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There are theological explanations for the origins of the Bible, such as inspiration, and these concepts explain how scripture originated. But in this E2 talk, I plan to speak about the historical issues of how our Bible was formed; that is, how the 66 books of our Protestant Bible came to be recognized as authoritative for matters of faith and practice. Addressing the Protestant Bible will also raise a discussion over the Catholic Bible and why it is different from our own.

I also intend to address the matter of how the Bible in its Old and New Testaments was transmitted; that is, how the wording of the Bible came down to us in the manuscripts to the printing press. Did the Bible result from the “telephone game”? Or can we say more about how the temple ensured a conservatively copied Hebrew text and how much of the evidence for the NT text manifests a conservatively copied text as well.

Come join the conversation this Saturday morning and bring your questions.


Meade-John-Web-1John Meade is a member of Trinity and Associate Professor of Old Testament at Phoenix Seminary, where he teaches for the purpose of transforming the students and training them for gospel-centered ministry in order to build up healthy churches in Phoenix and beyond.

His scholarly interests include the biblical canon, Septuagint criticism, Origen’s Hexapla, and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. John blogs on issues related to the canon at Septuagint Studies.