Zone1 When Was The Very First Bible Published?

[Road Runner]

I had this question because I wondered when people from the past hundred years or so started learning about creation/Jesus/Heaven and all that I know so far from Googling is when it was written before it became a book.

 

[Foxfyre]

The first published Bible was the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455. 180 copies were printed, most on paper, some on a writing surface made of calfskin. I think there are something like 48 of these Bibles still in existence and some of those are fragments of the original.

Gutenberg also invented the printing press with the first operational one put to use in 1440. This was the catalyst of the Renaissance as for the first time most people were able to read classical literature like the Bible for themselves without having to go through an intermediary who too often 'edited' the contents.

The Renaissance freed minds making the Reformation possible in the 16th Century changing the traditions of Christianity, even in the Roman Catholic Church, forever.

Trivia: It is estimated that a Gutenberg Bible would sell for more than $5 million today.

 

[occupied]

The first published Bible was the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455. 180 copies were printed, most on paper, some on a writing surface made of calfskin. I think there are something like 48 of these Bibles still in existence and some of those are fragments of the original.

Gutenberg also invented the printing press with the first operational one put to use in 1440. This was the catalyst of the Renaissance as for the first time most people were able to read classical literature like the Bible for themselves without having to go through an intermediary who too often 'edited' the contents.

The Renaissance freed minds making the Reformation possible in the 16th Century changing the traditions of Christianity, even in the Roman Catholic Church, forever.

Trivia: It is estimated that a Gutenberg Bible would sell for more than $5 million today.

I was writing the same thing. The bible might as well not have existed before people could read it in their own language.

 

[Foxfyre]

I was writing the same thing. The bible might as well not have existed before people could read it in their own language.

Well, for the illiterate, it was good to have people read it to them. The problem with that though is that corrupt or manipulative clergy would sometimes 'edit' the content to fit the doctrines of the Church at that time and their interpretations were not quite what the letter of the text intended. They didn't worry about being found out because the Church knew the rank and file parishioner could not read or had no access to scarce Biblical manuscripts.

When the Church was the absolute authority over the people as was the case in much of the Middle Ages, it served the Church to keep the people as ignorant as possible and dependent on the Church for their knowledge, religious training, salvation. Sometimes this was well intended. Sometimes not. That began to change with the printing press and Renaissance. Then the Reformation not only created Protestantism, but it forced a too often corrupt RCC to reform itself and it became a much more worthy spiritual home for the people.

 

[skews13]

I was writing the same thing. The bible might as well not have existed before people could read it in their own language.

During those times it was illegal to know how, or try to interpret the scriptures. Many people were burned, hanged, and tortured to death because of it.

The interpretation of the scriptures were changed when Constantine legalized Christianity in his attempt to save the empire. Thus the birth of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Interpretation of the scriptures were then used as a control mechanism of the masses.

The teachings of Jesus Christ were discarded.

This is still true today.

 

[luiza]

From the moment Paul started scribbling and started to make up stories .

 

[Foxfyre]

During those times it was illegal to know how, or try to interpret the scriptures. Many people were burned, hanged, and tortured to death because of it.

The interpretation of the scriptures were changed when Constantine legalized Christianity in his attempt to save the empire. Thus the birth of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Interpretation of the scriptures were then used as a control mechanism of the masses.

The teachings of Jesus Christ were discarded.

This is still true today.

Certainly some discarded/discard the teachings of Jesus but not all, even in the darkest of the dark ages. There were were many dedicated souls and brilliant minds who kept the Church from disintegrating into total depravity.

Constantine hoped to utilize the organizational and discipline skills of the Christians to save his shaky Empire. While it did give the Church more power, and power can and does corrupt, it also gave the Church license and unfettered ability to spread throughout the known world at that time.

Yin and yang, good and bad, corrupt and noble, charitable and opportunistic, the Church has had it all for most of its existence.

 

[alang1216]

I had this question because I wondered when people from the past hundred years or so started learning about creation/Jesus/Heaven and all that I know so far from Googling is when it was written before it became a book.

It was transmitted orally before it was written.

 

[Road Runner]

It was transmitted orally before it was written.

Duh!

 

[BreezeWood]

Duh!

the religion of that book, spoken - is only 6 words in length - the triumph of good vs evil - set out by a&e as necessary for remission to the everlasting, their choice for self determination.

 

[alang1216]

Duh!

Sorry, I didn't realize you knew what you were asking. If a scribe copies a manuscript is that 'published'?

 

[Road Runner]

Sorry, I didn't realize you knew what you were asking. If a scribe copies a manuscript is that 'published'?

I'm talking about the first time the Bible was published as a book.

 

[norwegen]

I'm talking about the first time the Bible was published as a book.

Scribes compiled manuscripts generally into Old and New Testament books. The Sahidic Old and New Testaments were probably completed around the year 200.

 

[alang1216]

I'm talking about the first time the Bible was published as a book.

Ahh. My understanding is that the Hebrew Bible was first written down by the Babylonian exiles as individual books. But the exact mix of books in the canon was not fixed until much later, maybe as late as the 2nd century CE.

The NT went through much the same evolution. Individual scriptural books were for several centuries after Jesus (still being written if you ask a Mormon). The books of the NT was fixed by 367 CE by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria.

 

[JohnDB]

I'm talking about the first time the Bible was published as a book.

Around 5,500 years ago Moses wrote the Torah. The Torah is the first 5 books in the Bible. (Many argue that Moses also wrote and included Job with the five books) Copies were made at that time and for the next 3,000 years it was added to by prophets, kings and the disciples. It was mostly complete by 100 AD and the last letter by Jude (Jesus's half brother) discovered and included by 300AD.

It was published regularly since Moses first wrote it. Inclusions of the other books came about 100 years after when they were initially written. But they had the complete Bible we know today at 300 AD.

 

[notmyfault2020]

The Catholic Church in the 4th century (when it was still one, not heretical) put together the books of the New Testament, deciding which ancient writings to include and which to not include.

That evil Catholic Church!!

How dare they?

But if the Church is what itclaims to be, well then... No problem!

 

[Road Runner]

notmyfault2020 Look bro, I'm sorry if I offended you earlier but when you put down my religion you made me snap. All that being said how could the Catholic church put the Bible together when their beliefs and what the Bible actually says doesn't always agree. Unless I'm missing something of course.

 

[Stann]

I had this question because I wondered when people from the past hundred years or so started learning about creation/Jesus/Heaven and all that I know so far from Googling is when it was written before it became a book.

The Council of Carthage in AD 397 decided what works would be included in the Christian Bible. soon afterwards Christian Bibles were transcribed into books. The oldest book in the bible is the Book of Job, written about the 2nd. millennium BCE.

 

[fncceo]

The first published Bible was the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1455.

200 BCE ... and even older versions of The Torah are known to have existed.

 

[expat_panama]

...in much of the Middle Ages, it served the Church to keep the people as ignorant as possible and dependent on the Church for their knowledge, religious training, salvation...

Let's really think about that.

OK, so it is human nature to think in terms of the teacher/student mode, where "I know and you don't know", which is also how you probably see the conve u & I are having right now. Another mode that's possible is "we work together to find truth". In addition there's also the fact that back when so few people could read and write we really did have to have "teachers" that could read and share what they had.

Through it all, my take is that the goal was to increase knowledge in the community, not increase ignorance.