The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by 40 different authors in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek). The first five books of the Old Testament were written around 1400 BC.
The Bible, a sacred and revered text for billions around the globe, has a complex and fascinating history that spans centuries. The question of when the Bible was created involves a journey through the compilation of diverse texts, cultural contexts, and the evolution of religious traditions. In this blog post, we embark on an exploration to unravel the timeline and circumstances surrounding the creation of the Bible.
Unveiling the Origins: When Was the Bible Created?
Ancient Beginnings: The Formation of Scripture:
The Bible did not emerge as a single, cohesive book overnight. Its creation was a gradual process, evolving over centuries. The Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, took shape over several hundred years, with writings dating back as early as the 12th century BCE. These texts, including the Torah, historical books, and prophetic writings, were considered sacred by the Jewish community.
The Septuagint and Intertestamental Period:
Around the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. This version became essential for Hellenistic Jews and early Christians. The intertestamental period, spanning from the 4th century BCE to the 1st century CE, witnessed the composition of additional texts, such as the Apocrypha, which are included in some Christian traditions but not universally accepted.
The Life of Jesus and the New Testament:
The central figure of Christianity, Jesus Christ, lived during the 1st century CE. The teachings and life of Jesus, along with the early Christian community’s experiences, were later documented in the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The letters, or epistles, written by apostles like Paul, Peter, and John, were circulated among early Christian communities, contributing to the development of the New Testament.
Councils and Canonization:
The process of determining which books would be included in the Bible, known as canonization, occurred over several centuries. Councils, such as the Council of Carthage in 397 CE, played a crucial role in finalizing the list of books accepted as authoritative Scripture. By the 5th century CE, most Christian communities had a standardized canon, though differences existed among various branches of Christianity.
The Printing Press and the Bible’s Accessibility:
While the content of the Bible was established over centuries, the invention of the printing press in the 15th century revolutionized its dissemination. The Gutenberg Bible, printed in the 1450s, marked a significant turning point, making the Scriptures more widely accessible and contributing to the spread of literacy and religious knowledge.
How Was the Bible Written and Transmitted?
We tend to think of the Bible as a book—and we’re not entirely wrong—but the Bible wasn’t always bound between two covers. The Bible we know today took a long journey through many eras, communities, and places before it became the sacred text we recognize today.
The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblia, which means “books.” This is a more accurate description of what the Bible is—a collection of many books, like a library. Each biblical book has a unique history and took a distinctive route on its way to inclusion in the Bible.
Many authors in very different places and times wrote and edited the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament; all told, this process extended over a thousand-year period. There are many guesses about when people began writing the books that are now found in the Hebrew Bible. Traditionally, Christians and Jews dated the earliest biblical writings to the time of Moses, which might have been in the mid- to late second millennium B.C.E. (circa 1500–1200 B.C.E.) Many scholars now claim that the earliest biblical texts were written down in the eighth or even seventh century B.C.E. For most ancient texts such as the Bible, the exact dates of composition are unrecoverable.
The earliest biblical texts were written on scrolls made from papyrus (a plant-based paper) or parchment (animal skins that had been scraped, burnished, and stitched together). It is very likely that all biblical books were initially written on scrolls. Only in the second or third century C.E. did scribes begin to write on papyrus or parchment that was folded and stitched into a codex, which more closely resembles our modern print book. After the invention of the codex, Christians tended to copy their scriptures into codex form, whereas Jews traditionally continued to copy their scriptures in scroll form.
In the ancient Near East, at the time when the biblical books were written and copied, scribes did the work of composing and preserving important documents. Scribes were special because they could read and write; literacy was not widespread. Scribes were also editors. A scribe might take several different scrolls with something in common and compile a single book out of them, or scribes living in different times and places might edit similar scrolls together in different ways. Say, for example, that a Jewish scribe living in Egypt possessed a number of scrolls and other written and oral traditions associated with the prophet Jeremiah. That scribe edited these texts and traditions together into a unified scroll, now called the scroll of Jeremiah. Perhaps another scribe living in Jerusalem then received a copy of this scroll but edited the text to reflect his own community’s theology and understanding of Jeremiah’s legacy. In this way, different communities would have distinct versions of the scroll of Jeremiah, and both these versions would circulate. We know that something like this process actually occurred, since different versions of the book of Jeremiah—and other biblical texts, too—existed side by side in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in other ancient versions and translations (the Masoretic and Septuagint texts of Jeremiah, for instance, also differ). Processes like this occurred numerous times before there was even a “Bible” as we know it.
The biblical books had to be copied over again and again so that they could be preserved for other people to read them. The process of rewriting the books of the Bible was not always perfect—sometimes mistakes were introduced or words were added or dropped. We call this whole process, including the accurate copies and the mistakes, the transmission of the text. That is, the text is transmitted (and sometimes changed) by scribes who copied the ancient scrolls over and over again.
In time, editions of these books were collected and religious communities gradually narrowed down the list of books they deemed authoritative. However, different communities used different criteria. This process of including certain books as Scripture and rejecting others is called canonization.
Of course, the books of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) were seen as especially holy from at least the second century B.C.E. But even in the first century C.E., soon-to-be-biblical books such as Esther, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, or Ezra were not easily distinguishable from books such as Jubilees, 4 Ezra, or 1 Enoch, which were just as sacred to many people at the time but somehow did not make it onto many canonical lists.
A list of books that are considered Scripture for any particular group of people is called a canon. This word comes from a Greek word meaning “measuring stick” and refers to a group opinion about whether or not a book “measures up” to being called Scripture and having sacred status. Jewish and Christian communities have different canons because Christians include the books of the New Testament in their Scripture. Within Christian tradition, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant communities have slightly different canons. Even among Eastern Christian traditions, there are very different canons, too.
Conclusion:
The creation of the Bible is a tapestry woven with threads of ancient wisdom, cultural diversity, and religious evolution. Its journey from individual scrolls and letters to a unified collection reflects the profound impact of centuries of human spiritual exploration. Understanding the historical context and gradual development of the Bible invites us to appreciate the depth and richness of this sacred text that continues to inspire and guide millions of believers worldwide.