Christians, Jews, Muslims and Mormons all have a Bible. When I say Bible, I’m talking about a collection of documents or books considered sacred.
Broadly speaking: • The Christian Bible has 66 documents referred to as the Old and New Testaments.
• A Jewish Bible, often called the Tanakh, consists of only documents from what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. • Mormons have the Christian Bible and The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, etc. • Christian Scientists have the Christian Bible and writings of L. Ron Hubbard. • Muslims have the Quran (which has foundational teachings from both the Old and New Testaments)
Broadly and briefly, here are some of the biblical variations among Christians:
Romans Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Assyrian Churches include the Apocrypha (Jewish writings predating New Testament times)
Messianic Jews (i.e., Jews who follow Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah) often have the Hebrew Bible which has a different order in the Old Testament (e.g., the Hebrew Bible ends with 2 Chronicles while the Christian Bible ends with Malachi)
Is there a common denominator among all of these biblical variations and religious denominations? I think there is. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (referred to as the Torah, Pentateuch, Books of Moses or Law).
I think there is an incredible opportunity for interfaith dialogue, witnessing, sharing and understanding in reading and studying Torah together.