The Chronological Bible: An Introduction

Welcome to this page! If you’re reading this post, you’ve likely found the blog before I’ve advertised it or you’ve decided to start from the beginning.

This year, I want to begin reading the Bible in chronological order of composition, insofar as that is possible. There are several aspects of this plan that make it doubtful I’ll succeed, “this year” being the first. It is also impossible to know the exact date each book was written, or what’s more, when each piece of each book was completed, as there are certainly later additions and interpolations in most of these texts. I also want to record my reactions and thoughts as I read, which will slow down the process immensely.

What do I hope to gain from this? A better understanding of the historical development of Christianity and the people who wrote, redacted, and appeared in these texts, as literary or historical figures. Most of us have learned about Christianity as starting with the creation stories of Genesis; what does it look like when it begins with Amos and Hosea? Is this a useful or interesting perspective? I don’t know, but I aim to find out.

I expect to run across many historical and linguistic questions that I cannot answer. I have an understanding of Near Eastern Iron Age societies that I’d describe as better than the average person but far less extensive than an actual scholar. I’ll hope to use that to speculate about the historical context at times, but to even attempt to answer all of the questions that arise would likely be too much work for this project. I’ll at least attempt to highlight them and gain a better understanding of the scope of what I do not know.

My plan is to start with Amos and post on a few chapters at a time, hopefully a couple times a week, and continue (mostly) using this extremely basic table. (Even within that article, there are different times given for the same book. I’m just making judgment calls, many of which are probably wrong.) I realize that, at that rate, the entire Bible would take years. All I can promise is that I’ll write until I lose interest. Maybe I’ll skip some of the Psalms. We’ll see.

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