Subject: RE: OT, Hebrew Bible, or ...?

From: [email-masked] (Kelly McGrew)
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 05:52:09 -1200

I would take issue with your statement that "First Testament" shows respect
for the Jewish faith:  it is merely another moniker for something
superseded.  And
the last thing we need is a new perpetuation of the supersessionist theory
under a different guise.

How about taking a hint from the opening lines of the creation story?  In
the Rashi to the verse describing the creation fo the first day, Rashi
writes:

"va'yahi erev, va'yahi boker, yom echad" ("and there was evening, and there
was morning, one day") Gen.1:5)

"One day"-According to the order expressed in this portion it should ahve
been written "the first day" ("yom rishon") as it is written of the other
days...Why did he write "one?"  Because the Holy One, Blessed Be He, was
the only Being in the world [and the day was created for Him].."

Call the "O.T." (in its many guises) "One Testament;" refer to the
Christian Scriptures as just that.  Then one can continue to use "Old" and
"New" or substitute "First" and "Second" for the major portions of the
Christian Scriptures.

This creates another dilema, though, with the "Apocrypha" or
"Dueterocanonicals;" what should they be called to be politically correct?
Perhaps "Connecting Testament" to indicate how their existence connects the
other two testaments (in the eyes of those who adhere to the belief that
they do).  For those who do not hold them inspired and a part of the canon
or prefer to be insensitive to those who do, they can simply be referred to
as the "Apocrypha."

>Dear James,
>Even though my primer in textual criticism is called WITNESSES TO THE OLD
>TESTAMENT I have come to use the  term "First Testament" throughout
>nowadays:
>1. It shows respect for the Jewish faith;
>
>Best wishes from the other side of the globe,
>Ferdinand Deist
>University of Stellenbosch

Kelly McGrew
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"The world is preserved for mercy's sake."  Rashi, on Pirkei Avot 1.
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[email-masked]                   http://www.halcyon.com/kmcgrew/
Olympia, Washington, USA