Bible

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Biblical canon

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Bible translations

Wycliffe Bible Translators

Research

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Views

Biblical inerrancy Criticism of the Bible This box: view • talk • edit

This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress.

The word Bible refers to the canonical collections of books or sacred writings of Judaism and Christianity.^[1] Books included as canon in the Bible vary based on different traditions.

Judaism’s Bible is often referred to as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible. It includes the books common to both the Christian and Jewish Biblical canons.^[2]

The Christian Bible is often called the Holy Bible, Scriptures, or Word of God. It divides the books into two parts; the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some versions of the Christian Bible also have some of the books listed separately in an Apocrypha section. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Old Testament canons contain books not found in the Tanakh, but are found in the Greek Septuagint, oldest known ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek.

Isra and Mi’raj

A 16th century Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad’s ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the Miraj. Muhammad’s face is veiled, a common practice in Islamic art.

The Isra and Mi’raj (Arabic: الإسراء والمعراج ) refer to two parts of a journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad took in one night of the year 1 BH (621 CE) ^[1]. Isra (Arabic: الإسراء ) is an Arabic word referring to what Muslims regard as Muhammad’s miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem — specifically, to the site of Masjid al-Aqsa. Mi’raj (Arabic: المعراج ) is an Arabic word referring to the second part of the journey, particularly the ascension of Muhammad from Masjid al-Aqsa to the heavens.

This celebrated event in Islam is considered to have taken place before the Hijra and after Muhamad’s visit to the people of Taif. It is considered by some to have happened just over a year before the Hijra, on the 27th of Rajab; but this date is not always recognized. In Shi’a Iran for example, Rajab 27 is the day of Muhammad’s first calling or Mab’as. However, in many parts of the Muslim world, this date is celebrated as Lailat al Miraj.

A majority of Muslims consider it a physical journey but some Islamic scholars consider it a dream. Both opinions are discussed in the article.

Paul the Apostle

 

St. Paul the Apostle
St. Paul, by El Greco
Apostle to the Gentiles, Saint, Martyr
Born	ca. 10, Tarsus
Died	ca. 67, Rome during Nero’s Persecution
Canonized	pre-congregation
Major shrine	Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
Feast	January 25 (The Conversion of Saint Paul)February 10 (Feast of St Paul’s Shipwreck in Malta)June 29 (Feast of Saints Peter and Paul)November 18 (Feast of the dedication of the basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul)
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Saint Paul the Apostle (born ca. 10, died ca. 67) (שאול התרסי in Hebrew), the “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13, Galatians 2:8) was, together with St. Peter, the most notable of Early Christian missionaries. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, Paul did not know Jesus in life; he came to faith through a vision of the risen Jesus (1Corinthians 15:8–9) and stressed that his apostolic authority was based on his vision. As he wrote, he “received it [the Gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11–12); according to Acts, his conversion took place as he traveled the road to Damascus.

Paul is the second most prolific contributor to the New Testament (after Luke, whose two books amount to nearly a third of the New Testament). Thirteen letters are attributed to him, with varying degrees of confidence.^[1] The letters are written in Koine Greek and it may be that he employed an amanuensis, only occasionally writing himself.^[2] The undisputed Pauline epistles contain the earliest systematic account of Christian doctrine, and provide information on the life of the infant Church. They are arguably the oldest part of the New Testament. Paul also appears in the pages of the Acts of the Apostles, attributed to Luke, so that it is possible to compare the account of his life in the Acts with his own account in his various letters. His letters are largely written to churches which he had founded or visited; he was a great traveler, visiting Cyprus, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Macedonia, mainland Greece, Crete, and Rome bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, first to Jews and then to Gentiles. His letters are full of expositions of what Christians should believe and how they should live. What he does not tell his correspondents (or the modern reader) is much about the life and teachings of Jesus; his most explicit references are to the Last Supper (1Corinthians 11:17–34) and the crucifixion and resurrection (1Corinthians 15). His specific references to Jesus’ teaching are likewise sparse, raising the question, still disputed, as to how consistent his account of the faith is with that of the four canonical Gospels, Acts, and the Epistle of James. The view that Paul’s Christ is very different from the historical Jesus has been expounded by Adolf Harnack among many others. Nevertheless, he provides the first written account of the relationship of the Christian to the Risen Christ—what it is to be a Christian—and thus of Christian spirituality.

