INTRODUCTION TO SACRED SCRIPTURE

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INTRODUCTION TO SACRED SCRIPTURE

• ST EDWARD CATHOLIC CHURCH
• RCIA PROGRAM

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Take heart, child. You would not be seeking me
unless I had already found you (attributed to
St. Augustine.)
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OVERVIEW

• CHURCH TEACHING ABOUT SACRED SCRIPTURE
• WHAT IS THE BIBLE
• HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
• ORGANIZATION
• CANON
• INTERPRETATION - DISCERNMENT
• STYLES, TRUTHS, MESSAGES
• THE NEED FOR DISCERNMENT
• ROLE OF THE CHURCH

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THE CHURCH TEACHES

• The Church has always venerated the Scriptures
  as she venerates the Lords Body. She never
  ceases to present to the faithful the bread of
  life, taken from the one table of Gods Word and
  Christs body (ccc 103)
• Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the
  apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical
  the books of the Old and the New Testaments,
  they have God as their author and have been
  handed on as such to the Church herself. (ccc
  105)
• The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts
  all the Christian faithfulto learn the
  surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by
  frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.
  Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of
  Christ. (ccc 133)

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WHAT IS THE BIBLE

• THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD
• Authors words but Gods inspiration
• Knowledge we need for salvation
• Requires discernment
• A LIBRARY (BIBLIA BOOKS)
• COLLECTION OF MANY BOOKS FROM MANY AUTHORS (1000
  BCE 100 AD)
• TWO MAIN SECTIONS
• SACRED (SCRIPTURE) WRITINGS

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UNDERSTANDING THE MESSAGE(OR WHAT DID IT REALLY
MEAN)

• I didnt say you stole the money
• Emphasize each word individually and rethink your
  answer/assumption.

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WHAT IS THE BIBLE

• THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD
• Authors words but Gods inspiration
• Knowledge we need for salvation
• Requires discernment
• A LIBRARY (BIBLIA BOOKS)
• COLLECTION OF MANY BOOKS FROM MANY AUTHORS (1000
  BCE 100 AD)
• TWO MAIN SECTIONS
• SACRED (SCRIPTURE) WRITINGS

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Dei VerbumDogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation

• In composing the sacred books, God chose men and
  while employed by Him (2) they made use of their
  powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in
  them and through them, (3) they, as true authors,
  consigned to writing everything and only those
  things which He wanted. (4)

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WHO WROTE THE BIBLE AND WHY

• MOSTLY HEBREWS
• MOSES, PROPHETS, ORDINARY MEN
• OFTEN UNKNOWN AUTHOR
• TO TEACH, RECORD, PATRIOTISM, PROPHESIZE COMING
  MESSIAH

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BIBLE TIMELINETHE STORY OF A PEOPLE AND THEIR GOD

• PATRIARCHS 1900-1700 BCE
• HEBREWS IN EGYPT 1700-1300
• EXODUS 1300-1200
• UNITED KINGDOM TO BABYLON 1200-585
• PERSIANS 500-333
• GREEKS 333-142
• MACCABEAN 142-62
• ROMAN RULE 63-105 (LAST NT WRITING)

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ORGANIZATION

• CATHOLIC BIBLE
• 46 OLD TEST -- 27 NEW TEST
• PROTESTANT BIBLE
• 39 OLD TEST -- 27 NEW TEST
• CANON CHANGED BY LUTHER
• ELIMINATED TOBIT, JUDITH, WISDOM, SIRACH, BARUCH,
  1 AND 2 MACCABEES, AND PORTIONS OF DANIEL AND
  ESTER
• CALLED DEUTEROCANONICAL - APOCRPHAL

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COUNCIL OF JAMNIA

• JEWISH SCHOLARS WHO MET IN 90AD
• RESET JEWISH CANON OF SCRIPTURE
• INCLUDED ONLY HEBREW WRITTEN BOOKS
• TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM JEWISH CHRISTIAN
  THOUGHTS
• WHEN LUTHER BROKE AWAY, HE ADOPTED THIS CANON FOR
  OT (BUT 39 VICE 22)

