communions, with 39 books, which together are sometimes called the "Scriptures." Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed recognizes as scripture only the Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew, with some Biblical Aramaic. It is also called the Hebrew Scriptures. The term closely corresponds to contents of the Jewish Tanakh and the Protestant Old Testament (see also Judeo-Christian) and does not include the, also known as the Tanakh The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets&, an acronym for the Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s names of its divisions: Torah The term Torah , also known as the Pentateuch (Greek: Πεντάτευχος from πεντα- penta- [five] and τεῦχος teuchos [tool, vessel, book]), refers to the Five Books of Moses—the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. A "Sefer Torah" (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, "book of Torah") or (Law), Nevi'im Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah (teachings) and Ketuvim (writings) (Prophets) and Ketuvim Ketuvim is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (teachings) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa". The Ketuvim are believed to have been written under the Ruach HaKodesh, but with one level less authority (writings). Other texts often examined by biblical scholars include the Jewish apocrypha The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", and "Christian texts that are not canonical", the Jewish pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded; a work, simply, "whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past." The word "pseudepigrapha" is the plural of "pseudepigraphon" (sometimes Latinized as "pseudepigraphum"); the Anglicized forms ", the Christian apocrypha The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", and "Christian texts that are not canonical", the many varieties of ante-Nicene early Christian Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the roughly three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus (c. 30) and the First Council of Nicaea (325). At first, the Christian church was centered in Jerusalem, and its leaders included James, Peter, and John. The first Christians were all Jewish or Jewish Proselytes, either by literature, and early Jewish literature.

There are two major approaches towards Biblical studies. The first approach studies the Bible as a human creation and is also known as Biblical criticism Biblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources; This approach is practiced in the secular academic world. In this approach, Biblical studies can be considered as a sub-field of religious studies Religious studies, or Religious education, is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically-based, and cross-cultural perspectives.

The other approach is the religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible has a divine origin. This approach is a branch of theology Theology is the study of a god or, more generally, the study of religious faith, practice, and experience, or of spirituality, and is also known as Biblical interpretation Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation concerning the books of the Bible. It is part of the broader field of hermeneutics which involves not just the study of principles for the text, but includes all forms of communication: verbal, nonverbal and written.

Methodologically and theoretically, the field draws on many disciplines, including history History is the study of the human past. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its, archaeology Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of past human societies, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes. Due to the fact that archaeology employs a wide range of different procedures, it can be, literary criticism Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists, philology Philology is the humanistic study of historical linguistics, considering both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies, and increasingly the social sciences The social sciences are the fields of academic scholarship that explore aspects of human society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences. These include: anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, international. Practitioners of Biblical Studies do not necessarily have a faith commitment to the texts they study. In fact, Biblical criticism Biblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources seems at times to contradict commitment to the inspiration of the text and is sometimes even considered heresy, although many "orthodox" scholars from both Christianity and Judaism utilize these methods while recognizing a more nuanced understanding of divine inspiration.

Judaism

In Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed, especially among the Orthodox Orthodox Judaism is a formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics canonized in the Talmudic texts and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. Generally, Orthodox Judaism consists of two different streams, the, traditional Bible study entails the study of Tanakh The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets& with medieval and modern rabbinic Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. But the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Hazal . This more specific sense of "Rabbinic commenataries or with Midrashim Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible. Jews The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos traditionally study in the home or in institutions like the yeshiva Yeshiva or yeshivah (pronounced /jəˈʃiːvə/; Hebrew: ישיבה, "sitting " ; pl. yeshivot or yeshivas), or metivta or mesivta (Aramaic: מתיבתא)), also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School, is an institution unique to classical Judaism for study of its traditional,.

