The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic
Church
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{1941} Down
The meaning that the human authors of Sacred Scripture intended to
convey, as discovered by scholarship and as clarified and corrected in the
light provided by the Holy Spirit working in and through the sacraments,
is called the
a. allegorical sense.
b. literal sense.
c. spiritual sense.
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{1942} Down Up
''All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.'' [CCC
116, quoting St. Thomas Aquinas.] This means that
a. every passage in Scripture must be taken
literally.
b. the literal sense of a passage can be
ignored.
c. the literal sense of a passage is always
true.
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{1943} Down Up
The literal sense of a passage of Sacred Scripture is, of course, the
meaning that is immediately obvious to you.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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{1944} Down Up
People who study the Bible for a living are now able to find the literal
sense of every single scripture passage.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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{1945} Down Up
All scholars who study the Bible agree on the literal sense of each
scripture passage.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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{1946} Down Up
The Bible is not a newspaper. Remember that the ''literal sense'' of
Sacred Scripture is what the human authors of Sacred Scripture intended to
convey as discovered by scholarship and as clarified and corrected in the
light provided by the Holy Spirit working in and through the
sacraments.
Sometimes the human authors intended to convey a poem, or a song, a
story, or something else besides ''newspaper truth.'' The literal sense of
the Bible is always true. That doesn't mean that the Bible is a
newspaper.
Also, it is very important to remember that NO ONE today may actually
know the literal sense of a particular scripture passage. The 'literal
sense' is not necessarily the meaning that you yourself might get out of
the passage when you read it. You might be completely misunderstanding
what the sacred author is trying to convey.
Turn this around for a minute. Imagine what a person 3000 years ago might
think if you wrote, ''In this electronic book, it is a good idea to use
the mouse.'' First of all, the word 'electronic' would completely baffle
him. Also, he would have a picture of a small, furry mammal in his mind
(the mouse!). Not knowing the context in which you live, he might start to
develop theories about the important role that small, furry mammals played
in the 21st century study of the Old Testament! >>
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{1947} Down Up
Now turn that around and imagine all the things in the world of the
sacred authors that might be totally unfamiliar to you. Just imagine how
far off the track you might get if you did not understand the living
context in which the sacred authors wrote.
Multiply your estimate by about a thousand, and that's how far you might
be from the 'literal sense' of at least some passages in Sacred Scripture.
The 'literal sense' of a passage is not necessarily the meaning that is
'obvious' from your perspective.
The meaning that is 'obvious' to you might in fact be the literal sense,
but on the other hand, what you understand from the passage might be a
million miles off the track. What's worse, you, living thousands of years
later and not knowing the context in which the sacred author wrote, have
absolutely no way to tell the difference.
Some people have turned to scholars to solve all these problems about
establishing the literal sense of passages in Sacred Scripture. This turns
out to help. Over about the last hundred years, scholars have been able to
piece together a better understanding of the literal sense of many
passages.
However, scholarship also does not provide the complete solution. For one
thing, very reputable scholars quite often disagree about the literal
meaning of passages in Sacred Scripture (and keep disagreeing). Also,
scholars freely admit that they still do not have a clear idea of what the
sacred author intended in some scripture passages. >>
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Finally, scholars who do not leave the final judgment about the meaning
of the Bible to Jesus, acting in and through the judgments of the Holy
Father and bishops in communion with him, may also come to erroneous
conclusions about the literal sense of a particular passage.
To the extent that it can, this course will teach you what the majority
of reputable scholars today think might be the literal sense of many
passages in the Old Testament. It will cue you that it is doing this by
writing that 'most scholars' or that 'many scholars' think something.
In twenty or a hundred years, other scripture scholars may think that
'most scholars' today were full of baloney when they told us what the
literal sense of a particular passage was. These future scholars may also
think that our scripture scholars were exactly right about the literal
sense of some other passages.
All this course can do is tell you what most of our scholars today think,
and ask you to take everything they say seriously, but also with a little
grain of salt. Our scholars are only human, and so are we. What else can
we do but our best, with the information we now have? >>
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{1949} Down Up
You may have thought that the 'literal sense' of a passage was a simple
concept. To an extent, you are correct. For centuries, people did think
that.
Sometimes when we progress in knowledge, things get simpler. To account
for the motion of the planets in the sky, people used to have a very, very
complicated and elaborate system. Now, a few basic equations do the same
work much better.
However, sometimes we realize that things are much more complicated than
we previously had thought. Not so very long ago, even highly educated
people thought that everything in the physical universe was made up of
combinations of only four basic things: earth, air, fire, and water. Now
we understand that it's much, much more complicated than that.
