I'm embarrassed to admit that I did not know this until just now - some eastern Christians have a 3 & 4 Maccabees in their Old Testaments! Just goes to show that the idea of the canon is an organic thing. Thankfully, all Christians have the same New Testament (as far as I know). But as important as the OT is as background for the NT, the OT seems a lot more "fluid" as to its boundaries, especially in the early Church. At the end of the day, this is further support for the insight I wrote about in Reading Scripture Like the Early Church, that the early Christians read the OT and the NT differently. Both are the inspired word of God for them, but one might go so far as to say that they are inspired in a different way, or in any case, they are meant to be interpreted differently.
Looking for a middle way here, one extreme would be a functional Marcionism or gnosticism, that is, reject or ignore the OT as irrelevant. The other extreme, practiced by a lot of conservatives I think, is to hold up the OT as being on the same level as the NT, and erroneously read it as though it sometimes takes precedence over the NT in interpretation (I go into that in the book). But ironically, a lot of progressives make the OT more important than the NT when they mine it for prophetic passages that they can interpret according to their political agenda. So I guess the middle way is exactly what the early Christians did: treat the OT as inspired, but in the sense that it informs the NT, yet the NT has a certain priority for the Church, which is to say that you interpret the OT in light of the NT, not so much the other way around.
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.
This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.
Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...
And don't forget, if you would like to read my latest novel:
The Sword and the Clover - just let me know by email.
I'm happy to send you the PDF version, even if you haven't been a monetary supporter of the community - all I ask is that you don't share it with anyone else.
My email address:
Keep in touch!
JIm
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