Christian Bible Studies
Bible Studies (or Bible Study) is the academic study of the Judeo-Christian Bible and related texts. For Christianity, the Bible is traditionally formed by the New Testament and Old Testament, which together are called "Scriptures." Judaism recognizes as writing only the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh, name that is a Hebrew acronym of its divisions: Torah, Nevi'im (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings). Other texts frequently examined by biblical scholars include the apocryphal Jewish texts, Jewish pseudepigraphic texts, Christian apocryphal texts, the vast literature of early Christianity, and ancient Jewish literature.
There are two major approaches to Bible study. The first approach, which studies the Bible as a human creation and is also known as biblical criticism; This approach is practiced in the secular academic world. In this approach, Bible studies can be considered as a sub-domain of the science of religion.
The other approach is the religious study of the Bible, where it is assumed that the Bible has a divine origin. This approach rests with biblical Hermeneutics, which is obtained through the study of exegetical theology. The evolution or progressive history of the Revelation of God to mankind, from its fall and passing through the Old Testament and New Testament, is the subject of a study of Biblical Theology.
Methodologically and theoretically, the field includes many disciplines, such as history, archeology, literary criticism, philosophy, and increasingly the social sciences. Those who study the Bible do not necessarily need to have a commitment of faith to the texts they study. Indeed, biblical criticism seems to contradict commitment to the text and is sometimes considered heresy, although some important Jewish scholars in this field are in fact orthodox.
