The Orthodox Study Bible, Hardcover: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World

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The Orthodox Study Bible was the result of a collaboration between numerous Orthodox scholars, clergy and lay leaders. The initial draft was prepared by the academic community of St. Athanasius Orthodox Academy. Some of the credited contributors of the Orthodox Study Bible project include: We know now that some books in the Septuagint were translated from Hebrew texts that were radically different from those in modern editions of the Hebrew Bible and in English Bible translations. This has been brought to light through recent study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is now clear that the Septuagint sometimes reveals a version of the Old Testament books older than those that exist in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint gives us glimpses into earlier stages in the Bible’s development before the completion of the Hebrew Bible that is now the basis of modern translations. This fact is problematic for those western Christians who put their entire faith in the pursuit of what they call the “original, i.e Masoretic, text”. Septuagint Institute (Trinity Western University, Canada). In 2005 the Septuagint Studies department moved from the University of Toronto to TWU, forming the new Septuagint Institute (SI). The SI complements TWU's already established Dead Sea Scrolls Institute (DSSI), founded in 1995, and together they form North America's new hub of Septuagint research. H. Orlinsky. "The Septuagint and its Hebrew Text." In: The Cambridge History of Judaism: Vol. II, The Hellenistic Age. Eds. W. Davies and L. Finkelstein. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

However, in this case, it might have been better to just keep the New Testament. The Old Testament translation was supposed to be a more accurate translation of the original Septuagint. What it ended up being was a different story. The translators basically took the New King James Version (NKJV) and tried to make it match up to the Septuagint. I have been told, since I don't read Greek (sadly) that they didn't even do this well. Thus, when the Apostles quote the Jewish Scripture in their own writings, the overwhelmingly dominant source for their wording comes directly from the Septuagint (LXX). Given that the spread of the Gospel was most successful among the Gentiles and Hellenistic Jews, it made sense that the LXX would be the Bible for the early Church. Following in the footsteps of those first generations of Christians, the Orthodox Church continues to regard the LXX as its only canonical text of the Old Testament. There are a number of differences between the canon of the LXX and that of Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Christians, based on differences in translation tradition or doctrine. The content of the OSB–including annotations, introductions, and articles–is written at a vocabulary level of a high school graduate to communicate “the treasures of the Orthodox biblical tradition with clergy and laypeople desirous of understanding their Christian beliefs and making them accessible to others” ( Introduction). The notes and commentary emphasize the major themes of the Christian faith, giving special attention to the following: Orthodox Study Bible - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of AmericaThe Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible are part of God’s revelation to mankind. The Orthodox Church claims that the author of the Old Testament is truly God Himself, but it recognises that it is equally the work of men in different times and places. It also believes that God can and does reveal Himself, and that men and women come to know Him in His self-revelation only through a deep personal experience found within the Church.

Note, it is my recommendation that the Bible Studies be done combined with teens and adults. The interaction of teens with adults on matters of faith is of utmost importance. Moreover, the teens and adults in a family are more likely to continue their conversation at home if they have together attended the same class than otherwise. Likewise, adults are more likely to attend Bible Study if they do so with their children. It is an opportunity for adults and older youth to bond in the faith. Some have thought that it is better for children to be apart from their parents because they "express themselves more." That is what I thought until I turned to a combined curriculum. While ok for youth ministries, total "age segregation" is not as good for education (although "Generations of Faith" model works ok, with part "grouped by age" and part "together"). With education, the combined adults and children get to hear each other, and get to hear a distinct voice on the faith (think Trinity, and image of Trinity). Try it, you might like it. --Fr. Harry Linsinbigler Next year I plan to do some “extra-curricular” reading: I’ll read some of the Apocrypha, and I’ve got a collection of gnostic texts that I’ll work my way through as well. I also plan to do a long reading of the Quran at some point. The earliest extant version of the Old Testament is the translation executed in Alexandria in the third century before the Christian era; this version became known as the Septuagint and more recently, the Alexandrian version. The Septuagint was produced in the Helleno-Roman cultural world, that is the period roughly from Alexander the Great’s conquests (c325 B.C.) to the establishment of the Roman Empire. The lingua franca of that world was the κοινη διαλεκτος, (common) Greek. Then as now many more Jews lived outside the Holy Land than lived within it, and the great majority of them did not speak Hebrew. There arose, therefore, a need for a version of the Hebrew Bible in Greek. The Septuagint was that version. It was written by Greek-speaking Jews of the Judaeo-Greek Diaspora, employing, not, as has sometimes been said, a separate Semiticform ofGreek, but the common κοινη with a specialised vocabulary, including idioms, and a style that reflected its own distinctive interests. For an apt comparison one might perhaps think of the legal or journalistic English of our own day. What is the Septuagint? Archimandrite Ephrem. "Book Review: The Orthodox Study Bible". Orthodox Christian Information Center.The Orthodox Study Bible, Ancient Faith Edition, Leathersoft: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World C. P. Lincoln, " A Critique of the Revised Standard Version," Bibliotheca Sacra, Volume 110 (Jan. 1953) pp. 50-66, Sept. 1, 2006 < http://www.bible-researcher.com/rsv-bibsac.html>.

New English Translation of the Septuagint. It has been released at San Diego, November 19, 2007 by Oxford University Press. Provisional edition online. This project is being carried out under the aegis of The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS). An international team of more than thirty scholars is working on the entire corpus of the Greek Jewish Scriptures. It is the first such English version in 160 years. Called the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), the text reflects both the wealth of manuscript evidence that has been brought to light since the 19th century and, of course, current English idiom. (Note however, that this project is using the NRSV(1989) version as its English base of referral).If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. G. S. Paine, The Men Behind the King James Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1959) p. 182f. Insightful commentary drawn from the Christian writers and teachers of the first ten centuries after Christ