daesummer

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Lina

What do you mean by "treatment" ? Don't you rather mean "Testament" ? If you do, I think I may help you a little.

I don't think we know where the Old Testament comes from. When scientists tried to analyze the text ( this is called an "exegesis" ) at the end of the XIXth century / beginning of the XXth century, they found there were four "traditions", i.e. ways of writing, called "heloist", "yahvist", deuteronomist" and "priest". The Church said it was normal, since the Bible was written by men, not directly by God ( this is why there are problems with the exegesis of the Coran, which is supposed to be the words of God himself... ).

The New Testament is said to have been written by four disciples of Jesus, Mark, Johannes, Matthew and Paul. Three of them are originally in Greek, the last one in Aramaic. I never remember which one is this. I think it is Mark, but I am not sure at all. These are the "official" gospels, recognized by the Church. But actually, others were found, especially in the Egyptian desert. They are called the "apocryphal gospels", because their authenticity is doubtful : we don't know whether they tell the truth or are mere fictions. It is thought that there were more than four gospels written after Christ's death and that the Church rejected some of them, either because they were false or because they didn't correspond to the "official story".

chiara410

hello
as far as i can remember the oldest gospel (Matthew) was written around 60-65 B.C. The most recent one is John's Gospel written around 100 B.C.
I didn't know one of them was in Aramaic, i thought they all were in Greek or Copto. It is believed that none of them was written for real by the disciples who knew Jesus. I do agree with the fact that other Gospels have not been revealed to people. One was found in Qumran near the Dead Sea in 1947. it's Thomas' Gospel, it's very interesting , i suggest to read it, you can find it on the internet (don't worry , it's quite short!).

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daesummer

thank you for your details,and i'm sorry i can't find "heloist" in my dictionary.

"The the man said,"You shall no longer be called Jacob,but Israel,for you have striven with God and with humans.""
<GENESIS:32>I don't know why.
what's the relationship between Jacob and Israel?
and what's the differenties between Israel,Jewish,Israelites and Hebrew?
thanks.

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Lina

I'm not a specialist at all, but this is what I found :

The man Jacob fights against isn't a real man but God. This is why we don't know exactly who he is and what he looks like. This fight was interpreted as more a spiritual fight than a physical one. After it, Jacob is called "Israel" because, in Hebrew, this name means "strong against God" ( and "God be strong" ) ; this is exactly what Jacob's just done : he has striven with God, as if with a man.

"Israel" has many meanings : it is first Jacob's name after his fight, then the name of the whole twelve tribs which come from Jacob's twelve sons. Eventually, it is the name of the land where they settle. The Israelistes are its inhabitants.

"Hebrew" is thought to be the name the Egyptians and the Philistines gave to Abram's offspring, for it means "the strangers". It disappears after and they are called "Israel's sons" or "Jews".

"Jews" is originally the name of the inhabitants of Judea, which is the main part of the kingdom of Jerusalem. It is also linked to the alliance God is said to have entered into with this people, so it means more or less "the chosen people".

chinoise

Hello, daesummer. There're many websites about the bible and forums where you can ask questions, in english and chinese, and explanations on the biblical texts.

As I've learnt from school, the gospel according to John and the book of revelations are believed to be written by John the disciple.

The Old Testament is timed before the birth of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament is after his birth.

As for the biblical texts full of names, just skip them, before you fall asleep.

skep07

daesummer,

Here is what I know, so far.
The original book upon which the Old testament or Hebrew (Jewish) Bible is based is the Book of J dating about 950 to 900 BCE (before common era).
A very good evaluation of the original book upon which the Bible is based was done by Bloom and Rosenberg, two very well known Hebrew scholars.
The Book of J was re-written three times before the final redaction was completer by the Author R in the second century CE (Common Era).
Most Christians believe that the four gospels contained in the King James Version of the Bible, published first in 1611 with the final version finished in the mid 1700's, are the only gospels. This is not correct, There were probably about 25 or so gospels and most probably all were written by committee and assigned the names under which they appear. The reason John is different from the first three or, Sunoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew and Luck is because John was probably first written in the second century, also by committee. The gospels chosen by Catholic committee in the 4th century were included in the incorrect order regarding chronology, Mark was the first one written supposedly about 70 years after the supposed death of Jesus.

Regarding Jesus there is no written record whatever of the existance of Jesus save one vague reference by a Hebrew writer to a messianic figure which Christians believe, without any supporting evidence whatever, referred to Jesus.
The New Testament was constructed by committee beginning in the 4th century essentially from writings and coppies made by an appointed scholar charged with the responsibility to collect same by the Emperor Constaantine. He collected what stories he could from displaced Christians in the Roman Empire.
Modern Christian claim that Constantine converted to Christianity. The only evidence appears to be that his decission to pronounce Christianity as the State religion of Rome was political in nature. Constantine may have "converted" on his death bed but that's yet to be proven.
This is a start for you to research, if you choose.