The Christian History Timeline—How We Got Our Bible

By Philip Comfort

TIMELINE	EARLY DEVELOPMENT
c.1400–400 b.c.	Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written
c. 250–200 b.c.	The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced
a.d. 45–85?	Books of the Greek New Testament written
90 and 118	Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon (39 books)
140–150	Marcion’s heretical “New Testament” incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT canon
303–306	Diocletian’s persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament Scriptures
c. 305–310	Lucian of Antioch’s Greek New Testament text; becomes a foundation for later Bibles
367	Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon (27 books) for the first time
397	Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon (27 books)
c. 400	Jerome translates the Bible into Latin; this “Vulgate” becomes standard of medieval church

TIMELINE	ENGLISH VERSIONS FROM LATIN
c.650	Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse
c.735	Historian Bede translates the Gospels
871–899	King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments
950	The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation
955–1020	Aelfric translates various Bible books
c. 1300	Invention of eyeglasses aids copying
c. 1325	Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse
1380–1382	John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English
1388	John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible
1455	Gutenberg’s Latin Bible—first from press

TIMELINE	ENGLISH VERSIONS FROM GREEK
1516	Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, forerunner to the Textus Receptus used by KJV translators
1525	William Tyndale makes the first translation of the New Testament from Greek into English
1536	Tyndale strangled and burned
1537	Miles Coverdale’s Bible completes Tyndale’s work on the Old Testament
1538	Great Bible, assembled by John Rogers, the first English Bible authorized for public use
1560	Geneva Bible—the work of William Whittingham, a Protestant English exile in Geneva
1568	Bishop’s Bible—a revision of the Great Bible
1582	Rheims New Testament published
1607–1611	King James Version, the “Authorized Version,” is made by team of about 50 scholars

Christian History : How we got our Bible. 1994; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996 (electronic ed.). Carol Stream IL: Christianity Today.