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History of the Bible
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Lesson OneRevelation and Canon17 Activities|2 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In | Revelation and Inspiration
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In | Revelation Is Ongoing
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In | Apostolic Sources and Sacred Library
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In | Using the Bible to Interpret Itself
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Behind | Canon and Canonicity
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Behind | Fixed and Fluid Canon
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Behind | The Format of the Canon
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Behind | Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint
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Behind | Deuterocanonical Books
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Behind | Councils and Canon
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In Front | Being an Interpretative Community
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In Front | Apostolic Fathers on the Authority of Scripture
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In Front | An Easter Letter from “the Black Dwarf”
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In Front | Jesus in the Biblical Tradition
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In Front | Orthodoxy and the Holy Spirit
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson TwoTransmission and Translation19 Activities
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Getting Started
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In | The Scribal Tradition
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In | Aramaic Targums
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In | The Septuagint
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Behind | Scribes: The Anonymous Heroes
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Behind | Pangur Bán and Scribal Vocation
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Behind | Greek and Early Bible Translation
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Behind | The Biblical Manuscript Tradition
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Behind | Text Criticism
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Behind | Papyrus
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Behind | Workbook: Recycled Codex Climaci Rescriptus, Part 1
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Behind | Workbook: Recycled Codex Climaci Rescriptus, Part 2
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In Front | Texts and Text Criticism
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In Front | Workbook: Autographs - Original Manuscripts, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Autographs - Original Manuscripts, Part 2
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In Front | NT Text Criticism and Manuscripts [Bonus]
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In Front | Workbook: Facsimiles, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Facsimiles, Part 2
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson ThreeReformation and Publication16 Activities
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Getting Started
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In Front | Technology, Change and Reformation
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In Front | Vernacular Bibles and Reformers
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In Front | Workbook: Christian Preference for the Codex
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In Front | Christian Preference for the Codex, Part 1
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In Front | Christian Preference for the Codex, Part 2
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In Front | John Wycliffe
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In Front | Martin Luther
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In Front | Reading the Bible in the Middle Ages
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In Front | Workbook: The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages
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In Front | The Regulation of Bibles in the Middle Ages
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In Front | The Bible and Literacy
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In Front | Workbook: The Bible and Literacy, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: The Bible and Literacy, Part 2
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In Front | “Noble Fragments” of Gutenberg Bibles
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FourModern Bible Translation15 Activities|2 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In Front | Spreading the Word: Societies
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In Front | English Bible Translations
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In Front | Various Approaches to Translation
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In Front | The Best Bible Translation?
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In Front | Workbook: Reflection
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In Front | Workbook: The Cherokee Bible Translation, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: The Cherokee Bible Translation, Part 2
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In Front | The Hêliand: Saxon Life of Christ
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In Front | The Nazi Bibles
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In Front | Bible Translation and Human Frailty
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In Front | Evolution of Language and Grammar
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In Front | Workbook: Translation Work on Mog Mog Island, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Translation Work on Mog Mog Island, Part 2
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FiveThe Bible Movement Today14 Activities|3 Assessments
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Getting Started
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In Front | Workbook: Aspects of Bible Education
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In Front | Owning and Reading the Bible, Part 2
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In Front | The Bible Movement
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In Front | Categories of Bible Engagement, Part 2
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In Front | Definitions of Bible Engagement
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In Front | Measuring Bible Engagement
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In Front | The Center for Bible Engagement
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In Front | Personal Convictions About the Bible
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In Front | Workbook: Personal Convictions About the Bible, Part 1
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In Front | Workbook: Personal Convictions About the Bible, Part 2
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In Front | Exploration, Exposure, Engagement
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In Front | Advantages of Bible Illiteracy
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Wrap-Up1 Activity|1 Assessment
Participants 11
Lesson 3, Activity 12
In Front | The Bible and Literacy
Lesson Progress
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The British author Richard Dawkins once claimed that, “A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian.”
Even as an outspoken atheist, Dawkins supports the idea of putting a King James Bible in every English school. In his own time, T. H. Huxley, the man who was known as Darwin’s bulldog and who coined the term “agnosticism,” also recommended the Bible as a mandatory subject for elementary school children. Both men viewed the Bible as a landmark in literature and essential to literacy in English.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, New England was the most literate part of the world because it was illegal not to teach children to read. People were taught to read so they could read the Bible. And the language of Bibles like the Geneva Bible and King James Bible went a long way in shaping English as a popular language.