What is the Christian Bible?

By Ray Konig | azbible.com

A summary of the Christian Bible:

The Bible is the religious text of Christians throughout the world.
It is the most published book in the world, with an estimated printing of six million copies.
It is the first religious text to have been distributed to people all over the world.
Christians believe that the authors were inspired by God, that the estimated 40 or so people who wrote the Bible were inspired by God to do so.
The Bible has two main parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament was written over a long period of time, starting as early as 3500 years ago and ending about 2400 years ago. It was completed before Jesus was born about 2,000 years ago.
The New Testament was written about 2,000 years ago, during the century in which Jesus was born.
The Bible has 66 parts called books. The Old Testament has 39 books and the New Testament has 27.
Old Testament books 1-5: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. These books were written perhaps as long ago as 3400 years ago, by Moses. These five books are sometimes called the Pentateuch or the Torah.
Old Testament books 6-16: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. These books explain the history of Israel from the time that the nation was established about 3400 years ago. It includes information about the time when the nation was conquered by the Assyrians about 2700 years ago, and when it was conquered by the Babylonians about 2600 years ago. The Assyrians and Babylonians forced many Jews out of their homeland.
Old Testament books 17-22: Ester, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. These books are sometimes called the books of Writings, or the books of Poetry, or the books of Wisdom.
Old Testament books 23-27: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. These books contain prophecies that were delivered by prophets named Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. These prophets lived about 2700 to 2500 years ago. Some of their prophecies found fulfillment more than 2500 years ago. Christians believe that many of the prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus about 2000 years ago.
Old Testament books 28-39: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These books are sometimes called the books of the "minor" prophets. They are called "minor" because their books are short in length.
New Testament books 1-4: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These four books are sometimes called the Gospel, or the Gospels. They were written about 2000 years ago by the followers of Jesus. These books contain details about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
New Testament books 5-26: Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude. These 22 books are sometimes called Letters or Epistles. They were written by followers of Jesus. They often were sent to other people to help explain Christianity. Sometimes they were written to counter heresy, or wrongful interpretations of the teachings of Jesus.
New Testament book 27: Revelation. This book was written by John about 1900 years ago. He was shown visions of the future by Jesus. This book contains many prophecies about the End Times, or the Apocalypse.

What is Christianity?

What is the Christian Bible?