"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Once of the central claims in Islam is the immutability of the Qur’an. It is repeatedly asserted that what was given to Muhammad is exactly what is found in copies of today’s Arabic Qur’an.
I’ll be writing about it myself once I’ve finished reading the Qur’an, but in the meantime, here’s a very detailed debate focussing on this very question:
At the moment in Bible Study we’re going through Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. I’m therefore in the process of adding content to the Commentary section of this website:
I just received an email from someone asking for a copy of my recording of “Dei Verbum”, the document on Divine Revelation from the Second Vatican Council.
My blog seemed to be the easiest way to share them. Each of the chapters is in a separate MP3 file:
Chapter 1 (MP3) Chapter 2 (MP3) Chapter 3 (MP3)
Chapter 4 (MP3) Chapter 5 (MP3) Chapter 6 (MP3)
I hope these help you with your studies Alyson 🙂
Name the movie in the Comment Box…
Have you ever wondered how the Bible as we know it actually came to be? Why do we only have four Gospels? Why is the Gospel of Peter not included? Why is the letter of Clement to the Corinthians not included? Who decided this and when?
I remember a train ride in my early twenties when I got into conversation with a fellow passenger who was reading “The Da Vinci Code”. This was quite some time before Dan Brown’s book became well known so, in ignorance, I asked her what it was about…
She told me a little bit of the story line and then, seeing that I was reading a book about Scripture, asked me why it was that the Dead Sea Scrolls were not also included in the Bible. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember thinking at the time that my explanation wasn’t very articulate or didn’t sound convincing…
If your faith has its foundation in Sacred Scripture, shouldn’t you know where it came from?
Okay, pop quiz time, what is the origin of the quotation below?
“We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up.”
– ???
Back in August, to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11, there was an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of American Bible Society. The survey found that more Americans attributed the above quotation to Captain America, Martin Luther King, and President George W. Bush than to St. Paul.
In total, 63% believed the words came from somewhere other than 2 Corinthians 4:8.
Who says Biblical literacy is down?
Today over at St. Joseph’s Vanguard Devin wrote an article about How Evangelicals Know Their Canon Is Correct. It describes an exchange Devin had with an Evangelical concerning which books belong in the Bible.
Now, not all Evangelicals will hold those views expressed in the article, but I have to say that Devin’s exchange bears a strong resemblance to conversations I myself have had with non-Catholics concerning Sacred Scripture…
In my experience, when a Catholic-Protestant dialog reaches this stage it often stagnates. You then spend a lot of time going round and round in circles… 🙁
In an effort to stop this from happening, I find that it is generally best to keep asking questions. These questions will hopefully reveal to the non-Catholic his unknown dependency upon Catholic Church with regards to the formation of the Canon.
You may recall a little while ago I wrote about an exchange I had with a chap called Jay. When we were talking about the Bible, these were some of the questions I asked him:
1. Let’s say I don’t believe James should be in the Bible. Show me why I’m wrong. What’s to stop me from just taking this book out of the Bible?
2. Let’s say I believe that Clement’s letter to the Corinthians should be in the Bible. Show me why I’m wrong. He was alive during the time of the Apostles and Clement has strong credentials for being taught by them…
3. Who wrote the Letter to the Philippians? What about the Gospel of Mark? How do you know?
4. Who were the people who painstakingly copied the New Testament manuscripts throughout the centuries?
5. Have you checked the authenticity of every book in the Bible? Are you sure that we have all the available “inspired texts”? How did you reach your opinion over what and what isn’t the Word of God? Are you 100% certain? Can I trust your judgment on this? Because if you’re wrong I could be ignoring text which is the Word of God and reading text which isn’t…
6. Who assembled the canon of the New Testament and when? Please give me names and dates.