“The Bible is not understood by looking into the sky, but looking into their manuscripts.”
1. General concept of “horizontal review” of the Bible
In the modern academic context, study horizontal regards place all the texts in the same plane analytical, without hierarchies of holiness doctrinal authority or divine inspiration.
This implies:
- Compare canonical texts, deuterocanonical and apocryphal without assuming theological differences of origin.
- Try each work, as a product of literary, historical and cultural background of its time.
- To analyze the Bible as a heterogeneous collection of documentsnot as a book only, and monolithic.
- Understand that the Bible participates in literary traditions broader ancient Near Eastern, judaism of the Second Temple and of the greco-roman world.
This approach reduced by the dimension of the confessional and focuses on scientific methods verifiable.
2. Objectives of the study bible academic modern
Study the Bible, even the texts extracanónicos, with an academic approach aims to:
(a) to Reconstruct the historical world
- Societies of ancient Israel.
- Judaísmos of the Second Temple.
- World rabbinical early.
- Environment political: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
(b) Identify layers editorial
Most of the books of the bible are composed and edited for centuries.
The horizontal review seeks to reconstruct:
- original sources
- previous traditions
- essays successive
- editors end
c) Understand the evolution of theological ideas
There is not a single theology in the Bible; there are:
- theology deuteronomista
- theology for priests
- theologies of wisdom
- current apocalyptic
- speculation mysticism of the period intertestamentario
(d) to Analyze the literature parallel
Includes:
- Texts from Qumran
- Egyptian papyri
- Literature intertestamentaria
- Apocryphal jewish
- Christian apocrypha
- Midrash and Mishnah
- Pseudoepígrafos
- Nag Hammadi
- Texts greco-roman contemporaries
The goal is to see the Bible as part of a literary tradition of broad and complex.
“Every textual variant is a window to the hands that transmitted the memory of a people.”
3. Methods plants of the bible study modern
Then the pillars methodological used today in universities and research institutes.
1) textual Criticism
Seeks to reconstruct the text closest to the originalcomparing manuscripts Hebrew, Greek, Latin, siríacos, copts and others.
We study:
- textual variants
- errors of copyists
- marginal additions
- tweens
- alignments late
Main instruments:
- Dead Sea scrolls
- Masoretic Text
- Septuagint
- Peshitta
- Vulgate
- Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and of Alexandria
2) literary Criticism
Analyze:
- genres: narrative, legal, poetic, prophetic, apocalyptic
- narrative structures
- styles
- metaphors and symbols
- units literary internal
Example:
The book of Isaiah is not the work of a single author; it contains multiple literary voices.
3) historical Criticism
Browse:
- socio-political context real
- archaeology
- sources extrabíblicas
- synchronization with empires (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome)
This method distinguishes between:
- historical events plausible
- constructions theological
- memories idealized
- stories of the mythical
4) Critique of the forms (Formgeschichte)
Studies oral traditions pre-writing:
- proverbs
- poems
- legends
- liturgies
- hymns
- parables
- sayings of wisdom
Allows you to discover how to circulated the tradition before being posted in text.
“The study horizontal forces you to listen to all the voices of the past, even those who were silenced.”
5) Critical editorial
Evaluates how the editors:
- combined sources
- added comments
- reinterpretaron traditions
- molded the final message
Example: the Pentateuch is the result of compilations priestly narrative and ancient.
6) inter-Disciplinarity modern
Today's bible study incorporates:
- linguistic semitic
- sociology and anthropology
- gender studies
- semiotics
- digital analysis of manuscripts
- comparative studies of ancient mythologies
- history of religions
- ancient philosophy
- psychology of religion
4. What it means to study the books extra-biblical
Involves analyzing works:
- were not canonicalized
- they were influential in ancient communities
- represent lost traditions of judaism and primitive christianity
Includes:
a) jewish Texts extracanonicos
- Enoch
- Jubilees
- Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
- 4 Ezra
- Tobit and Judith (deuterocanonical)
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach
- Papyrus Nash
- Documents of Qumran
(b) Texts of early christian non-canonical
- Gospel of Thomas
- Gospel of Mary
- Gospel of the Egyptians
- Gospel of Truth
- Gospel of the Hebrews
- Shepherd of Hermas
- Didajé
- Apocalypse of Peter
- Acts of Paul and thecla
c) gnostic Texts
- Nag Hammadi library
- Apocryphon of John
- Hypostasis of the Archons
- Gospel of Judas
- Sophia of Jesus
These materials illuminate the real diversity of religious thought old, far superior to what they reflect the canons officers.
“Who compares ancient texts learns that the Bible was not born alone, but in dialogue with a whole intellectual world.”
5. Academic benefits of the study horizontal
1) Avoid reading dogmatic
Allows you to view the Bible as literature in human history.
2) Recover the voices of marginalized
Groups such as:
- essenes
- sectors priestly alternative
- judeo-christian
- gnostics
- hellenistic
- pharisees minority
bring perspectives that enrich the understanding of the text.
3) Identify internal stresses
Examples:
- different conceptions of the Messiah
- tensions between theology priestly and prophetic
- divergent perspectives on purity, law, sacrifice
- apocalyptic vision vs. wise vision
4) to Reconstruct the evolution of the doctrinal
Faith, ethics, cosmology, and eschatology changed over time.
5) Connect the Bible with neighboring cultures
The study of horizontal displays mutual influences:
- myths mesopotamian → bible stories
- wisdom egyptian → wisdom literature
- Greek philosophy → judaism, hellenistic
- dualism Persian → apocalyptic jewish
“Bible study scientifically not stripped of greatness; it puts it in its true historical dimension.”
6. What it means to “study the whole Bible”
It is not just to read it. Implies:
a) dominate ancient languages
Biblical Hebrew, aramaic, koine Greek, occasionally Latin, and coptic.
b) understand the history of the canon
When and how they came about:
- the Hebrew canon
- the Septuagint
- the canonization christian
- councils
- literature marginal and discarded
c) to understand the transmission handwritten
How they spent the texts by:
- rabbinical colleges
- monasteries
- communities judeo-christian
- copyists medieval
d) to study archaeology
Limits to interpretations speculative.
e) use academic tools modern
Databases, critical editions, digital analysis, reconstruction linguistics.
7. Conclusion
Study the Bible —canonical, deuterocanónica, apocryphal and extracanonica— from a academic point of view and modern horizontal means to address it as a set of literary texts, historical, cultural, and theological in constant evolution, subject to:
- textual criticism
- literary analysis
- historical reconstruction
- comparison with other cultures
- study of its reception.
- interdisciplinary research
- reading non-denominational
This approach allows us to understand the Bible not only as a religious book, but as a archive of human memorya reflection of ancient societies, internal conflicts, theological debates and literary wealth incomparable.
“Every archaeological discovery is a conversation recovered from the silence of the centuries.”
