The Christian bible as we have it today, varied in versions as it is, went through numerous incarnations before the canon was finally established in the 7th Century AD. In this entry, I am providing a brief history of how the Old Testament came about. There are a few words that pop up when discussing the bible and I have listed them here so that you don’t get confused:
Scripture – inspired writings which may or may not be accepted as part of official canon.
Canon– list of specific scripture that are accepted as authoritative.
Vulgate – 4th century Latin translation of the bible, published in 382 AD by Jerome.
Pentateuch – also known as The Law, includes the first 5 books of the bible, also known as the torah.
Septuagint– translation of Hebrew bible into Koine Greek, also known as the Greek Old Testament
Targum and Peshitta – the Targum is the Jewish translation of the old testament into Aramaic; the Peshitta is the Christian translation, also known as the Syriac.
Extant – still in existence, surviving. Extant manuscripts are early or original manuscripts that are still in existence.
Diaspora – dispersion of Jews beyond Israel. Occurred in 600 BC and 70 AD.
Hebrew – a Semitic language of the children of Israel; a member of the ancient people living in Israel and Palestine and descendants of Jacob.
Tanakh – Hebrew bible.
Torah – specifically means the five books of Moses, but is also used to refer to the collective Jewish scriptures.
Talmud – the spoken torah (more…)
