about the Catholic Faith
Why are there two different Bibles among Christians?
What is an Ecumenical Council?
After doing some research, I concluded this about the two different bibles that there are J :
The Septuagint was a compilation of scriptures that were the Hebrew bible translated into Greek in addition to some writings that were already written in Greek. This translation was finished two hundred years before Christ. When Christ came, he would teach from the Septuagint according to church history. The apostles also referred to the Septuagint when writing the New Testament in Greek, since the Septuagint was in Greek. Christians used the Septuagint to spread Christianity, because Greek was the language of the time. About one hundred years after Christ’s death the Jewish religion was feeling that Christians were becoming a threat, so they decided to only use the scriptures that were originally written in Hebrew. In that way they alienated the Christians from their synagogues. Christians continued to use the Septuagint. During the Protestant reformation, Martin Luther decided that he would put the scriptures that were originally written in Hebrew as the main books of the Old testament, and put the books that were originally written in Greek at the end of the Old Testament. When further breaking away from the church occurred, other Protestant denominations decided to totally drop those books at the end of the Old testament that were originally written in Greek, and this explains the reason that there are two different bibles. Some Christian denominations though have taken back the scriptures originally written in Greek and added them at the end of the Old Testament. MMA-CMA
(The following definitions were taken from the Compton’s Encyclopedia on CD-ROM) J
The Septuagint. One of the most valuable contributions of the Hellenistic period was the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The work was done at Alexandria and completed by the end of the 2nd century BC. The name Septuagint means "seventy," from the tradition that there were 72 scholars who did the work. Since the language of the early Christian community was Greek, the Septuagint became its Bible. Other books not in the Hebrew Bible were also written in Greek and included what is called the Apocrypha. (See also Bible.)
Bible. Many religions have a literature that serves as a foundation for belief and practice among their followers. For Judaism and Christianity such a literature is found in the Bible--a term derived from the Greek meaning "book." The Bible is a collection of many books by an unknown number of authors.
In Judaism and Christianity the makeup of the Bible is not the same. The Christian Bible is divided into two major sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. For Judaism the Bible consists of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings--what Christians call the Old Testament. Some Christians, notably the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, include certain books that are not accepted as authoritative by Judaism or Protestant Christianity. These books, called by Jews and Protestants the Apocrypha, are commonly included in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions of the Bible but omitted from (or segregated within) Protestant Bibles.
The Bible of Judaism
Written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic, the compilation of sacred writings that came to be the Jewish Bible emerged from the religious experiences of the ancient nation of Israel. The Jewish Bible contains 24 books divided into the three sections. The Christian Old Testament (excluding the Apocrypha) contains the same books, numbered and ordered differently, resulting in a compilation of 39 books. J
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The most solemn and official assembly of all bishops of the world (thus "ecumenical," or universal) which, when summoned by the Bishop of Rome, constitutes the highest teaching authority in the Church.
The Councils are usually convoked at pivotal, critical moments in the life of the Church and are charged with discussing and then articulating formal statements on doctrine or discipline. At times throughout Church history, secular rulers, theologians, superiors of religious orders, and most recently, representatives of other creeds are also invited to attend.
Catholics recognize twenty-one ecumenical councils, listed as follows, with the Orthodox Churches accepting only the first seven:
Reverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.L. Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Dictionary. Copyright © 1993, Our Sunday Visitor.
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