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History of the Bible

  1. Lesson One
    Revelation and Canon
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  2. Lesson Two
    Transmission and Translation
    19 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Reformation and Publication
    16 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Modern Bible Translation
    15 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    The Bible Movement Today
    14 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Wrap-Up
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

The Bible is the central and most sacred text in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but it has a somewhat different role in this tradition than in Western Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy tends to view the Bible as a product of Christianity, rather than as a sacred text that inspired Christianity. In line with this way of thinking, it has a somewhat more fluid view of the canon and biblical authority than some Western traditions. 

Even after Athanasius gave the definitive list of the New Testament canon in one of his Easter letters in the fourth century, “the Christian East took a longer time than the West in settling on an agreed-upon canon.” 

Source: John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 1974, pp. 7-8.