Table of Contents

Preface: A Labor of Love How This Book Was Built Benefits of Reading This Book The Inspiration According to Julia How the Bible Was Built What the Word Bible Means Strange Ideas about the Bible A House with Two Wings and a Connecting Passage The First Wing -- the Old Testament The Cornerstone of the Bible What Was So Special about the Book of Deuteronomy? What Is the Pentateuch? The Story of the Samaritans The Prophets -- the Walls of the House The Message of the Prophets Former Prophets and Latter Prophets The Writings -- a Roof for the Old Testament The Writings Become Holy Scripture The Apocrypha -- Passageway from Old to New The First Detective Stories Are the Books Called Apocrypha Holy Scripture? The Significance of the Apocrypha The Apocrypha and Christianity The New Wing -- the New Testament The Q Document Mark -- a Movie Scenario Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel A Different Kind of Gospel Is One of the Gospels Best? Why Were These Four Books Perceived as Holy Scripture? What about the Book of Acts? The Letters of Paul -- the Walls of the New Testament Did Paul Intend His Letters to Be Treated as Holy Scripture? How Many Letters Did Paul Write? How Did Paul's Letters to the Churches become a Collection? Were Paul's Letters to the Churches Recognized as Holy Scripture When They Were Published? A Variety of Writings Form the Roof of the New Testament The Letters to Timothy and Titus The Letter to the Hebrews The Catholic Letters and the Letters of John The Revelation of John The Canon: or, Who Said, This Is the Official Bible? The Old Testament Canon The Council of Jamnia The Christian Old Testament The New Testament Canon Heretics Help Form the New Testament The First New Testaments Origen's New Testament The New Testament of Eusebius Athanasius Jerome Gutenberg Closes the Canon Decorating the House -- Translating the Bible into English Wyclif's Bible Opposition to English Translations William Tyndale The Coverdale Bible The Invention of Bible Verses Nicknaming Bibles The King James Translation Other English Translations Hebrew Poetry and Common Greek Recent Revisions and Paraphrases Are All These Revisions Necessary? Appendix A: Biblical Terms You Need to Know Appendix B: Some Dates That Will Help You Understand How the Bible Was Built

About the Author

Charles Merril Smith (1919-1985) was a United Methodist minister and the well-known author of such books as How to Become a Bishop Without Being Religious, When the Saints Go Marching Out and the Reverend Randollph mystery series.