Jewish and Christian Canons Flashcards
How many books and sections does the Jewish Canon have?
39 books; 3 sections - Law, Prophets, Writings
How many books and sections does the Catholic Canon have?
46 books; 4 sections - Law, History books, Prophets, writings
Apocrypha
Protestant name for 7 disputed books
Deuterocanonical books
Catholic name for 7 disputed books
different christian canons?
Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox
difference between 3 christian canons?
Protestants do not include the Apocrypha like Jewish canon, while Catholic and Orthodox do include it. Orthodox have even more books than Catholics
Difference between Christian and Jewish canon?
the Prophets are at the end of the christian Old Testament
What did Martin Luther argue?
Only books written in Hebrew should be considered authoritative in the Old Testament. Led to the separation of Roman Catholic and Protestant christians
Tanakh
39 books in the Jewish canon
Torah
first 5 books of the Bible. Used to be called the teachings of Moses
Prophets
narrative chronology. Former prophets and latter prophets divisions
Writings
contain historical narrative and historical fiction
Septuagint
christian bible translated into Greek
Criterion for books to become canon
- Date - should have been written before 4th century BCE or attributed to an author before then
- Language - book must have been written in Hebrew
- Extent of Use
Textual criticism
task of tracing manuscripts back to a reconstructed original
Yahwist source
J source - named for its consistent use of Yahweh when referring to God
describes God in humanlike ways
Elohist source
E source - named for its consistent use of Elohim when referring to God
fragmentary, and refers to God in more indirect ways
Book of Deuteronomy source
Source D - Named because its found almost entirely in Deuteronomy
Uses Horeb to name the mountain of revelation rather than Sinai
Priestly source
Source P - named for its emphasis on matters of religious observance and ritual
most remote in this source as God never appears directly
Old Epic
combination of sources J and E comprising Genesis chapters 1-11
Order of creation in Genesis 1 and 2
- Day 1: Light
- Day 2: dome
- Day 3: land and plants
- Day 4: heavenly bodies
- Day 5: aquatic creatures and birds
- Day 6: land animals and humans
- Day 7: rest (Sabbath)
a primitive “creation by species”
term for plants with seeds for their own kind
why is God plural in Genesis 1:26
Probably refers to the divine council, the assembly of the gods, which is invoked here for the final and most significant act of creation
Adam and adamah
called Adam because he is formed, as by a potter, from the Adamah, the reddish soil that characterized the Levant
‘Apiru
socioeconomic class of landless nomads, living on fringes of society
