000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Introduction
Notes
1. In Christian circles today, a discussion is under way regarding how to refer to the body
of literature that the church has traditionally called the “Old Testament.” We adopt this
terminology as a sign of respect for the tradition and to avoid confusing readers. However,
we do note the broad lines of this discussion. As far as we know, prior to the middle
of the second century, the church did not distinguish between parts of the canon. Soon
after Marcion (who dismissed the Old Testament as containing a picture of a wrathful
second-class deity), many in the church began to speak of the “Old Testament” and the
“New Testament” as bodies of literature corresponding with an old covenant that was
superseded by the new. Cyril Richardson, distinguished professor of church history at
Union Theological Seminary in New York, thus concludes that the “peculiar interest in
a New Testament stems from rejection of the Old” (Cyril C. Richardson, “Introduction
to Early Christian Literature,” in Early Christian Fathers, Library of Christian Classics
[Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953], vol. 1, 25. See further Clark M. Williamson, A
Guest in the House of Israel: Post-Holocaust Church Theology [Louisville, KY: Westminster/
John Knox Press, 1993], 141–42). The very term “Old Testament” thus itself is theologically
problematic. The theological problems associated with the term “Old Testament”
are magnified in the early twenty-first century because the word “old” is often associated
with that which is outdated and worn-out, especially in contrast to that which is new (and
improved). Consequently some Christians seek language that is less freighted with negative
associations, such as Hebrew Bible or First and Second Testaments. Unfortunately,
each terminology has its own problems. Referring to the “Hebrew Bible” overlooks the
facts that a small part of that material was actually in Aramaic and also that many in the
early church knew this literature through the Septuagint (the translation of the Hebrew
and Aramaic materials into Greek). “First Testament” has the virtue of reminding the
reader of the chronological relationship between the First and Second Testaments but
could subtly be taken to suggest not simply chronology but significance as in First Place
in contrast to Second Place. The church prior to the time of Marcion offers us a solution:
the Jesus movement simply referred to “the scriptures” by which the community
meant the Bible of the Jewish community to which the church gradually added material
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