Home The Journey Bible Knowledge

Bible Knowledge

Bible Knowledge

  • Old Testament – Idioms & Metaphors
    A compilation of Hebrew idioms and metaphors used in Old Testament with simple explanation.
  • Ancient Hebrew Thought (Abstract vs. Concrete Thought)
    In the world, past and present, there are two major types of cultures; the Hebrew (or eastern) culture and the Greek (or western) culture. Both of these cultures view their surroundings, lives, and purpose in ways which would seem foreign to the other. With the exception of a few Bedouin nomadic tribes living in the Near East today, the ancient Hebrew culture has disappeared. What happened to this ancient Hebrew thought and culture?

Christian History – Article

Contemplative & Inner Prayer

  • Centering Prayer
    Centering Prayer is a Christian contemplative form of meditation practice developed in the 1970s by three Trappist monks, Fathers William Meninger, Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating. The practice method draws upon the contemplative heritage found within biblical scripture and Christian mystical writings such as the medieval classic The Cloud of Unknowing. Centering Prayer is a growing form meditation used both for regular individual practice, as well as in group settings.
  • Lectio Divina
    Lectio Divina, literally meaning “divine reading,” is an ancient practice of praying the scriptures; the practitioner listens to the text of the Bible with the “ear of the heart,” as if he or she is in conversation with God. This tradition of prayer flows out of a Hebrew method of studying the Scriptures which was called haggadah (Hebrew: הַגָּדָה‎‎, “telling”; plural: Haggadot).
  • Ignation Contemplation
    The Ignatian Contemplation method uses our five senses, seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling in an imaginative way to reflect on a Gospel passage to make the Gospel scene real and alive.
  • Prayer Of Examen
    The “Prayer of Examen”, designed by St. Ignatius Loyola five hundred years ago, is a traditional way of encountering God in the everyday circumstance of life. It is a technique based on prayerful reflection on daily events to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us.

Library

  • Smith’s Bible Dictionary (pdf)
    Smith’s Bible Dictionary is a comprehensive A to Z glossary of Biblical names, concepts, places, objects, and technical terms. Organized alphabetically by first letter, this dictionary provides a simple method of understanding Biblical terminology. For each word, Smith indicates where the word appears in the Bible, its definition, and a modern equivalent of the word, when applicable.
  • Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old And New Testament Words (pdf)
    “The Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament will be a useful tool in the hands of the student who has little or no formal training in the Hebrew language. [ … ] The writings of the New Testament are based in a large measure on God’s revelation in the Old Testament. To understand the New Testament themes of Creation, Fall, and Restoration, it is necessary to read of their origin in the Old Testament.”
  • The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus (pdf)
    Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37 C.E. in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees. [ … ] Josephus was an eyewitness to history, and his writings are considered authoritative. These texts are key to understanding a pivotal point in world history, which has tragic repercussions even to this day.

Old English Bible

The links provided below (to view the Bibles) open in a new window/tab.

  • 1384 AD : Wycliffe Bible (pdf)
    John Wycliffe is credited as being the first hand-written translation of the entire Bible (both Old and New Testaments) into English. His translation started a revolution, and enabled ordinary people to finally have access to the Bible in a language they could understand. In fact, so profound was the revolution Wycliffe caused that he is called, “The Morning Star of the Reformation” – in other words, Wycliffe marked the start or dawn of the Reformation, and sparked the events that would soon follow. Life of John Wycliffe (wikipedia)
  • 1526 AD : Tyndale Bible (pdf – use Acrobat Reader’s Bookmarks function to navigate)
    Tyndale’s translation was the first English Bible (NT) to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, the first English translation to place God’s name [Jehovah] in its rightful place, the first English translation to take advantage of the printing press, and first of the new English Bibles of the Reformation. Life of William Tyndale (wikipedia).
  • 1535 AD : Coverdale Bible (pdf 640mb)
    The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old Testament or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English (cf. Wycliffe’s Bible in manuscript). The later editions (folio and quarto) published in 1539 were the first complete Bibles printed in England. (wikipedia)
  • 1539 AD : The Great Bible (pdf 765mb – use Acrobat Reader’s Bookmarks function to navigate)
    The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale. [ … ] The Great Bible includes much from the Tyndale Bible, with the objectionable features revised. (wikipedia)
  • 1560 AD : Geneva Bible 1560 (pdf 270mb – use Acrobat Reader’s Bookmarks function to navigate)
    The Geneva Bible was first printed in Geneva, Switzerland, by refugees from England, fleeing the persecution of Protestants by Roman Catholic Queen “Bloody” Mary. [ … ] The Geneva Bible was the first Bible taken to America, brought over on the Mayflower. [ … ] The Geneva Bible was also the first English Bible to break the chapters of scripture into numbered verses, and it was the first true “Study Bible” offering extensive commentary notes in the margins. (wikipedia)
  • 1611 AD : The Authorized King James Bible
    The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB) or simply the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha (most of which correspond to books in the Vulgate Deuterocanon adhered to by Roman Catholics), and the 27 books of the New Testament. (wikipedia)