A propos our discussion about A.D. and B.C. -- our colleagues at H-Judaic have been conducting all week a very lively discussion re the use of the terms Old Testament and New Testament, which, like A.D., are inaccurate, non-objective, & Christain-centric.
Below are some of the comments. LC Subject Authority Team, please take notice -- another revision is a-brewing... Aviva Astrinsky --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Referring to the New Testament in Jewish Studies (Seid) We commonly refer to the "Hebrew Scriptures." Why then, not the "Christian Scriptures?" This clearly means that which was written by Christians and avoids the problem of leaving the Jewish Bible out of the Christian Bible. And it doesn't give a faulty impression, the way "Greek Scriptures" might. Judith Seid ------------------------------ Hi all! As one who teaches both Biblical History and NT, I use "New Testament" and "Old Testament" to refer to the Christian canon, which begins with Genesis and proceeds through Malachi to Matthew and on to Revelation (and for Catholics and Greeks includes many more books than it does for Jews and Protestants). These are venerable and historically meaningful terms for describing the Christian Bible. When dealing with the Bible that begins with Genesis and concludes (today) with Chronicles-- and the historical period to which it refers, I refer to "Hebrew Scriptures," "TaNaKH" and "Miqra." The problem with my teacher Prof. Sander's ecumenical neologism "First and Second Testaments" is that it elides the canonical structure so central to Christianity, while, for Jews, allowing the sense that there is more than one "testament." In trying to have it both ways, "First and Second Testaments" does not express the experience of either Jews nor Christians. Steven Fine, Jewish Foundation Professor of Judaic Studies, University of Cincinnati ------------------------------ Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi has said, tongue in cheek, that he doesn't mind talking about the "Old Testament" if the uniquely Christian Scriptures are called the "Young Testament." I don't recommend this as a solution to the classroom problems raised on the list, but it may be an interesting consciousness-raising technique for mature folks. He also says, in regard to when/whether the Messiah has arrived: "When she comes, we will ask her whether it's for the first or second time." Now that has a couple of deeper lessons encoded in it. I've seen both Jews and Christians laugh, blink, and get the point/s. Rabbi Arthur Waskow The Shalom Center, Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
