Bible Study Begins

Today was the first day of the new year of Bible Study. In the past we have worked through Karen Armstrong’s History of God & Our Religions. This year we are going to focus more on Christianity and are going to be working through A Harmony of the Gospels by Ralph D. Heim. It is a parallel gospel so that we can compare the similarities and differences in each book. As our minister noted, too often we blend similar stories into one and forget the differences. I look forward to really delving into the gospels.

In today’s conversation, I was intrigued by the idea of scripture. As we discussed the writing of the gospels we contemplated the audience to which the texts were written. At that time there was no New Testament, nor a consideration of one. While each may have known of the other’s writings, they were not originally intended to be together. When they were talking of scriptures, they were speaking of their religious scripture, i.e. the Old Testament. This may seem like a silly point but it really struck me as profound. It is hard to imagine that they originally saw themselves as a sect of Judaism and not as the beginning of a new religion called Christianity!