Jewish History & Canon

[thepiaheart]

Hello! +jmj+

I'm taking a course on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and my mind is being blown & torn apart & blown, to put it mildly.

 

Can anyone direct me to a place to start reading regarding Jewish history & Jewish tradition, and the ways in which the Catholic tradition views both? Per my class, we have available today numerous different translations and versions of the Pentateuch and other OT books. How did the Church determine which OT books to include in the Biblical canon -- how does the Church know which Jewish line of thought is authoritative? Apparently the ordering of books in the OT is specific to Catholicism, to "foreshadow" the coming of the Messiah in Christ, an order which is totally contrary to/different from the order of OT books (and the inclusion of certain books) from a number of Jewish traditions & sects, which suggest a different type of history to come.

 

How do we speak to that? One sect, it seems, would need to be authoritative (or we would need to see one as authoritative, right?). And why does the Church, as the fulfillment of the OT, of Judaism, have a more authoritative right to speak on something that is not originally hers -- something that originally belongs to the Jewish people, as God's chosen?

 

Major confusion. No idea where to begin.

 

Thanks!

Edited October 17, 2013 by thepiaheart