The 'literal sense' is like that. We understand its meaning better now,
and that meaning is much more complicated than we had thought.
That's life! <<
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{1950} Down Up
Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers
Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1
Chronicles 2 Chronicles >> Ezra Nehemiah << || Tobit* Judith*
Esther 1 Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job
Psalms
Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of
Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch* Ezekiel
Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah
Haggai Zechariah Malachi
The Old Testament books with a star *
are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates
that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to
be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120],
but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called
''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.
The books
Ezra
Nehemiah
occur in that order in the Old Testament. Most scholars think that,
historically,
a. Ezra and Nehemiah were
contemporaries.
b. Ezra came after Nehemiah.
c. Ezra came before Nehemiah.
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The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are concerned with
a. the last days of Judah and the
destruction of the Temple.
b. the period of Exile in Babylon and the
struggles there.
c. the re-occupation of Judah and the
rebuilding of the Temple.
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{1952} Down Up
Note: Do NOT restate the incorrect answers to this question. Only the
correct answer has meaningful content.
Historians tell us that the Jews were citizens of the Persian Empire
after the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, until the entire near East (including
Judah) came under the control of the Greek leader Alexander the Great.
Jews were citizens of the Persian empire for about
a. 200 years.
b. 400 years.
c. 600 years.
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After the Persian king Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, the Jews
a. did not need permission to re-occupy
Judah and rebuild the Temple.
b. received no permission to re-occupy
Judah and rebuild the Temple.
c. received permission to re-occupy Judah
and rebuild the Temple.
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Many scholars think that Ezra and Nehemiah
a. pay little attention to the restoration
of the Temple and its worship.
b. pay much attention to the restoration of
the Temple and its worship.
c. pay no attention to the restoration of
the Temple and its worship.
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Read Ezra 3. Read Nehemiah, Neh 8:1-11. After the Exile, the people of
Israel
a. did not rebuild the Temple but began
again to hear and understand the Law.
b. rebuilt the Temple and began again to
hear and understand the Law.
c. rebuilt the Temple but failed again to
hear and understand the Law.
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{1956} Down Up
In the judgment of many scholars, Ezra and Nehemiah emphasize that
holiness
a. involves physical closeness between Jews
and non-Jews, but not between Jewish and non-Jewish practices.
b. involves physical closeness between Jews
and non-Jews, and also between Jewish and non-Jewish practices.
c. must not involve physical closeness
between Jews and non-Jews, or between Jewish and non-Jewish practices.
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After the Exile, the people of Israel had a devastated land, no king, no
Jerusalem, and no Temple. Most scholars think that there is Old Testament
evidence that many Jews preferred to remain in Babylon rather than return
to such desolation. They also think that the return happened in waves over
a long period, under the dedicated, even heroic, leadership of men such as
Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra is remembered for his restoration of Temple
worship and the revival of the law.
Nehemiah is remembered not only for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem,
but for rebuilding a sense of unity and common purpose among the
returnees. The book of Nehemiah plainly records a returning people beset
by internal squabbling and by external enemies on all sides. Many scholars
note the humility, political and diplomatic skill, and sheer guts
demonstrated by Nehemiah in the face of such difficulties. >>
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{1958} Down Up
According to many scholars, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah emphasize the
continuity of post-exilic Jews with pre-exilic Judaism. The books portray
Jews returning from Exile, proving that their ancestors came from the
land. The Temple is restored and Jerusalem's walls are rebuilt. Worship in
the Temple was resumed as in the past. The law of Moses was restored and
read to the people.
Also according to many scholars, Ezra and Nehemiah place a great emphasis
on physical separation as a key to closeness to God. Both Ezra and
Nehemiah are recorded as condemning marriage to foreigners, and of
emphasizing practices of worship and of law (such as the Sabbath rest)
that set Jews apart from their neighbors. The unity of Israel and its
closeness to God is now seen to be more related to Israel's physical
separation from its neighbors, and becomes more closely centered in the
law and Temple worship.
Many scholars note that there were few other institutions that could have
given the people a sense of unity and purpose, since the kingdom of Judah
and its kings were effectively gone. <<
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{1959} Down Up
Before proceeding, it's now time to read the first three chapters of the
book of Genesis. [Gen 1-3].
The readings of the Easter Vigil, the most solemn of all the Church's
liturgies, at which she calls to mind the full mystery of her Lord and
Redeemer, begin with the account of
a. the Creation.
b. the Last Supper.
c. the Passover.
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{1960} Up
Creation is [CCC 280]
a. a metaphor for God's love for us.
b. of subsidiary importance to human
life.
c. the foundation of all God's saving
plans.
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copyright (c) 2001 John
Kelleher. All rights reserved.
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