Dead Sea Scrolls
One of the claims of the first century Jews who compiled the Palestinian canon was that none of the 7 deuterocanonical books were written in Hebrew; thus, they were excluded from their Canon of Scripture.
I know that the Book of Tobit was found in Hebrew among the scrolls found at Qumran. Were there any other deuterocanonical books found in Hebrew or Aramaic at Qumran?
QUESTION from Richard on December 17, 2003
ANSWER by Staff on December 20, 2003
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Dear Richard: I do not know. However, it does not matter. At the time the Jews revised the Canon of Scripture in around 95-100 AD to exclude any Hellenistic manuscripts they did not have the authority to do so. The Magisterial authority of the Chair of Moses had already been replaced by the Magisterial authority of the Chair of Peter. Only the Magisterium of the Catholic Church had the authority to determine the Canon of Scripture. I think that most historians do suggest that the acceptance of the Hebrew-only Scriptures had more to do with politics and ethnocentrism than it did with theology.
God Bless, |