Alter: Introduction to the Old Testament
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p.11.1
Alter wrestles with a name for the Old Testament. Jesus and the New Testament authors simply call it 'scripture' [1]. The reason that it's use is not popular is that it causes confusion with the desire to call the New Testament 'scripture'. This is purely an invented problem.
The Old Testament is scripture, and the New Testament is a 'peshar' [2] or interpretation of scripture in light of the mystery hidden from the beginning being revealed in Christ and the cross. All New Testament teaching has a source in the Old [3]. This does not denigrate the New Testament in any way, but elevates it at as the proper interpretation of 'scripture' by those who would know: Jesus and his disciples. It is a shame that some scholars would dare to hint that Jesus and the apostles 'misappropriated' scripture since they violate Greek rules of interpretation imposed hundreds of years later.
Did the Old Testament authors know they were writing a literal record with a mystery hidden inside? They only had hints of the riddles, not the solutions. the Hebrew word for skins 'owr' עור sounds like the word for light 'owr' אור. Did Adam understand that light represented the Holiness of God, and that his garments were 'something like' God's holiness? Probably not, but he could marvel at the pun, without having a hint that Christ's holiness would cover him.
Scholars have used the term 'sensus plenior' to describe the phenomenon that the original authors did not know what they were writing in the mystery. But the term as used by them is limited to a few dozen scriptures which are not easy to wrest into a literal-historical interpretation. The mystery is the warp and woof of scripture.
p.11.2
The names suggested by Alter do not fit the needs of describing the mystery, though are probably fine for describing the literal books.
The Bible is divided into seven large parts.
- The Table of contents
- The Book of the Father - part 1
- The Book of the Father - part 2
- The Book of the Son - part 1
- The Book of the Son - part 2
- The Book of the Holy Spirit - part 1
- the Book of the Holy Spirit - part 2
References
- ↑ Mr 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
- ↑ Peshar has a bad connotation in Christian circles because the rabbis do such a bad job of it. But Jesus and the apostles did it correctly, and it is from them that we get our cues.
- ↑ This is important. The New Testament is not 'magic' new doctrine, but the fulfillment of the mystery
