Introduction to the Christian Bible

by The Editor

Contents List:

Masonic Legend
Old and New Testaments
The Old Testament
The New Testament
Versions of the Bible
A Multimedia Bible

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Introductory Information
"Campus"
Temple Library

Although Freemasonry emphatically rejects any suggestion that it is a religion, it nevertheless relies heavily upon the Biblical account of the building of King Solomon's Temple as the central legend around which its philosophy is expounded and whence most of its signs and symbols are derived. Non-Christians should not allow this to put them off. As an account of the development of religious ideas, there seems no reason to suppose that the Bible is atypical of the general experience of mankind, or that its study will not yield insights generally applicable to all religions and, indeed, to human civilisation.

The following notes are offered to assist the student who wishes to research the Biblical allusions in the Lectures.

Old and New Testaments

The Christian Bible is divided into two 'Testaments', both of which are collections of 'Books'. The collection in the 'Old' Testament is the Hebrew 'canon', i.e. the books acknowledged by the Hebrew religious authorities. The 'New' Testament may be viewed as a continuation of the Old Testament, but giving an account of the new religion which 'budded' out of the stem of the Hebrew 'tree' with the birth of Jesus and later, chiefly under the influence of St Paul, 'branched' out as early Christianity.

The Old Testament

The books in the Old Testament may conveniently be classified under four (or five) heads:

The Pentateuch is the name given to the first five books, comprising Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are commonly known as the 'Books of Moses', but are held by scholars to be compilations of early documents dating from between the 9th and 4th centuries BCE.
History. These books are concerned with the history of the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt. They are: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. There is quite a lot of overlap between contents of some of the books, so it takes some effort to assemble the story they tell into a continuous narrative.
Poetry and Wisdom. Under this heading may be grouped the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations.
Prophecy. The 'Old Testament Prophets' were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; and their books are called after them. Their prophecies are set against the historical background in which they lived.
Apocrypha. These are books of uncertain authorship not regarded as canonical by Jews or Protestants, but may still be included in the Roman Catholic canon. They include Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch.

The New Testament

The books in the New Testament are of three kinds:

History. These contain the story of Jesus and the early Church. They are the 'Gospels' of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and the historical Acts of the Apostles.
Letters. These were written by various Apostles to their converts or to each other. They are: Romans; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; James; 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2 and 3 John; Jude.
Revelation. The last book in the New Testament is a poetic and visionary work expressing its meaning through symbols and imagery drawn principally from the Old Testament.

Versions of the Bible

The Bible has been re-translated and re-edited so frequently that quotations from one version may be difficult to identify in another. Albert Pike seems to have used the classical King James Authorised Version produced early in the seventeenth century, and which is still extant. Students who wish to track the biblical references in the lectures back to their sources will be assisted in this if they can obtain a Concordance to the Authorised Version.

A Multimedia Bible

Since I wrote the foregoing, I have stumbled across The Deluxe Multimedia Bible published by Cosmi Europe, Ltd. It contains not only the 1833 British Bible Text but also the Apocrypha, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon. Features include total word search, bookmarks, annotations, maps, timelines, and even a colouring book for children. It should prove a great help to the student who wishes to find chapter and verse for the biblical allusions in the lectures.

I feel sure that the sincere seeker will find this or other helpful multimedia offerings at an affordable price.