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To: Uncle Chip
You keep harping on Isaiah, the one book in which every Christian translation until the RSV, those by the classical 'reformers' included, followed the LXX. What about Genesis and 1st and 2nd Samuel?

Of course there are passages where the none of the LXX, the Masorete and the Dead Sea Scroll agree. Even this calls into question the notion that rabbinic Judaism 'preserved the text God gave them,' better than the Christians, simply because they left it in Hebrew. So explain again (maybe I missed it) why Christian should follow non-Christian textual transmission, rather than the Church's judgement.

Your reply to my accusation that favoring the Masorete is a Judaizing heresy is a nonsequitur. Citing the belief of Jews on the matter, tends to confirm that view, at least as applied to your own approach to Scripture, and

Some of these materials may have been what Jesus was referring to when he said: "by your traditions you make the law of God of no effect".

is complete nonsense. The verse has a context: Christ is refering to specific customs of the Pharisees that have no support in the LXX (I've read the entire Orthodox canon of Scripture twice through: 'corban' isn't in there)--the idea that they did not need to support their parents if they dedicated their material goods to God (presumably while still enjoying them until their death, as 'sell all and give to the poor' doesn't leave anything for the support of parents either). Elsewhere, Christ condemns the Pharisaic obsession with ritual washing--again not an item drawn from the LXX.

If you want to claim that Our Lord was condemning a supposed Hellenization of Judaism, cite a specific.

I've come to the conclusion that "Biblical scholars" in your usage means protestant scholars with a short-canon agenda to defend. Can you cite any Orthodox or Latin scholars who agree? Asserting that Origen 'composed' the LXX translation of Psalms (the only part of the Hexalpa we have in fairly complete form) is problematic, given that Our Lord quotes the Psalms from the LXX, even as the Evangelist quotes from the LXX version of Isaiah, "behold a virgin shall conceive. . ." I guess your "Biblical scholars" know more about what constitutes Scripture than the Holy Evangelist Matthew. (St. Matthew, the one Evangelist who does his own textual criticism and often uses the Hebrew!)

Why did Origen do what he did in his Hexalpa? Who knows? Why did he adopt neo-Platonic ideas and hold that we would be resurrected in spherical bodies, when Christ's Glorious Resurrection showed otherwise? Origen had a lively intellectual curiosity, and a fondness for discursive reason. His beliefs and beliefs expressed in actions are not a model for sound spiritual life. The fact that he decided to collect all in one place all available versions of the Scriptures is neither here nor there as to which tradition of textual transmission Christians should follow: the Christian tradition of the Church, or the anti-Christian tradition of rabbinic Judaism.

It might be helpful to our discussions if you would explicitly acknowledge that the protestant claim that the LXX isn't a translation of Hebrew Scripture is unsupportable in view of the Hebrew texts of Tobit and Ecclesiasticus found at Qumran, and formulate precisely the position you, then, are defending as to why Christians should the Masorete to the LXX, and the arguments in favor of it.

I think I have been fairly explicit as to why the LXX is to be prefered. If you think I have been unclear, I can enumerate the points in a subsequent post.

10,990 posted on 02/22/2007 5:47:42 AM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .u)
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To: The_Reader_David
A translation is supposed to be faithful to the original text. It is not supposed to correct it. or change it. or revise it. or take precedence over it. It is supposed to follow it and carry its meaning over from one language to another.

The LXX is fine as long as it follows the Hebrew text --- after all it is only a translation, right?? The OT was originally written in Hebrew not Greek, right???.

10,995 posted on 02/22/2007 12:09:42 PM PST by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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