The Bible

We think of the Bible as a book, but it isn't! It is in fact 66 books, written at different times over 1,000 years, but telling the story brought down by oral tradition over several thousand years. There is another collection of writings known as the Apocrypha which is often printed as part of the Bible. We will explain this later

How is the Bible to be understood? This is really the subject of this section. People have read the Bible as poetry, as great literature, as a treasure house of Jewish law and tradition, and as history.However, in the first place the Bible is a tool in the hands of God which helps people to discover meaning to life and some guidance in living it.

The word 'Bible' comes from the Greek where the 'biblia' simply means the 'books'. When it came to be transliterated into Latin it came to be a singular feminine noun - to us 'Bible'.