2. Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word
Why Do We Read the Old Testament?
Classifying and Arranging the Old Testament Books

3. Why read the Old Testament?
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 The Old Testament
Why read the Old Testament?
1. The Bible is the most important book of all time and the Old Testament is the longest part of it.
2. It is a record of the social structures, legal systems, and ordinary religious life that have shaped most every aspect of our Western civilization.
3. It contains the truth of God’s promises to the Chosen People, and through them, to all people.
4. It records the experiences of our ancestors in faith.

4. God, the inspirer and author of both Testaments,
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 The Old Testament
Why read the Old Testament?
5. It reveals our true identity as God’s special creatures. Our own personal stories as individuals and as human communities are reflected in the many Old Testament stories.
6. It reveals a living God, who meets us when we read and pray with these words of Sacred Scripture.
God, the inspirer and author of both Testaments,
wisely arranged that the New Testament should be hidden in the Old and the Old should be made manifest in the New (Dei Verbum, 16).

5. The Canon of Sacred Scripture
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 The Old Testament
The Canon of Sacred Scripture
46 OT books
+ 27 NT books
= 73 Books
 Deuterocanonical books: 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom mostly written in Greek after 300 BC; also known as the Apocrypha
written between BC and 150 BC
predominantly written in Hebrew

6. Classifying & Arranging the O.T. Books
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Study of God’s Word Part 1 The Old Testament
Classifying & Arranging the O.T. Books
Jewish arrangement
1. Law (“Torah”)
2. Prophets (“Neviim”)
3. Writings (“Ktuvim”)
 TaNak
New American Bible
1. Pentateuch (“five books”)
2. Historical Books
3. Prophetic Books
4. Wisdom Books