The first chapter of Understanding the Bible analyzes the Bible and explains its components. The Bible is the sacred text of two religions, Judaism and Christianity. According to Slick (n.d.), The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by approximately 40 authors, in three different languages, on three different continents, over the course of approximately 1600 years. The Bible contains many different styles of writing such as narrative, fiction, poetry, history, law, and many others. It must be understood within the framework of those styles. This makes the Bible very difficult to read from cover to cover. The Bible is divided into two main sections, The Old Testament and The New Testament. According to Harris (2011), the Old Testament, the largest and oldest section was written by and for the Jewish faith community and contains material composed between approximately the 12th and 2nd centuries. There are a total of 39 books in the Old Testament. Moses is the author of the first five books of the Old Testament. The first biblical books are believed to have been written on papyrus and paper-like sheets made from the papyrus plant. The sheets were rolled into small wooden sticks and then a scroll was formed. At first the Bible was just an accumulation of manuscripts. No original biblical composition has survived, so it is very difficult to know how the Bible was formed and transmitted. Unlike other religious writings, the Bible reads as a factual collection of authentic events, places, people, and conversations. Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly verified its authenticity. Chapter 2 - The Formation Process Chapter 2 of the textbook takes us through how the Bible was transmitted, canonized, and translated. According to Ha...... half of the paper ......le (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Judaism. (2009, September 8). BBC News. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/texts/torah.shtmlPielaia, A. (n.d.). Everything about the Torah, the most important text of Judaism. About.com Judaism. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/What-Is-The-Torah-Chumash.htmSlick, M. (n.d.). Bible study. CARM. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://carm.org/matt-slick-bible-studyTanach. (n.d.). Tanach: The Hebrew Bible. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://www.bje.org.au/learning/texts/tanach.htmlThe Ancient Near East. (n.d.). EAWC: The Ancient Near East. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from http://eawc.evansville.edu/nepage.htmWhite, M. (2007, March 27). Legends of the Flood. Answers in Genesis. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/flood-legends/flood-legends/