613 Mitzvot

Part of a series of articles onJews and Judaism           Who is a Jew? • Etymology • Culture Judaism • Core principlesGod • Tanakh (Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim)Mitzvot (613) • Talmud • Halakha •Holidays Prayer • Tzedakah Ethics • Customs • Midrash Jewish ethnic divisionsAshkenazi • Sephardi • Mizrahi Population (historical) • By countryIsrael • Iran • Australia • USA • Russia/USSR • Poland • Canada • Germany • France • England • Scotland • India • Spain • Portugal • Latin AmericaUnder Muslim rule • Turkey • Iraq • SyriaLists of Jews • Crypto-Judaism Jewish denominations • RabbisOrthodox • Conservative • ReformReconstructionist • Liberal • KaraiteAlternative • Renewal Jewish languagesHebrew • Yiddish • Judeo-PersianLadino • Judeo-Aramaic • Judeo-ArabicJuhuri • Krymchak • Karaim • Knaanic Yevanic • Zarphatic • Dzhidi • Bukhori History • Timeline • LeadersAncient • Temple • Babylonian exileJerusalem (in Judaism • Timeline)Hasmoneans • Sanhedrin • Schisms Pharisees • Jewish-Roman wars Relationship with Christianity; with Islam Diaspora • Middle Ages • Kabbalah Hasidism • Haskalah • Emancipation Holocaust • Aliyah • Israel (History) Arab conflict • Land of Israel Persecution • AntisemitismHistory of antisemitismNew antisemitism Political movements • ZionismLabor Zionism • Revisionist ZionismReligious Zionism • General ZionismThe Bund • World Agudath Israel Jewish feminism • Israeli politics v • d • e

Main article: Mitzvah

613 Mitzvot or 613 Commandments (Hebrew: תרי”ג מצוות transliterated as Taryag mitzvot; TaRYaG is the acronym for the numeric value of “613″) are a list of commandments from God in the Torah. In Judaism, there is a tradition that the Torah contains 613 mitzvot (Hebrew for “commandments,” from mitzvah – מצוה — “precept”, plural: mitzvot; from צוה, tzavah- “command”).

According to tradition, of these 613 commandments, 248 are mitzvot aseh (“positive commandments” commands to perform certain actions) and 365 are mitzvot lo taaseh (“negative commandments” commands to abstain from certain actions). Three-hundred and sixty-five corresponded to the number of days in a year and 248 was believed by ancient Hebrews to be the number of bones and significant organs in the human body.

Three of the negative commandments can involve yehareg ve’al ya’avor, meaning ‘One should let himself be killed rather than violate this negative commandment’, and they are murder, idol-worship, and forbidden relations.

Significance of 613

According to the Talmud (tractate Makkoth 23b), a Biblical verse states that Moses transmitted the “Torah” from God to the Jewish people: “Moses commanded us the Torah as an inheritance for the community of Jacob” ( Deut. 33:04) However, there were two commandments which God delivered directly to the Jews: the first two of the Ten Commandments; these are phrased in the first person. The Talmud calculates that the numerical value of the Hebrew word “Torah” is 611. Thus, Moses’s 611 commandments combined with the two directly from God add up to 613.

Many Jewish philosophical and mystical works (e.g. by Baal ha-Turim, the Maharal of Prague and leaders of Hasidic Judaism) find allusions and inspirational calculations relating to the number of commandments. Other works dispute that exactly 613 mitzvot exist.

The tzitzit (“knotted fringes”) of the tallit (“[prayer] shawl”) are connected to the 613 commandments by interpretation: principal Torah commentator Rashi bases the number of knots on a gematria: the word tzitzit (Hebrew: ציצת (Biblical), ציצית, in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with tzitzit reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments.

Genealogy of Jesus

Luke’s genealogy of Jesus, from the Book of Kells transcribed by Celtic monks circa 800

The genealogy of Jesus through either one or both of his earthly parents (Mary and Joseph) is given by two passages from the Gospels, Matthew 1:2–16 and Luke 3:23–38. Both of them trace Christ’s line back to King David and from there on to Abraham; Luke traces the line all the way back to Adam. These lists are identical between Abraham and David, but they differ radically from that point onward.