Old Testament

The Bible consists of the Old and the New Testament, which contain various biblical books. The Old Testament is the Jewish (Hebrew) Bible. The first five books, the Pentateuch or Torah, were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Old Testament begins with the Creation and recounts the history of the Jewish people, their covenant with God, exodus from Egypt and experiences in the Holy Land.

Christian theologians interpreted writings in the Old Testament as predicting the coming of a saviour: Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity. His life under the Roman Empire and the dissemination of his teachings by the apostles are described by the four evangelists in the New Testament. It also includes letters by the Apostle Paul and John the Evangelist’s vision of the Apocalypse. Furthermore, in art there are also many depictions based on the ‘apocryphal’ stories and books, which not all Christians believe to be part of the Bible.