Question 1

Who wrote the Bible?

Accepted Answer

The Bible was written by more than 40 authors across roughly 1,500 years on three continents. Authors include kings (David, Solomon), prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah), fishermen (Peter, John), a doctor (Luke), a tax collector (Matthew), and a former Pharisee (Paul). Christians and Jews believe these human authors were inspired by God, who guided their words while preserving their individual voices.

Question 2

When was the Bible written?

Accepted Answer

The Old Testament was written between roughly 1400 BC and 400 BC, with the Torah traditionally attributed to Moses around 1400 BC. The New Testament was written between approximately AD 50 and AD 95, beginning with Paul’s letters and ending with the book of Revelation. The full canon spans about 1,500 years of composition.

Question 3

How many translations of the Bible are there?

Accepted Answer

The complete Bible has been translated into over 700 languages, with portions translated into more than 3,600 languages. In English alone there are over 100 distinct translations, ranging from word-for-word versions like the ESV and NASB to thought-for-thought translations like the NIV and NLT. It is the most translated book in human history.

Question 4

Is the Bible we have today the same as the original?

Accepted Answer

The Bible is the most well-attested ancient document in existence, with over 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts and thousands of Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts. Textual scholars estimate the New Testament is about 99% textually pure, with the remaining variants being minor spelling or word-order differences that don’t affect any core doctrine. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the Hebrew Bible was copied with extraordinary accuracy over a thousand years.

Question 5

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls and why do they matter?

Accepted Answer

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of roughly 900 Jewish manuscripts discovered in caves near Qumran between 1947 and 1956, dating from about 250 BC to AD 68. They include the oldest known copies of nearly every Old Testament book, predating previously available manuscripts by a thousand years. They confirmed that Hebrew scribes copied Scripture with remarkable accuracy across centuries.

Question 6

Why are some books not in the Bible?

Accepted Answer

The biblical canon was recognized — not invented — based on criteria like apostolic authorship, widespread early use, and consistency with established Scripture. Books like the Apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, Maccabees) are included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but excluded from Protestant Bibles because they weren’t part of the Hebrew canon Jesus and the apostles used. Other excluded writings, like the Gnostic gospels, were rejected because they appeared centuries later and contradicted established teaching.

Question 7

When was the King James Version written?

Accepted Answer

The King James Version was commissioned by King James I of England in 1604 and published in 1611. A team of 47 scholars worked from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts available at the time, building on earlier English translations like the Tyndale and Geneva Bibles. It became the dominant English Bible for over 300 years and shaped the English language itself.

Question 8

How was the Bible preserved before the printing press?

Accepted Answer

Before Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455, the Bible was copied entirely by hand by trained scribes. Jewish Masoretic scribes followed strict rules — counting letters per line, verifying spacing, and destroying any scroll with a single error. Christian monasteries devoted entire scriptoriums to copying Scripture, sometimes spending years on a single manuscript. This meticulous process is why the text we have today matches ancient copies with remarkable precision.

How We Got This Book

Key Moments

Deep Dives6

The Non-Christian Who Backed Up the Bible

How the Canon Was Formed

How the Bible Survived 2,000 Years

The Major Manuscripts

From Ancient Greek to Your Phone

How Scholars Compare Manuscripts