What Do You Call the Bible -- Between Jewish/Christian Friends?

It used to be so simple. When you were talking about the Bible, it had two parts, an Old Testament and a New Testament. But what happens when you're talking about the Bible between friends, and one happens to be Jewish and the other Christian? My Rabbi friend and I've had this conversation on several occasions.

He prefers Hebrew Scriptures/Jewish Scriptures and Christian Scriptures. The problem is, the Christian Scriptures is more than the "New Testament", a word that tends to be offensive to Jews, because it seems to replace the old with the new.

I'm not sure he resolves the problem, but John Spalding takes a crack at it by considering the recommendation of Amy-Jill Levine:

So I was delighted when I recently read Amy-Jill Levine's great new book, "The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus," and found that towards the end she examines the "Old Testament" versus "Hebrew Scriptures" debate, making a wonderful suggestion as to how we can all finally stop tripping over terminology. It's as simple as it is brilliant: "Instead of using the falsely neutral, Protestant, linguistically inaccurate term 'Hebrew Bible,' Christians might simply use the title 'Old Testament,' which is the title found in most family and pulpit Bibles. Jews should continue to use 'Tanakh.'"

Anyway, if you've ever found yourself caught in this biblical linguistic mess, you really should read Levine's treatment of it in "The Misunderstood Jew," which I've excerpted (with full permission, natch) here.

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