Bible (Christian scripture)

The collection of sacred texts recognized by Christianity, comprising the Old Testament and New Testament. Its books vary in number and arrangement among Christian traditions.

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Old Testament: The collection of Jewish scriptures included in the Christian Bible, though its ordering and contents vary among traditions. It forms the Bible’s first major division and supplies its scriptures before the life of Jesus.
Documentary hypothesis: A scholarly model proposing that the Pentateuch developed from multiple literary sources combined by editors. It offers one influential account of how foundational biblical books took shape.
Biblical hermeneutics: The study and practice of interpreting biblical texts. It provides methods for explaining texts across languages, genres, and historical settings.
Protestant Bible: The Christian Bible as recognized in Protestant traditions, usually containing 66 books. Its Old Testament excludes books included in Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments.
Biblical inerrancy: The belief that the Bible, in its original form, is without error in what it affirms. It names one influential account of biblical authority, disputed among Christians.
New Testament: The Christian collection of 27 books about Jesus, early Christian communities, and their teachings. It forms the Bible’s second major division, centered on Jesus and the early church.
Deuteronomistic history: A scholarly name for a proposed literary work spanning Deuteronomy through Kings, shaped by a recurring theological perspective. It connects several historical books through shared language and interpretation of Israel’s past.
Bible translation: The rendering of biblical texts from their source languages into other languages. Translation makes the Bible accessible while requiring decisions about wording and meaning.
Catholic Bible: The Bible recognized by the Catholic Church, including 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books. Its canon includes deuterocanonical books absent from most Protestant Bibles.
Biblical literalism: An approach that reads biblical passages according to their plain or direct sense, with varying treatment of genre and context. It describes a prominent way of reading scripture, though literal readings differ by passage.