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OLD TESTAMENT

• A covenant between God and Hebrews
• Four major sections
• Pentateuch The Law Gen, Ex, Lv, Nu, Du
• Historical Joshua, Jud, Ruth, Sam, Kg, Chro
• Wisdom Job, Ps, Pv, Ec, Song of Song, Ws
• Prophets Is, Je, Lam, Ez, Dan, Hosea, Joel
• The Law Torah
• Foretells the coming Messiah

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NEW TESTAMENT

• CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE
• Birth, growth and teaching of Christian Church
• Twenty Seven Books
• Four Gospels (the good news) 3 synoptic
• Acts the birth of the Church
• 13 Letters of Paul (oldest book 1 Thess 51 AD)
• 8 Other letters
• Revelation not a Left Behind original

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OT CANON OF THE BIBLE AND TRANSLATIONS

• ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN HEBREW
• DANIEL PARTLY ARAMAIC
• DEUTEROCANONICAL IN GREEK
• NOT PARTICULARLY IN A SPECIAL ORDER
• SEPTUAGINT (LXX) GREEK TRANS.
• SEVENTY JEWISH SCHOLARS MID 3RD CENT BC. FOR
  PTOLEMY II.
• BASIS FOR CATHOLIC BIBLE

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NT BIBLICAL CANNON

• WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN GREEK
• 50-125 NT Scriptures written
• 140 Marcion issues heretical canon/beliefs
• consisted of only eleven books, an abridged and
  mutilated Gospel of Luke, and ten of Pauls
  epistles. He put Galatians first in order, and
  called Ephesians the Epistle to the Laodicaeans.
• Church adopts 4 gospels and letter of Paul
• 170 Muratorian Canon (orthodox)
• 367earliest list NT, in exact number/order we
  have written by Athanasius
• Synod of Hippo 393, Council of Carthage 397
• Entire canon finalized Council of Trent 1546

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CANONICAL CRITERIA

• Apostolic Origin - attributed to and/or based on
  the preaching/teaching of the first-generation
  apostles (or their closest companions).
• Universal Acceptance - acknowledged by all major
  Christian communities in the Mediterranean world
  (by the end of the fourth century).
• Liturgical Use - read publicly along with the OT
  when early Christians gathered for the Lord's
  Supper (their weekly worship services).
• Consistent Message - containing theological ideas
  compatible with other accepted Christian writings
  (incl. the divinity and humanity Jesus).
  (catholicresources.org)

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WHAT ARE GNOSTIC GOSPELS

• gnostic collection of writings about the
  teachings of Jesus, written around the 2nd
  century (wikpedia.com)
• Gospel of Thomas, Peter, Phillip, Mary, Judas
  etc.
• written in Coptic and are generally dated to the
  3rd and 4th centuries AD, though the Gospel of
  Thomas has ignited some debate, and scholars
  argue that it dates from 50 AD (Koester, HDS) to
  the late 2nd century AD (Miers). (wikpedia.com)
• Not the same a valued ancient writings

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FURTHER TRANSLATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

• OT - (HEBREW/ARAMAIC)
• SEPTUAGINT ALL GREEK (200-100 BC)
• NT GREEK (51-95 AD)
• SYRIAC (PESHITTA) AFTER CHRIST FOR SYRIANS
• VULGATE ST JEROME TO LATIN
• 382 COMMISSIONED BY POPE
• 20 YEARS TO COMPLETE
• CONFLICT OVER SEPTUAGINT
• 1228 CHAPTERS INSERTED BY STEPHEN LANGTON
• 1430 GUTENBERG PRESS
• 1528 VERSES INSERTED BY SANTES PAGNINI

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IS THE BIBLE TRUE?TYPES OF TRUTH

• SCIENTIFIC TRUTH FLAT EARTH? DOME OVER THE
  EARTH?
• HISTORICAL TRUTH SOME HISTORICAL ERROR, BUT
  SUPRISINGLY ACCURATE
• SYMBOLIC TRUTH MESSAGES TOLD IN SYMBOLS
  (SERPENTS, FORBIDDEN FRUIT)
• PROVERBIAL TRUTH A FOLKLORE TYPE TRUTH FOUND
  IN WISDOM BOOKS
• MORAL TRUTH WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG
• RELIGIOUS TRUTH THE PRIMARY TRUTH OF THE BIBLE
  AND THE FOCUS OF MANS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

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WRITING STYLESAND CONTEXT

• ALLEGORY ( symbolic representation) , BIOGRAPHY,
  GENEOLOGY, HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, LEGAL,
  PROPHETIC, POETIC, PROSE, SERMON, FABLE
  (parable), MYTH, etc.
• TRUE OR FALSE?
• ON THE THIRD DAY GOD MADE LIGHT
• APPLES AND SNAKES
• TWO BY TWO INTO THE ARK

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ITS THE MESSAGE!!!

