Church History Part 7
Catholic Church gave the BibleLast week we saw why and how the Greek Translation of the Scriptures were done. I pointed outed out that we should not view ancient historical events with the same expectations as reading present day history. There is another reason that is of interest regarding the Greek translation of the Scriptures. Which translation did our Lord read? Did He read the Greek version? or the Hebrew version? There is a difference between the Hebrew version and the Greek version. Have you noticed a difference between the Bible that we Catholics read and that our Protestant brothers and sisters read? We have 73 books and they have only 66 books. Removal of some books happened about 1500 years after the birth of the Church. We will see this in detail later. For now, in simple terms, please note that the Greek translation included a group of books called Deuterocanonical books. When the Catholic Church formed a list of the books that belong to the Bible, she included the books of Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom that were part of the Deuterocanonical books of the Greek translation. The reason I am bringing it up here is, if our Lord used the Greek version, that means He accepted all the books included in this translation. We will never know which version our Lord read based on the information we have. However, when we look at the places in the New Testament where verses from the Old Testament are quoted, scholars say about 90% are from the Greek translation. In addition, our Lord Jesus in Matthew 11:28 quotes from Sirach 51:23. Similarly in Matthew 6:12 He says, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Sirach 28:2 says,” Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.” I believe it is quite reasonable to conclude that when the New Testament authors wrote the Gospels, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they found the Deuterocanonical books acceptable. This information may look like it belongs to a Bible study. However, when we reach the stage in the Church history where the Church is accused of “adding” books to the Bible, we know the truth is contrary to that. Books were removed from the Bible.
First Sunday of Lent – Year A
First Reading: Gn 2:7–9; 3:1–7Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51:3–4, 5–6, 12–13, 17Second Reading: Rom 5:12–19 or 5:12, 17–19Gospel: Mt 4:1–11 In today’s selection from the Letter to the Romans, Paul connects the first reading and the Gospel by proposing that we look at Jesus...
Church History Part 1
Why Church history? C.S Lewis said, the growth of the Church is like a long conversation. If the conversation started at 10 AM and if we joined the conversation at 3 P.M, we would hardly follow the discussion unless someone updates us. To fully grasp where we fit...
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
First Reading Sirach 15:15–20 Response Psalm 119:1b Psalm Psalm 119:1–2, 4–5, 17–18, 33–34 Second Reading 1 Corinthians 2:6–10 Gospel Acclamation Matthew 11:25 Gospel...
Church History Part 2
It is generally believed that the birth of the Church was on the day of Pentecost; Fifty days after our Lord’s Ascension to Heaven. However, I would like to take this opportunity and go back to the Old Testament and point out couple of historical events. Our Church...
Church History Part 3
From 54 A.D to 68 A.D emperor Nero was ruling Rome. His mother was the great granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. When he became the emperor, he was guided by his mother and senate. Nero, however, was not happy about the restrictions imposed by his mother and the...
Church History Part 4
While Emperor Nero was still alive, Peter was accepted as the leader of the apostles. Our Lord, in Matthew 16:18, assigned Church leadership to Peter. Peter and the apostles were performing miracles and performing plenty of good deeds in addition to spreading the...
Church History Part 5
While the apostles were making inroads in evangelization, there was a pharisee called Saul of Tarsus who was working against them. Tarsus is in present day Turkey. He was also a Roman citizen. He was from a wealthy family. His dad was a tent maker. He studied...
Church History Part 6
I ended last week’s article with a question why the Jewish scriptures were translated to Greek. Alexander the Great had conquered most of the known world, taking the Greek language with him. Around the same time because of persecution, Jewish Christians fled to other...
Church History Part 8
Because the early Church in Jerusalem was growing at a rapid pace, the apostles were being stretched thin by preaching, praying, administering the money and land given to them, and distributing necessities to those in need. In Acts 6:2, the apostles say: “It is not...
Church History Part 9
Towards the end the article published on August 28th we saw St. Paul proposing that Gentiles can become Christians without first converting to Judaism. Apostles, who were all Jews, were shocked. Circumcision was required to become a Jew. On the one hand the apostles...
Church History – Part 10
After the council of Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas had a difference of opinion and they parted ways. From this point on, Timothy became Paul’s closest companion. His remarkable missionary journeys, which had already begun before the council of Jerusalem with visits to...
Church History – Part 11
Bartholomew, according to a non-Biblical document “Martyrdom of Bartholomew”, was martyred in Armenia by King Astyages. Historian Eusebius who lived in the 4th century has recorded that Bartholomew preached in India too. His remains are currently located at the...
Church History – Part 12
According to tradition, St. Linus was appointed by St. Peter and St. Paul as the successor of St. Peter. In 2 Timothy 4:21 St. Paul writes about a Linus passing on his greetings to Timothy. It is generally believed that the Linus that Paul writes about is the same...
Church History – Part 13
In last week’s article we saw one of the internal issues that the early Church fathers had to address was Christianity’s relationship with Judaism. While reflecting on the disputes between different group of Christians on various practices and interpretations of...
Church History – Part 13
In last week’s article we saw one of the internal issues that the early Church fathers had to address was Christianity’s relationship with Judaism. While reflecting on the disputes between different group of Christians on various practices and interpretations of...
Church History – Part 14
The Church in the second century was made up of local communities from the Mediterranean Sea to the Middle East. They had a strong sense of unity even though they were loosely organized. This is when another controversy arose. This controversy is called Gnosis. ...
Church History – Part 15
Around A.D 285 Diocletian became the Roman emperor. He realized that the empire had grown too large to be governed by one person. He divided the kingdom into two (East and West). He kept the ultimate power and appointed governors and assistants. In the West, they...
Church History – Part 16
In my last article on Nov 6th bulletin, we had reached a point in the Church history where emperor of Rome, Constantine had made Christianity as an official religion of Rome. For Emperor Constantine, to become a Christian was one thing, but to deal as an emperor with...
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