Hebrew Bible

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Hebrew Bible is a term that refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian canons. Its use is favored by some academic Biblical scholars as a neutral term that is preferred in academic writing both to "Old Testament" (which alludes to the Christian doctrine of supersessionism) and to "Tanakh" (an acronym used commonly by Jews but unfamiliar to many English speakers). For instance, see section 4.3 on page 17 of The SBL Handbook of Style by the Society of Biblical Literature.

"Hebrew" in "Hebrew Bible" may refer to either the Hebrew language (see Hoffman 2004) or to the Jews (the Hebrew people and Johnson 1988 ) who historically used the Hebrew language as a spoken language, and have continuously used the language in prayer and study, or both.

Because it refers to the common portions of the Jewish and Christian biblical canons, it does not encompass the deuterocanonical books, largely from the Koine Greek Septuagint translation (LXX), included in the Old Testament by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Thus the term Hebrew Bible corresponds most fully to the Old Testament in use by the Protestant denominations that follow Jerome's Veritas Hebraica doctrine. Nevertheless, it can be used accurately by all Christian denominations in general contexts, except where reference to specific translations or books is called for.

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