Getting Started

What comes to mind when you hear terms like “Apocrypha,” “Pseudepigrapha,” or the “Mishnah” and “Talmud”?  There are many collections of books—sometimes very large collections—that are in the background of the New Testament writings. In these collections you’ll find other editions of biblical books like Esther. You’ll find books that present themselves as though they were written by Adam and Enoch. You’ll find fanciful literature, as well as helpful history to fill in the period before the New Testament opens. And you’ll also discover how the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the reliability of the Old Testament in the time of the New Testament and shaped a much clearer picture of religion in the first century we just reviewed. In fact, you may be surprised to learn how the Bible was being interpreted back then, and how profoundly that impacts what we do in Bible Journey.