Book Title: Hindu Catholic Dialogue Commemorative Brochure 20150523
Author(s): United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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Page 31
________________ C4. Has God appeared on earth? One of the three Divine Persons, the Son or the "Word” (Logos) of God, entered human history by becoming a man, Jesus Christ, born by virginal conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. C5. What are the principal attributes of God? God is the source of all things; God is the creator from nothing of all things that exist. The Scriptures mention many attributes of God, such as mercy, justice, compassion, wisdom, omniscience, omnipotence, eternal, present everywhere and so forth; these are all understood to be analogous to the truth about God's nature, because human language can at best only point in the right direction with the help of God. Human language does not fully describe the attributes of God. D. SCRIPTURE D1. What are the main scriptures? What language? The Catholic Church received the Hebrew Scriptures as they were known to Jesus and the Apostles. In preaching about Jesus Christ, the early Christian community made use of the Septuagint, an expanded version of the Hebrew Scriptures containing Greek translations of Hebrew and Aramaic works as well as several works composed by Jews in Greek. The New Testament consists of 27 early Christian writings, all of which were composed in Greek. D2. What is their origin? The human authors of these works are believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the selection of these works was also guided by the Holy Spirit to insure that they authentically convey the teachings of Jesus and the apostles; these works were read during the early Christian celebration of the Eucharist. An important witness to this process of selection is St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was martyred in about 110 A.D. He had been a bishop in Asia Minor for more than three decades, the very period in which the New Testament works were composed; in his letters, he deliberately restricts his citations to the works in the New Testament except the Book of Revelation. D3. How old are they? The books of the Bible were composed over a long period of time. The books that comprise the Old Testament were written in ancient Israel from approximately the tenth century B.C. to COMMEMORATIVE BROCHURE 29

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