Jewish academic institutions where Bible studies may include less traditional approaches include Hebrew Union College (Progressive Judaism Progressive Judaism is an umbrella term used by strands of Judaism which affiliate to the World Union for Progressive Judaism. They embrace pluralism, modernity, equality and social justice as core values and believe that such values are consistent with a committed Jewish life. The movement includes more than 1.7 million members spread across 42), the Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s) and Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 50th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2008 and among 400 in world by THES—QS World University Rankings (Modern Orthodox Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world) in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language; and all major universities in Israel Israel , officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info), Medīnat Yisrā'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ‎, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the, whose Bible The Bible refers to collections of sacred scripture of Judaism and Christianity. There is no single version: both the individual books and their order vary. The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books that were rearranged into 39 by Christian denominations, while complete Christian Bibles range from the 66 books of the Protestant canon to 81 books in the department actually concentrates on Biblical criticism Biblical criticism is "the study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources.

Christianity

In Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (the two split from one another in 1054 A.D.), and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16, the theological interpretation of Biblical passages is called biblical exegesis Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term Biblical exegesis is used for greater specificity. The goal of Biblical exegesis. Other branches of Bible study aim instead at elucidating the provenance Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", means the origin, or the source of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing. Typical uses may cover any, authorship, and chronological order of Biblical texts. This is a branch of philology Philology is the humanistic study of historical linguistics, considering both form and meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies more than theology, and sometimes comes into conflict with theology. "Higher criticism Historical criticism, higher criticism, or the historical-critical method is a branch of literary analysis that investigates the origins of a text. As applied in biblical studies it investigates the books of the Bible and compares them to other texts written at the same time, before, or recently after the text in question. In Classical studies," and its findings, including the well known documentary hypothesis The documentary hypothesis (sometimes called the Wellhausen hypothesis, after Julius Wellhausen, though he did not invent it), holds that the Pentateuch (the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors ( which suggests that the Bible The Bible refers to collections of sacred scripture of Judaism and Christianity. There is no single version: both the individual books and their order vary. The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books that were rearranged into 39 by Christian denominations, while complete Christian Bibles range from the 66 books of the Protestant canon to 81 books in the was compiled from the writings of several different hands, and the work of the Jesus Seminar The Jesus Seminar is a group of about 150 individuals, including laymen and scholars in biblical studies and religious studies. The group was founded in 1985 by the late Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan under the auspices of the Westar Institute. The seminar uses votes with colored beads to decide their collective view of the historicity of, which attempted to cull "inauthentic" sayings of Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God (in the concept of the Trinity, he is God [as] the Son), who came to provide humankind with salvation and reconciliation with God by his from the "authentic" ones contained in the Gospels A gospel is a writing that describes the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The word is primarily used to refer to the four canonical gospels: the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John although it is also used for non-canonical writings such as the Gospel of Thomas. The term "gospel", are examples of Biblical studies whose results have been particularly controversial in theology.

Bible Study is the activity in which Christians read and reflect on the Bible individually or, including discussion, in small groups or base communities. Bible studies of the Christian nature can also take the form of academic assignments, where these assignments generally concern a close reading of the passage, followed by personal interpretation.

Additionally, Biblical Studies is a common discipline offered in the Bible colleges, Bible institutions or schools and some secular colleges. It centered on the study of the Scriptures as found in the Bible. In the U.S., it is not listed as an academic discipline following the pursuit of academic studies in normal stream colleges and universities. In Europe, however, Theology Theology is the study of a god or, more generally, the study of religious faith, practice, and experience, or of spirituality is a faculty in many respectable universities (e.g. Oxford and Cambridge) although several countries have transferred the training of priests and ministers to their respective churches.

It seems that the discipline of Bible studies in many U.S. institutions is practically the same as theology in more traditional institutions. A distinction should be made, therefore, between

• Biblical studies which concentrate on the Bible and its interpretation, as in Exegesis.
• Biblical studies as an all-around name for minister training.

Presently in the U.S., "Biblical studies" are taught mainly in non-academic schools and institutions under the support of many Christian denominations and missionary organizations.

In traditional churches, the training of priests and ministers includes the study of theology, which is a wider field incorporating more aspects of religion. Typically this takes place in a university or a seminary, depending on country and denomination.