• Gen 13 And God said, "Let there be light" and
  there was light.
• Gen 116 And God made the two great lights, the
  greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
  light to rule the night he made the stars also.
• Gen 126 And God said, Let us make man in our
  image, after our likeness and let them have
  dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
  birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and
  over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
  that creepeth upon the earth. 27. And God
  created man in his own image, in the image of God
  created he him male and female created he them.
• Gen 27 And Jehovah God formed man of the dust
  of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
  breath of life and man became a living soul.

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LOOK FOR THE MESSAGE

• Gen 619 And of every living thing of all
  flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into
  the ark, to keep them alive with thee they shall
  be male and female. 20. Of the birds after
  their kind, and of the cattle after their kind,
  of every creeping thing of the ground after its
  kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to
  keep them alive.
• 7 2. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to
  thee seven and seven, the male and his female
  and of the beasts that are not clean two, the
  male and his female 3. of the birds also of
  the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to
  keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

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THE WRITTEN WORD VERSUS THE SPOKEN
WORD(ASSUMPTIONS)

• Who is the serpent in the Garden of Eden?
• What was the original sin?

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INTERPRETING MYTH

• ADAM EACH PERSON/ALL OF US
• GARDEN A PLACE OF NO SUFFERING
• SERPENT TEMPTATION
• EATING THE FRUIT - SIN
• NAKED/ASHAMED SELF ALIENATION
• THE PLOT AND THEME
• NO SUFFERING SIN SUFFERING
• SUFFERING IS DUE TO SIN

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THE BIBLE IN CHURCH

• LOOK FOR THE MESSAGE !!!
• INTERPRETATION - DISCERNMENT CRITICAL
• THE CHURCH HELPS US UNDERSTAND
• THE PILLAR OF TRUTH
• EVEN SATAN QUOTED SCRIPTURE
• ACTS 826
• THREE READING PER WEEK
• DOES NOT CONTAIN EVERYTHING (Sunday)
• So then, our brothers, stand firm and hold fast
  to the traditions which we taught you, both in
  our preaching and our writing". (2 Thessalonians
  214-15)

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WHOSE MESSAGEKNOW WHAT YOU ARE READING AND
BUYING

• Luke 11
• Ask for What You Need
•  1 One day he was praying in a certain place.
  When he finished, one of his disciples said,
  "Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his
  disciples." 2-4So he said, "When you pray, say,
     Father,    Reveal who you are.    Set the
  world right.    Keep us alive with three square
  meals.    Keep us forgiven with you and
  forgiving others.    Keep us safe from ourselves
  and the Devil." (The Message Bible)
• Problem is that people might not KNOW the
  differences, significance, or mistakes that can
  come from reading non-standard translations.
• Before you buy a new Bible, ask someone in the
  Church or do some homework.

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THE BIBLE IN CHURCH

• LOOK FOR THE MESSAGE !!!
• INTERPRETATION - DISCERNMENT CRITICAL
• THE CHURCH HELPS US UNDERSTAND
• THE PILLAR OF TRUTH
• EVEN SATAN QUOTED SCRIPTURE
• ACTS 826
• THREE READING PER WEEK
• DOES NOT CONTAIN EVERYTHING (Sunday)
• So then, our brothers, stand firm and hold fast
  to the traditions which we taught you, both in
  our preaching and our writing". (2 Thessalonians
  214-15)

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SUMMARY

• WORD OF GOD inspired through men
• One of three pillars of Church authority
  (Tradition, Scripture, Teaching of Magisterium)
• Written by many authors of many centuries in many
  styles, containing different truths.
• Can be and is often misinterpreted, thus requires
  discernment.
• Scripture study should initially focus on the
  message