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I am impressed that you guys are right on top of things. The simple reality is that the Mormon Church is widely known as such, despite all of its efforts to correct society that they, in actual fact, are not the Mormon Church, but are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
I have yet to encounter any Melkite Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, etc. churches. I have no doubt that they exist, but also no doubt that they form a tiny minority within the vastness of the Catholic fold. The irony is that most Latin rite Catholic Churches no longer say mass in Latin (with some exceptions here and there, of course). In my area mass is said in English, so I suppose one might call them English rite Catholic Churches, although there is really no differences, as we all know, in the actual rite (mass) being performed whatever language is used. The customary rite for the vast majority of Catholic churches derives from that of the Papacy in Rome, hence the word "Latin".
The ticklish part comes in whether or not to adopt Jewish traditions which developed during, what is known in Christian circles, as the inter-testamental period. None of these traditions were framed as being commandments from the LORD. In fact, Judaism had fragmented considerably in the centuries leading up to Jesus Christ. We have, for example, the Sadducees versus the Pharisees, not to mention the scribes. The theology of Jesus Christ was decidedly on the side of the Pharisees (the belief in the bodily resurrection and the existences of angels and demons, to mention a couple of major concepts). There are numerous books from this period, as evidenced by the Dead Sea scrolls, which were considered part of the Jewish canon of scripture by some segments of Judaism, but not necessarily by all, nor by succeeding Christians.
What's that?
Well without a doubt the Latin Church is by far the largest of the particular Churches, and most of the other particular churches are more prevalent in other countries. Chaldean Catholics mostly in Iraq, Ukrainian in Ukrain, Melkite in Lebanon, Coptic in Egypt, etc. There are some here in the states without a doubt, but as you said they are few and far in between.
Yes, I would be the last person to ditch the Old Testament. The problem, which Christian theologians have wrestled with over the centuries, is the relative significance and role of the Old Testament in the Church.
There was a time, following the writing of the book of Daniel, which is popularly known as the Maccabean period. This preceded the Christian era, as you know, and included the writing of many Jewish books. Some, although a small minority, found their way into popular Jewish usage. Others, the majority, were limited to various sects with Judaism such as the Essenes.
Yes, I am aware of that. It is a curious historical reality that there is this margin of division within the fold of the Catholic Church. Some have insisted that the Catholic Church is completely and entirely homogeneous in every aspect. Although there is a great deal of unity and, indeed, uniformity, there is also diversity to varying degrees. The difficulty is to determine how much diversity is allowable. As we all know, there are forces, both traditional and non-traditional, at work within the Catholic Church which are straining the unity of the Church.
"intertestamental period" is a Protestant usage; neither the Catholic Church nor the Orthodox Church use it.
Who are these "some" that insisted "that the Catholic Church is completely and entirely homogeneous in every aspect?" I've never heard that before, what are their names? Certainly Satan attacks the Catholic Church by encouraging falsehoods about the Church.
Deuterocanonical period is the common term for us, but I'm fine with intertestmental period. Basically the Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism.
This is a Protestant construction. Catholics don’t speak like this, because well some of the writings were written in this period. Also, one other things, there is a lot that all Christians have maintained from the Jewish Traditions. Much of our doctrines are also originally Jewish doctrines, why? Well because all of Scripture is written by Hebrews, and our Lord and His Apostles and most of the leaders of the first century were Jews.
They aren’t? How do you know? Were you there? Our faith says that yes Christ taught the Apostles and the Apostles His Church. All of these Commandments from our Lord we still do. Prayer for the Dead for example predates Christianity, and evidence from the earliest Christians shows that they did not do away with this practice. And by the way Jews even today pray for their dead, along with the majority of Christians.
On this part I agree. This is why Protestants do not have a leg to stand on, proposing that the canon of the OT was already fixed prior to Christ.
Jamnia is not hotly debated. It did not happen. That is just historical fact, no matter what Protestant history books claim.
This really isn’t true. 1) From the historical record it seems that the Jews were figuring out their canon about the same time as the Christians. 2) The Jews have a pretty fluid view of Scripture, from what I have read. The Talmud and Haggadah for sure are considered Sacred writings. The Mishnah and Kabbalah are also viewed as such as well, with at least some sects of Jews.
The Ethiopian Church seems to have grown in obscurity for the most part. Don’t think there is any evidence that they were represented at any of the Ecumenical Councils, so there is some question of how much interaction there was between that Church and the rest of Christendom. So, their OT texts come from the Ethiopian Jewish Bible, and not the LXX or Hebrew.
For example, there is a Catholic Church of the Maronite rite in Minneapolis. On their webpage they list their address as:
I agree. Nor do the Jews use it. The "time of the Maccabees" is a convenient description, albeit historically very loose.
concretecamper here at CF has made these assertions frequently. There are others, if you would like me to supply their names.
