Debates Over The Place Of The Septuagint In The Orthodox Tradition

Abstract

In polemics of Orthodox theologians with Jews, Protestants and Catholics, the Septuagint has often been regarded as the hallmark of Orthodoxy. However, throughout the history of the Orthodox tradition violent polemics against allegedly corrupted Hebrew Bible existed side by side with the usage of the same Hebrew Bible text in commentaries and translations. The Orthodox theology of today has to reckon with the fact of textual pluralism in the transmission and translation of the Bible.
A more in-depth study of the complicated history of the Septuagint in its relationship with the Hebrew Bible is to be found in the monograph «Introduction to the Septuagint. Bible on the crossroads of Hebrew and Greek traditions» by the present author (to appear in 2022 in Russian)

Keywords: Hebrew Bible, Greek Bible, Septuagint, Masoretic text, Bible translation, Orthodox Christianity, theology

JEL Classification: Y9