ONE STORY 2 - Old Testament Historical Books (2025)

Overview of the Bible

The English word "bible" comes from the Greek word for books or scrolls: biblia (plural). In 2 Timothy 4:13, Paul asks Timothy to bring his "books" (biblia) when he comes to visit him in prison. Our word "Bible" is singular because it refers to the entire collection of sixty-six books: thirty-nine in the Old Testament 1 (books about God's relationship with Israel) and twenty-seven in the New Testament (books about Jesus and the early church). Grouping the books as follows helps understand how they are arranged and what they contain.

The Storyline of the Bible

This book is an Old Testament Theology written from a Pacifician perspective. It follows the storyline of the Bible from its beginning to the end. It traces God's plan to establish his Kingdom in Creation. This plan is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who brings near the Kingdom of God. The book shows that the Kingdom of God is the unifying theme of the whole Bible. From the New Creation, three fundamental elements of the Kingdom of God are discernible: God, the King ruling over his people by his word, and they are living in God's place, the New Creation. These components feature throughout the storyline of the Bible from Creation to New Creation.

The History of the Bible

What Kind of Book Is the Bible?

2000

A Bird's Eye View of the Bible

So You Think You now the Bible, 2010

The 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament began as oral teaching and were later committed to writing. The 27 books of the New Testament were collected and collated discoveries of episodic letters. These two libraries have been redacted over the years into the final forms we have inherited. The ones that we inherited are called the final forms.

Does the Bible Have a Big Story? Yes, for the Sake of Mission!

2014

From Redmption To Return: An Overview of the Old Testament Chronological Books

Scripture. The Bible. The Word of God. For many today these terms describe a collection of old stories that have value and interest only as fairy tales. However, to those whose lives have been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, the writings collected in the Bible are a fresh spring that continually renew, refresh, and invigorate. It is when the reader of Scripture grasps the big picture, the meta-narrative of Scripture, that it truly comes alive.

1 Story and Biblical Theology

2015

Grand or Meta narrative is an unlikely item on an agenda for biblical studies today. In our ‘postmodern ’ era we have we have learnt to adopt an attitude of ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’1, and within academic biblical studies we have been trained to emphasise

Story and biblical theology

Out of Egypt: biblical theology and …

Grand or Meta narrative is an unlikely item on an agenda for biblical studies today. In our 'postmodern' era we have we have learnt to adopt an attitude of 'incredulity towards metanarratives'1, and within academic biblical studies we have been trained to emphasise diversity and to be suspicious of attempts to read the Bible as a (unified) whole. Despite these hostile forces our contention in this chapter is that there is much to be gained from the recovery of reading the Bible as a grand narrative. Not only do we think this possible -and thus wish to commend it as a major way of doing biblical theology -but we also think it important if Scripture is to function as God's Word in the life of his people.

T. Römer, “How Many Books (teuchs): Pentateuch, Hexateuch, Deuteronomistic History, or Enneateuch?”, in: T. B. Dozeman, et al. (éd), Pentateuch, Hexateuch, or Enneateuch? Identifying Literary Works in Genesis through Kings (AIL 8), Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011, p. 25-42