Sunday, February 9, 2014

The word "Bible"

Since I have received a complaint about using the term "Bible" when speaking of various narratives within the Jewish text, I am posting here to elaborate for those who require more information.

First, the Jewish text, of the 5 books, are Bereshit (בראשית), Shemot (שמות), Vayikra (ויקרא), Bamidbar (במדבר), and Devarim (דברים). In the non-Hebrew world, these five books are also called Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, respectively. Yes, even Jews will sometimes refer to them by their more common non-Hebrew names.

Collectively, they compose that which is called Torah. (תורה). Also, collectively, they are sometimes referred to as Chumash (חומש), from the Hebrew word for "5", and sometimes the long form is used.

Now there are other Hebrew books as well. You have the books of Navi'im (נביאים) or "Prophets" and Chatuvim (כתובים) or "Writings". 

So The words Torah and Navi'im, and Chatuvim make up the acronym "TaNaCh" (the "Ch" is a guttural sound, like the ending for the composer Bach.

So Jews will often refer to the entire collection as the Tanach. 

When you got to a hotel outside of Israel and see a free Bible waiting for you, it contains the Tanach in the front part, and the Christian texts that follow it. In the non-Jewish world, the Jewish part is often call the "Old Testament", as in something that was superseded, and the Christian part is called the "New Testament", as in something that has replaced the old. Sometimes the abbreviations "OT" and "NT" are used.

However, Jews typically find the term "Old Testament" insulting and will rarely ever use it. 

So what is that book called that combines the two?

In Hebrew it is a transliteration of the common term "Bible" (ביבל) or biblia (ביבליה) as a higher form variant. 

And so, when I speak of the narratives in the Jewish text, that are considered part of the Christian text, I will sometimes use the term "Bible" when I want to infer an inter-relationship, or "Scripture". Sometimes I will have "Scripture" be preceded by the religious adjective ("Jewish Scripture"). Sometimes I will omit the adjective when the reference is obvious, or use "Bible" when I want to address both religions.

Since Islam does not have one text that combines the Christian text with the Jewish one, "Bible" will never be used by me to refer to that faith, even though it may have connection to certain specific beliefs. It is not that I don't hold that Islam has a similar acceptance, but that it holds itself outside of the Biblical narrative, and does not provide a text that combines the other two (a sort of New-NEW-Testament Bible).

Finally, you will find that many Scriptural scholars who write in Hebrew will use ביבל (bible) or biblia (ביבליה) when referring to the joined texts or when referring to a core idea with a common point of view (as in the American expression "Judeo-Christian").

Granted, Judaism and Christianity have less in common than they do in common, but "Bible" is a valid expression and is used widely, and so, it is valid that I use it as well in the context that I do.

Hopefully this will clear up some confusion!