Craig A. Evans
Most people who read the Bible have little idea how complicated its origins, transmission, preservation, and history of compilation truly are.
The word Bible means “book,” but in reality the Bible is comprised of many books. The exact number depends on one’s confessional identity.
For Jews the Bible (also called Tanak or Mikra—what Christians call the Old Testament) is made up of Hebrew and Aramaic books.
For Christians, the Greek New Testament is also part of the Bible. Moreover, Christians differ among themselves whether to include the books of the Apocrypha.
There are many more questions and issues. Not everyone realizes that the Jewish Bible (or Old Testament) at one time circulated not only in Hebrew/Aramaic, but also in Greek. For some, the Greek version was as authoritative as the Hebrew/Aramaic.
Aramaic paraphrases (called targums) later emerged, which in some circles were also considered authoritative.
In time Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, which eventually became known as the Vulgate, the official version for the Roman Catholic Church.
16 Craig A. Evans
These facts are familiar to Bible scholars, but some to many readers of this collection of studies. A brief survey of the basic issues will serve as a helpful introduction to this volume.1
