Lesson 3 - Period of Crystallization

Lesson 3 - Period of Crystallization Lesson Slides

Last night we covered the copying and translation process of the Bible from Jerome's Latin Vulgate of AD 410 up to the printing and publishing of the revision of the King James Bible of 1611.  We discovered that each translation was essentially built upon another, drawing on the translation content of the one(s) before.  We also saw a branching apart from the authorized translations of the Roman Catholic Church a number of protestant translations and editions from the time of the Protestant Reformation.

Since our purpose was to simply make ourselves aware of the progression and relationship of Bible translations throughout the centuries, we did not take the time to understand the differences between them.  What is the reason for all the different translations?  What changes have been made throughout the centuries, whether intentional or unintentional?  What significance do those changes have on Christian doctrine?  Do those changes remove any possibility of establishing the text of the original autographs, or do they help in doing so?  These are all logical questions that we must explore and understand; and ones we will cover as we get into the 2nd phase of our study of Lower (Textual) Criticism.

One important point we saw last night was that regardless of origin, whether Catholic or Protestant, virtually all modern translations, versions and editions are drawing from a common source, namely the vast amount of partial and complete manuscripts discovered from 1627 to today. (To date Biblical scholars have in excess of 24,000 manuscripts and manuscript pieces to draw from as they reconstruct the text of both the Old and New covenants.  The New Testament at last count is drawn from over 5,800 manuscripts.)

Next week we will begin unpacking the topic of Textual Criticism and lay our course for the weeks and months to come.

God bless you all!  It's an honor to be doing this study with you.

Ricky
worldviewstudy@gmail.com