Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy
Discover how a loose collection of ancient scrolls and letters became a unified scripture, and how early Christians settled fierce debates to define orthodox belief.
Like Duolingo, but for Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through How a Library Became Scripture and Defining the Faith. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy
- The Bible is a curated library assembled across roughly a thousand years by dozens of different authors
- The texts were originally written in three different ancient languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
- It was compiled from independent scrolls rather than penned as a single volume by one author
- The early Church had no New Testament writings for its first few decades
- The primary scriptures used by early Greek-speaking Christians were the Septuagint (the Greek translation of Jewish scriptures)
- The New Testament Gospels and letters were only written and recognized gradually over generations
- Paul wrote his epistles as targeted crisis interventions for particular house churches facing immediate disputes
- Paul was addressing active pastoral emergencies rather than drafting universal systematic theology manuals
- Different communities received different instructions based on their specific crises
- Jesus and his disciples communicated through spoken stories and memorized sayings without taking notes
- Stories circulated orally for roughly 30 to 40 years among early Christian communities
- The written Gospels were composed primarily as the founding eyewitnesses began dying of old age or martyrdom
- Traditional scrolls could only hold one substantial text at a time (like a single Gospel or prophet)
- The codex featured folded sheets bound along a spine, allowing readers to turn pages and write on both sides
- Adopting the codex allowed Christians to physically unite multiple independent writings into one portable volume
- Early Christians circulated alternate stories about Jesus's childhood like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What three languages were the Bible's ancient writings first written in?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy takes you
- 1
How a Library Became Scripture
- Reading the Bible as an Ancient Library
- Drawing the Canon: What Got Left Out
- 2
Defining the Faith
- Heresy and the Battle for the Creeds
- Emperors, Councils, and the Imperial Stamp
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
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Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Forging the Bible and Orthodoxy today.
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