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E-Library
Supplementary Reading
The Bible and Christianity
General introduction
 Among
all the religions by which people seek to worship, Christianity
is by far the most influential in the West. Every phase of man's
life is touched by this religion, so much so that it has become
part and parcel of Western culture. Judeo-Christian tradition constitutes
one of the two major components of European culture. Judaism and
Christianity are closely related. In fact, it was the Jewish tradition
which gave birth to Christianity. Both originated in Palestine！the
hub of migration and trade routes, which led to exchange of ideas
over wide areas.
Some
3,800 years ago the ancestors of the Jews！the Hebrews！wandered
through the deserts of the Middle East. They were travelling merchants,
moving from one trading post to the next. And that was how they
came to be called "Hebrews", which means "wanderers".
About 1300 BC., the Hebrews came to settle in Palestine, known as
Canaan at that time, and formed small kingdoms. Their history was
handed down orally from one generation to another in the form of
folktales and stories, which were recorded later in the Old Testament,
which still later became the first part of the Christian Bible.
Though a minor tribe in ancient Middle East with a small population,
the Hebrews made one of the greatest contributions to the world
civilization.
The Old Testament
The
Bible is a collection of religious writings comprising two parts:
the Old Testament and the New Testament. The former is about God
and the Laws of God; the latter, the doctrine of Jesus Christ. The
word "Testament" means "agreement"！namely,
the agreement between God and Man.
The
Old Testament consists of 39 books, the oldest and most important
of which are the first live books, called Pentateuch.
1. The Pentateuch
Genesis: a religious account of the origin of the Hebrew people,
including the origin of the world and of man, the career of Issac
and the life of Jacob and his son Joseph
Exodus: a religious history of the Hebrews during their flight
from Egypt, the period when they began to receive God's Law
Leviticus: a collection of primitive laws
Numbers: a continuation of the account of the flight from Egypt
with two censuses about the Exodus
Deuteronomy: the final words of Moses to his people, restating
his orders and fifty years' experiences as a leader
Through
all the ages, people of all lands have sought to understand the
world in which they live, to understand themselves as human beings.
Big questions all peoples have tried to answer are: How did the
world begin? How did life come to be? And what is man?
In
the beginning, says the Bible, God created the heaven and earth.
When the world was formed, God created man and woman！Adam and Eve.
They lived in perfect happiness in the Garden of Eden. But at the
temptation of the serpent one day, Eve picked the fruit from the
forbidden tree and shared it with Adam. Immediately afterwards,
they were driven from Paradise and went forth into the world. Thus,
man's story of misfortune and hardships began.
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