Reference to 2 Maccabees in Hebrews 11?

by CatholicGuy 16 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Moxy

  i was just looking at this chart the other day and thinking that it would be really helpful to see ALL the books incuded in the list of codeces, not just the ones that make up the modern NT. where might one find such an exhaustive list?

  mox
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  CatholicGuy

  Granted, quotation itself does not qualify a book for inclusion in the canon. Most JWs (and many Protestants) are unaware of the reference to 2 Maccabees in Hebrews 11. The Witnesses have inherited the Protestant apologetic against the Deuterocanonicals. The usual view advanced is that the books of the shorter Protestant canon are "self-authenticating" and the ones rejected were not. Basically, what that means is that someone (Luther, Calvin et al) judged that the Deuterocanonicals were not "self-authenticating." It has to be put way because Protestants do not want to say that the Church ruled on the canon--which is, in fact, what really happened.

  For more on the subject of "self-authenticating" see:

  http://www.catholic-convert.com/writings/french.html

  CatholicGuy
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  CatholicGuy

  Moxy,

  For the development of the NT canon see:

  http://www.ntcanon.org/
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  willy_think

  bluesapphire hi,
  now i'm not catholic, at least not yet. what kills me is that the Bible was declared the Inspired scrolls of the catholic church AFTER the church illegally went apostate, making it by nature an apostate work and NOT inspired at all.

  CatholicGuy hi,
  i recently found out that if you go to the western right mass every day you will hear the whole Bible, less some of the long lists you will find in books like numbers etc, in 3 years. is this the case in the Byzantine Rite too?

  Moxy hi,

  i didn't know the WT considered maccabees to be reliable but uninspired. isn't that what the WT and awake magazines are considered, "reliable but uninspired"?

  willy think: thread killer
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  CatholicGuy

  For Willy,

  The Roman Rite has the most varied Lectionary of Scripture readings of all the Rites. You are right that in 3 years time one would hear the bulk of the Bible read at Mass. The Byzantine Rite follows a different Lectionary and is not as varied. The Rite which has the most Scripture read during Liturgy is the Coptic. I used to visit a Coptic Orthodox parish in Arizona. Seems like they had 5 readings at every Liturgy!

  CatholicGuy
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  Moxy

  thx catholic, this is great.
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  slipnslidemaster

  Jude 14,15 seems to be a direct quote from 1 Enoch. Would this suggest 1 Enoch should have been included into the canon?
  Something else that protestants and Jw's should find interesting is that the first list of New Testament books as we have them today was in 367 by that great Church Father, Athanasius. I believe he also had something to do with some council at Nicea in 325. :)

  Jude itself was questionable as far as making it into the canon.

  Slipnslidemaster:"The average person thinks he isn't."
  - Father Larry Lorenzoni