Book of Sirach

[Joe King]

I have been reading the new american version of the bible.

My favorite book so far is the book of Sirach. I have been looking in other bibles and talking with a few friends that read the Bible (different versions than I) and they don't have the book of Sirach in theirs.

What book is Sirach in other versions of the bible?

Ecclessiastes?

[Theophilus]

It's not in the Protestant canon of scripture.

[enarchay]

I have been reading the new american version of the bible.

My favorite book so far is the book of Sirach. I have been looking in other bibles and talking with a few friends that read the Bible (different versions than I) and they don't have the book of Sirach in theirs.

What book is Sirach in other versions of the bible?

Ecclessiastes?

Last time I checked, it is a piece of the Apocrypha, contained in the Septuagint (LXX). I have not read it yet, but I suggest you read it with caution (especially if you do not research when it was written, where it was written, and why it was written) because most pieces of the Apocrypha are highly influenced by Hellenistic culture, especially Platoism, were written much later than most of the texts contained in the Hebrew Scriptures, and were ultimately excluded from the Tanakh. The text may contain truths and facts, but the average reader cannot separate truth from myth and fact from fiction.

[AlainaJ]

I have read it too. It is in then Apocrypha

http://st-takla.org/pub_Deuterocanon...of-Sirach.html

http://mb-soft.com/believe/txs/sirach.htm

[Joe King]

This book has a lot of great and inspiring teachings. I find it hard to believe that a human came up with some of the writings.

My bible is printed by the Catholic press and is the new american version.

Has anyone else read it?

[th1bill]

This book has a lot of great and inspiring teachings. I find it hard to believe that a human came up with some of the writings.

My bible is printed by the Catholic press and is the new american version.

Has anyone else read it?

Joe,
.. You are reading a Catholic bible and it will have quite a few books that are not in the Jewish nor in the Christian Canon of scripture.

[enarchay]

This book has a lot of great and inspiring teachings. I find it hard to believe that a human came up with some of the writings.

That may be so, but that does not change the fact that a human did in fact write it. It may have truths, but it may also have falsities. The problem is, you are probably not prepared to filter the falsities out from the truths.

[GothicAngel]

That may be so, but that does not change the fact that a human did in fact write it. .

Humans wrote the entire bible

[enarchay]

Humans wrote the entire bible

Yes, but the humans that wrote the books that are contained in the Protestant canon are, more or less, consistent with each other, especially in doctrine. Some of the books of the Apocrypha, on the other hand, are not entirely concisest with the books of the Jewish canon. The texts of Apocrypha, moreover, were written much later than the Hebrew Scriptures that were accepted into the Jewish canon, some of the texts dating even after 70 C.E. You can see obvious differences from the Apocrypha and the other Hebrew Scriptures that were accepted into the Jewish canon. For example, the author of the Wisdom of Solomon is highly influenced by Platonism: he adopts the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and even, so it seems, the preexistence of the soul.

[GothicAngel]

Yes, but the humans that wrote the books that are contained in the Protestant canon are, more or less, consistent. The texts of Apocrypha, moreover, were written much later than the Hebrew Scriptures that were accepted into the Jewish canon, some dating even after 70 C.E. You can see obvious differences from the Apocrypha and the other Hebrew Scriptures that were accepted into the Jewish canon. For example, the author of the Wisdom of Solomon is highly influenced by Platonism: he adopts the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and even, so it seems, the preexistence of the soul.

The humans are consistent?

Are you saying the soul isnt immortal?

Where in Wisdom does it say the soul preexists?

Could you give me some more examples?

[enarchay]

Are you saying the soul isnt immortal?

Not from a Hebrew Scriptural perspective.

Where in Wisdom does it say the soul preexists?

Come to think of it, sort of sounds like a doctrine of transmigration.

"For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit. Yea rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled" (Wis 8:19-20).

There's other examples of Hellenism in the Apocrypha, but I can't point them all out yet. I'm still reading the Apocrypha, to be honest.

[The Parson]

If this thread is heading on the direction I think it may, this thread is probably going to be moved to World Religions. The apocrpha is not considered inspired scripture because of it's disagreement with the Old and New Testaments. If this discussion is heading towards defending it as scriptures, it does not belong in this section of the board as it is a Roman Catholic matter, not a Protestant one.

[enarchay]

The apocrpha is not considered inspired scripture because of it's disagreement with the Old and New Testaments.

That is, more or less, what I was trying to explain. However, to the contrary of others, perhaps, I believe there may be truths in the Apocrypha that do, in fact, align with what the Hebrew Scriptures have to say. The problem is, the average reader will neglect to research when, where, and why the text he is reading was written. He also will not be able to separate the fact from fiction; in other words, the Apocrypha is sort of like The Da Vinci code. No doubt the Apocrypha is extremely useful for historical purposes and for understanding what the first century Jews, and perhaps the authors of the New Testament, believed (e.g. bodily resurrection, the abomination of desolation, and so on), but again, not for the average reader. The best, brief advice I can give is to take the Apocrypha with a grain of salt. I fear too many people read the Apocrypha, at first glance thinking it is wholly inspired and aligning with the Protestant canon, when, in fact, they have little knowledge about the Protestant canon in the first place; I was one of those people once.

[The Parson]

Thank you enarchay... OK folks, this one is in World Religions.

[GothicAngel]

Joe,
.. You are reading a Catholic bible and it will have quite a few books that are not in the Jewish nor in the Christian Canon of scripture.

Catholics are Christians. The Catholic canon is a Christian canon.