Table of Contents

Introductory Issues

1. A Quick Overview of the Contents of the Bible
2. How Should We Read the Bible?
3. The Literary History of the Bible
   1. Canonization
   2. Manuscripts and Transmission
   3. Translation
   4. Accuracy and Authority of Scriptural Texts
4. Israel and the Geography and History of the Ancient Near East

The Torah/Pentateuch

1. Authorship and Composition of the Torah
2. Genesis
   1. The Prehistory (Genesis 1—11)
   2. Origins of the People of God (Genesis 12—36)
   3. The Joseph Cycle (Genesis 37—50)
   4. Concluding Summary
3. The Exodus and Law Codes in the Torah (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

The Former Prophets / Deuteronomistic History

1. Introduction
2. Overview of Joshua and Judges
3. Conquest of Canaan / Inheriting the Promised Land
4. Overview of the Books of Samuel
5. Emergence of the Hebrew State
6. Overview of the Books of Kings

The Latter Prophets

1. The Latter Prophets in Canonical Order
2. Timeline for the Latter Prophets

The Writings

1. A Brief Introduction
2. Categories of Material in the Kethuvim

The Apocrypha / Deuterocanon and the Hellenistic Age

1. Israel in the Hellenistic Age
2. First-Century Judaisms

Jesus and the Gospels

1. The Gospels: Four Portraits of Jesus as the Christ
2. Jesus of Nazareth

The Early Christian Churches

1. Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles
2. Pauline and Deutero-pauline Views on Women’s Roles

The General Letters and the Revelation to John

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Image Credit: The image at the top of this page shows the upper portion of the Ethiopian Gunda Gunde Gospels, a document now housed at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Image source: Wikimedia Commons