Bible in Antiquity

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Servant | Reflections, Scripture| Tags: , ,

One of the amazing things about the Bible is the fact that we have so many ancient copies of it. This might be expected, since it was so revered. But the Bible in antiquity survived incredible persecution, as well as the ravages of time. No other ancient text has been so well preserved. The writings of the ancient Greeks have survived, but only just barely. The Bible is available in well preserved copies dating from the 1st century A.D. Indeed, here is a link to a copy of the Psalms dating to 40 A.D.

Psalms

Electronic copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls are available. The question is when would we need to project these, or interact with them in worship. In some Churches, the scriptures are read in their original languages, but usually we worship in the local tongue. This is one of the consequences of the Protestant Reformation. And the scriptures have now been translated into thousands of languages – i.e. thanks to the Wycliffe Bible Translation effort. But you could show the scripture passage in both the original language and in the local language. All it would take would be a well formatted screen. Would that add to the worship experience? Feel free to comment below.

Comments Off on Bible in Antiquity