“Windows To Spirituality”
![The tree of life[Rev 22:2], a print from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations in the possession of Revd. Philip De Vere at St. George's Court, Kidderminster, England.](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/Apocalypse_43._The_tree_of_life._Revelation_cap_22_v_2._Mortiers_Bible._Phillip_Medhurst_Collection-520x347.jpg)
Tree Of Life (Biblical) This article covers the Tree Of Life (Biblical). The tree of life (עֵץ הַחַיִּים, Etz haChayim) is a term mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Genesis, the tree of life is first described in chapter 2, verse 9 as being “in the midst of the Garden of Eden” with...
What Is Vulgate? The Vulgate is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was to become the Catholic Church’s officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century, and is still used fundamentally in the Latin Church to this day. The translation was largely the work of...
Development Of The Old Testament Canon This article covers the Development of the Old Testament Canon. The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible(Tanakh) or protocanon, and in...
What Is Septuagint? The Septuagint (septuāgintā literally “seventy”; often abbreviated as 70 in Roman numerals, i.e., LXX; sometimes called the Greek Old Testament) is the earliest extant Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It is estimated that the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Torah or Pentateuch, were translated in the mid-3rd century BCE and the...
Christian Biblical Canons Christian biblical canons are the set of books that a particular Christian denomination or denominational family regards as being divinely inspired and thus constituting an authorized Christian Bible. Such bibles are always divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Early Church primarily used the...
Authorship Of Luke–Acts The authorship of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, collectively known as Luke–Acts, is an important issue for biblical exegetes who are attempting to produce critical scholarship on the origins of the New Testament. Traditionally, the text is believed to have been written by Luke the...
Fifty Bibles Of Constantine The Fifty Bibles of Constantine were Bibles in the original Greek language commissioned in 331 by Constantine I and prepared by Eusebius of Caesarea. They were made for the use of the Bishop of Constantinople in the growing number of churches in that very new city. Eusebius quoted the letter of commission in his Life of Constantine,...
Protestant Bible A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Jewish Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books. Some Protestants use Bibles which also include 14...
Old Testament The Old Testament (abbreviated OT) is the first part of Christian Bibles, based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh), a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites believed by most Christians and religious Jews to be the sacred Word of God. The second part of the Christian Bible is the New...
Language Of The New Testament This article covers the answer to the question: “What is the Language of The New Testament?“ The New Testament was written in a form of Koine Greek, which was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) until the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. 600). The Hellenistic...
New Testament The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. The New Testament’s background, the first division of the Christian...
What Is Jewish Apocrypha? Jewish apocrypha includes texts written in the Jewish religious tradition either in the Intertestamental period or in the early Christian era, but outside the Christian tradition. It does not include books in the canonical Hebrew Bible, nor those accepted into the canon of some or all...
What Is Apocrypha? Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. Biblical apocrypha is a set of texts included in the Latin Vulgate and Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Bible. While Catholic tradition considers some of these texts to be deuterocanonical, Protestants consider them apocryphal. Thus, Protestant bibles do not include...
Epistles Of Wisdom The Epistles of Wisdom or Rasa’il al-hikma (رسـائـل الـحـكـمـة) is a corpus of sacred texts and pastoral letters by teachers of the Druze Faith, which has currently close to a million faithful, mainly in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan. The Druze canon The full Druze canon or Druze scripture...
Women In The Quran And The Sunna This article examines the status of women in the Quran and the Sunna. In Islam, there is absolutely no difference between men and women as far as their relationship to Allah is concerned, as both are promised the same reward for good conduct...
What Is Zohar? The Zohar (זֹהַר, “Splendor” or “Radiance”) is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of The Torah (the five books of Moses) and scriptural interpretations as well as material on...
“Five Mysteries” Mentioned In The Qur’an It appears that the time of the coming of rain and the sex of the baby in the mother’s womb can be known in advance. Are these then no longer to be counted among the “five mysteries” mentioned in the Qur’an? The question concerns...
How Does The Qur’an Regard “Knowledge”? What are the differences between the Islamic and the modern scientific points of view on knowledge (‘ilm)? How does the Qur’an regard “knowledge”? Genuine knowledge (‘ilm) is a source of infinite light covered with truth, which leads enlightened people toward the righteous path. Modern...
Important Truths Of The Quran This article covers the Important Explanations To Understand Certain Important Truths of the Quran. In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Alif Lam Ra. A Book whose verses were established and set clear, and then distinguished, from One All-Wise, All-Aware. (11:1) In order...
Does The Qur’an Allude To Scientific Developments? This article covers the answer to the question: “Does The Qur’an Allude To Scientific Developments?” Before answering this question, we should point out one important fact: Considering science as opposed to religion and scientific study as separate from and independent of the Qur’an...
