[soc.religion.christian] Ecclesiasticals

cms@gatech.edu (12/24/90)

In article <Dec.19.04.39.23.1990.28304@athos.rutgers.edu>, farkas@eng.sun.com (Frank Farkas) writes:

> You have asked about Exodus 19:6. Lets look at the Old Testament and see
> what we can learn about this promise (Sorry, I know that this title is 
> objectional to you. Please let me know the proper way of referring to it.).
> 
> [The current neutral term in scholarly circles is "Hebrew Scriptures".
> --clh]

 "Hebrew Scriptures" implies "Jewish Scriptures" written in the 
language Hebrew.  For us Catholics, how do we say "Old Testament" 
including the whole Bible?  "Jewish Scriptures" is the term I use, 
although modern-day Jews do not accept the Deuterocanonicals as part 
of the Jewish Scriptures although we know that the Diaspora Jews 
accepted them as Scripture.  Protestants believe the Jerusalem Jews 
and Catholics believe the Greek-speaking Diaspora Jews.  At any rate, 
I've heard the phrase "Ecclesiastical Scriptures" used to refer to the 
deuterocanonicals.  Since we believe that the deuterocanonicals should 
not be distinguished from the protocanonicals, but regarded simply as 
canonical, calling them the "Ecclesiastical Scriptures" seems a good 
neutral term so as not to offend Catholics.  I've also heard 
"inter-testamental" but that offends Catholics as much as "Apocrypha" 
since it implies "between the testaments."  "Intra-testamental" is 
good but also implies the rest of the Jewish Scriptures.  Catholics 
say "Apocrypha" to refer to 3&4 Maccabbees and the Prayer of 
Manasses.  How does one refer to 3 & 4 Maccabbees without offending 
the Orthodox?  I thought, since you knew current scholarly term for 
the Old Testament, you might also know the current scholarly neutral 
term for the Ecclesiasticals (Church Books).

-- 
                                   Sincerely,
Cindy Smith
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