Oh, and yes, I do know that it would be offensive to call the pre-Jesus text "The Old Testament" in general, but I also want them to know the term "Old Testament" since it is frequently used in literature.

Absolutely -- in fact, as Erin rightly points out, it's a terrific teaching opportunity to lay out the different terms and why naming them can be a big deal.

So is there a separate name for the books after the first five but before what Christians call "The New Testament"?

The whole Hebrew bible is called "Tanakh", which is an acronym (dude, we were geeks way before there was an internet!) for Torah, Nevi'im (="prophets"), Ketuvim (="writings", which is sort of a catch-all category for poetry like the psalms and songs, proverbs, scrolls like Ruth and Esther, some other stuff we don't know what to do with, and the kitchen sink. sinks. one meat, one dairy, one neutral.)

Wikipedia reminds me that the alternate term for "Tanakh" is "Mikra", which I have honestly never ever heard used in real life. But it's a fabulous word that you'd dig, because it literally means "that which is read", in kind of the same way that "Scripture" means "That which is written".

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The whole Hebrew bible is called "Tanakh", which is an acronym (dude, we were geeks way before there was an internet!) for Torah, Nevi'im (="prophets"), Ketuvim (="writings", which is sort of a catch-all category for poetry like the psalms and songs, proverbs, scrolls like Ruth and Esther, some other stuff we don't know what to do with, and the kitchen sink. sinks. one meat, one dairy, one neutral.)

I love you. Thank you so much for filling in the gaps in my memory; it's been forever since I've studied any of this. How is "Tanakh" pronounced?

Absolutely -- in fact, as Erin rightly points out, it's a terrific teaching opportunity to lay out the different terms and why naming them can be a big deal.

Exactly. That's why I'm trying to make sure I have all of this straight before we even start having the conversation. One of the things I take the most pride in as a teacher is researching the heck out of anything I'm about to teach so that I am able to answer questions about all of the above.

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How is "Tanakh" pronounced? Teh-NAHK?

Very close, except that the "kh" at the end is that lovely "I'm globbing something up in my throat" sound. Which a lot of English-speakers have trouble with, so if you can't do it, don't worry.

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Oh I can do the globby sound. I worked at a Jewish private school for a year. And I actually do have a pretty solid understanding of the basics of Judaism and most of the holidays as a result. I just somehow managed to miss the whole Torah/Tanakh distinction. The kids all just used "Bible" for the most part.

I feel much better now.

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I went to Southern Baptist Churches as a kid and at one point I was going there and to an Episcopal elementary school, that was interesting. I was taught that Catholics weren't true Christians (a couple of the churches had Chick Tracts out for the taking, if you want an idea of their theology).

The only thing I can remember specifically said about Catholics, was that all of the praying to saints and to Mary was wrong and also going to confession was wrong. Baptists, but especially Southern Baptists, but a big emphasis on a personal relationship with God and that once you are saved you have a direct relationship with God without any sort of middleman (with the SBCs seeing confession, saints, and Mary as some kind of middleman) and only God can forgive your sins and only you can ask for forgiveness of your sins. They didn't have a problem with preachers baptizing people because the baptism is more of a symbolic act (although I was told everyone should be baptized) and not really a requirement for being saved.

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When I was trying to remember messianic passages, I kept humming several of them...and it occurred to me that for a good listing of favorite Christian messianic passages, both Old and New Testament, you could do a heck of a lot worse than looking at the text of Handel's Messiah:

[link]

And then you could bring in the music, too...

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I'm outta here. Thanks again, everyone, and Happy New Year to those celebrating!

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Someone gave me a copy of The Watchtower at the bus stop this morning. (She was very pretty, dressed smartly and smiled at me. I would have taken a live badger had she handed it to me)

I'd probably accept the badger before I took a copy of the Watchtower. Then at least I'd have something to give the Watchtower to.

The guys in Russia, etc. who split from the Catholic Church, um... long long long long time ago....

I'm not sure they ever split from the Catholic Church. IIRC, Russia had the choice of converting to Catholicism or ORthodox Christianity, and liked the Orthodox pitch better. I could be misremembering, though.

My CCD 8th-grade teacher actually taught us that Genesis didn't rule out evolution at all, but reinforced it instead (God created the animals in the order that they ended up evolving

Yeah, not so much. Genesis' order is: land plants, the sun and moon, aquatic life and birds, land animals, humanity. Doesn't match the evolutionary record that closely. If you have people who tend to get into the details, well, they're going to get into the details.

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Religion convo is fascinating, as always. Buffistae are smart.

ICatchupN

Happy birthdays to Trudy, Kara, Polter-Cow, and billytea!

Camping is wonderful. Camping in the Olympic Peninsula is awesome. Truly. I wonder if a reward like that would motivate even me to loose weight? ... Probably not.

Omnis, may the new job possibility work out in the best way for you!

P.-C., may your future wife appear on your horizon soon and may you recognize each other immediately and with great relief!

ooga shaka ooga shaka I can't fight this feeling Deep inside of me

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I just wished Ms. Kara a happy birthday, and I told her that her present was still coming. She said, "That's ok. I'll be celebrating my birthday for a few more weeks."

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