Liz Figures The earliest written parts of the Bible date back to the Bronze Age, at least 2000 BC and the parts in at the beginning of Genesis date back to an oral record and folk memory dating much further back. It says when there's the first written bit at the beginning of the first list of ancestors. That same genealogy also mentions the first metal workers in that clan - maybe at the beginning of the bronze age which would make it all much older than 2000 BC. Then of course different bits were added at different times. No one ever thought of it as 'a book' cos it's a collection of very ancient documents. The last document in the Old Testament was spoken and probably written down by a scribe about 400 years before Christ was born.
To compare, the Ancient Greek philosophers were writing largely from about 500 BC onwards. A lot of the Old Testament is in the context of Mediterranean and middle eastern politics. There was one great power base after another including the Egyptians (the Jews were there during the building of one of the great pyramids in about 1250 BC), Assyrians, Persians, Babylonians. When Israel had been bullying the weak in it's community and gone away from God they got handed over to who ever was the biggest bully around at the time till they'd learned their lesson. There are lots of archeological treasures being found from these times so we know even what the enemies looked like (or what they wanted to think they looked like!), what cups they drank out of and what their armour looked like.
The first of the eye witness accounts in the New Testament (those written down by Matthew and Mark) started to be written down very soon after the death of Christ in the AD 30s), probably before the first martyrdoms (James and Steven) or else they might have been mentioned - they do get mentioned in Acts. Then Dr Luke is sent in from the outside by a benefactor with a Greek name, Theophilus, and interviews all the key eye witnesses and writes that down, followed by the stories of what happened next in Acts. You can tell when he finished the other interviews and went to join Paul in Acts 17 where he changes from saying they did this and that to we went ... The gospel written by John came last and is made up of the other bits that everyone else remembered and wanted put in, as well as his own memories. Remember all the disciples became the apostles and they had all known each other for at least the 3 years when they traveled round with Jesus and most if not all stayed in touch after until they dispersed to go to reach the world.
The first church was in Jerusalem, then they started to form all round the Mediterranean area. All the letters to the new churches and the prophecy from John were all written down before AD 70 when the Roman forces sacked Jerusalem. interestingly the prophecy that has sometimes been used by end times preachers in Mark was a clear warning about the Roman invasion and told them what signs to look for. Mark was being well circulated by at least the mid 60sAD. Some people believe that Revelation was a warning about the same thing. When the Roman armies arrived in AD 70 the Christians heeded the signs and did what they were told - run for the hills which was really counter intuitive. It's the opposite of what you should do if there's an invasion - people from the villages run for the walled city for protection, which is what the Jews did. The Christians begged them to leave too but they wouldn't. Huge numbers of Jews were massacred. There's no record of any Christian dying on that occasion. A very awful event but something that clearly dates the publishing of all the new testament before it happened or it would have been mentioned.
So the church started just as the Bible documents were being finished. After the Romans ransacked Jerusalem, even taking the newly finished temple to pieces again - lifting down the huge stones, all the Christians had fled. They went first to the outlying hills for safety then gradually spread out as far as they could travel sharing their amazing news about Jesus as they went. The word we use for church is a greek word used for a public meeting or gathering. The other word we sometimes translate as church is the word for fellowship - ie partnership/friendship. I hope what we experience today includes both aspects.
Churches gradually developed, sometimes meeting in secret when there was persecution, often meeting in houses - the central courtyard or centre of a sort of family compound.
The Church as an institution only gradually happened. It suddenly went public big way when in AD 350ish the Roman Emperor Constantine decided that the whole Empire was to become christian. This was brilliant in one way, it stopped the persecution and a number of other unpleasant things done by Romans and others. Suddenly wealthy people were donating money and wanting to build temples to appease the new God (and impress everyone) so there is a sudden increase in christian art and architecture which in one way is great but in another it took the emphasis off giving to the poor and needy and put it into public appearance. Then the church in Rome started to take over, rules were made about standardising teaching - which was good and bad too - good cos there was some big differences of opinion which needed sorting out, bad cos it was the church in Rome that decided what everyone should believe and enforced it using force :-(
The Bible was accessible as documents that were passed from group to group who'd make a copy and pass it on. People relied on public readings and memorising.
Gradually languages change. We don't speak the same language as our grandparents. World power languages change. The Bible documents need re-translating regularly for the people to understand it. There have been special times in history of the church when the Bible has been lost into decaying language then gets rediscovered when it gets translated. The big reform movement in Europe came when the Bible was being translated into modern language and suddenly, it was just like when Ezra found the scrolls of the law which had been lost. he gathered everyone together and started to read. people began to sob cos they found out they'd offended God which began a period of revival. all over Europe and beyond there was revival. Sometimes this offends the established churches - they are the ones who were doing the bizz, where have all these outsiders come from messing up our nice tidy services ! But God still speaks now using his written word if we're willing to move with him and use the language that means something to the man on the street.
The new testament is one of the worlds most simple documents in some respects. It only uses about 4000 basic vocabulary words. Most school children know that many words when they are only 6 or 7 even. Children who speak a different language at home than at school may know a lot more words. We ruin the Bible by letting it lapse into archaic language and by speaking a religious jargon.
How can you guess that I'm passionate about the Bible, well, not just the Bible, about having a God who wants to talk to us. He wants to communicate that he sends it in writing, then he sends his representatives and finally he sent his son, the fulfillment of all the Father wants to say to us, The Word of God in person !! Wow !!
PS I don't want you to think I'm against modern day Roman Catholics. They're not to blame for what their ancestors did. I have difficulties with the role of The Vatican politically but there are many fellow believers in all sorts of church situations including them. Equally, to be fair, some of the churches started through the reform or other revival movements have become stagnant or worse. We all need to learn to move on with God, no one can claim to be best mates with God just cos they can quote the bible like a pharisee. It all boils down to loving the Lord our god with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and loving our neighbours as ourselves. lest we be like the foolish man who heard the word of God but didn't do it and built on sand.
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