Background

Biblical Studies involve the studies of the Bible and can be studied as a subject for themselves or as a subdivision under Theology. It is often offered as a postgraduate course in some Christian colleges or Bible institutions as a non-academic study course. In contrast with most divinity schools, seminaries or older theological schools, Biblical Studies does not attempt to criticize the Bible as in higher (or literary criticism) or lower (or textual criticism) form. In this, it differs markedly from the usual scientific method or from the neutral point of view approach used in this Wikipedia article. However, its content varies but usually covered a wider scope including the following:

Principles of Biblical interpretation

The Bible is the holy scripture for most Christian denominations, and its interpretation forms part of the core of each denomination's faith. Therefore, there are very few clear rules accepted by all who consider themselves Christian, and this makes a neutral point of view clarification of principles most difficult.

Exegesis using the inductive method is used in understanding the texts in scriptures. Some guides or rules of interpretation have been formulated and are, in some circles, known as Principles of Interpretation, in others as Hermeneutics. According to the Bible itself, it is the word of God, and it also contains rules of interpretation. However, no clear consensus on these rules exists. Typically, a Biblical passage may be understood:

• literally, as meaning exactly what is written
• figuratively, meaning that there is a clear parallel to something else
• allegorically, meaning that the passage is an allegory or type of something more

In addition, in some denominations, any of these may be either addressed to its historical audience or to mankind in general. All three ways may even be correct simultaneously. According to most denominations, the only way to choose a right interpretation is through use of the Holy Spirit, which may be found, depending on denomination, from a person's conscience, from tradition, or from some combination of both. Typically, older churches stress the use of tradition, while Protestant churches stress the use of personal inspiration. However, most denominations do draw a line somewhere in the literal interpretation, accepting some traditional standpoints.

Hermeneutical exegesis focuses on the original writer’s sense in relation to the expected audience response. The rule of context applies, and also "scriptures interpret scriptures". The ideas and meanings are likely to be in harmony within the language and cultural context. Therefore the rule allows for the meaning to be limited and interpreted within the intent and purpose of the original writers. This interpretative view obviously leads to more focused individual understanding than collective interrelated consensus.

Biblical canon scriptures are accepted by many Christians as God-inspired. Thus, attention is given to accepting the divine Holy Spirit who is thought to be the original inspiration or Author of all scriptures. However, there are several different doctrines on the nature of the inspiration, ranging from "word" inspiration to context inspiration. Exegesis is different from the traditional method of literary study, but approaches it when moving towards religious philosophy.

Hebrew and Greek languages

The study of original languages within the Bible is usually considered an imperative to any correct interpretive work, although a minority of U.S. Christians hold that King James Version is the sole, inspired, true word of God. Most seminaries and Universities, in fact, require their candidates for doctorates in divinity to possess adequate knowledge of these two disciplines. Although Aramaic was the verbal language of the inter- and New Testament period, many schools do not provide the study of this ancient language but leave it to the faculties of Arts. The Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek is also important while trying to understand the religious life of the early church. The New Testament is written in Koine Greek, a form which probably carried Hebrew and Aramaic influences.

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism is a secular, scientific approach to the study of the Bible, based on the assumption that the Bible is a human creation, rather than divine. Thus while apparent contradictions are interpreted in theology as having deeper or different meaning, they are interpreted in Biblical criticism as originating from the human writers. Prophecies fulfilled after the alleged time of writing are interpreted in Theology as a proof for the divine origin of the text, and in Biblical criticism as a proof that the real time of writing was later than claimed.

According to Jewish tradition, different books of the Bible were written in different times by different people. Biblical criticism extends this idea, and assumes that different parts (even different verses in the same chapter) may have been written in different times by different people, and later edited by other people. Some are based on local traditions, and others have been added to reflect the writer's political or religious agenda.

Biblical criticism uses mostly the following study tools:

• Study of the language used in different parts of the Bible. According to the critical approach, this may teach us, for example, about the period at which each part was written, and perhaps about the writers as well.
• Comparison of different but similar stories and verses from different parts of the Bible. According to the critical approach, this may teach us, for example, about the identity of the writer, his agenda and how different stories and ideas may have originated from each other.
• Comparison of different ancient versions of the same text, such as the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint (basis of the Old Testament in European languages).
• Comparison to ancient myths and to later Midrash.
• Archaeology may sometimes also serve as an aiding tool, though there are different approaches among scholars to its use as a scientific tool.

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