John L. McKenzie: The two-edged sword, an interpretation of the OldTestamentImage Books, Garden City, Bruce Publishing Company, 1966, 350p (1-132)1. The Sacred Books (21-42)The oldest written parts antedate 1000 BC. From the very beginning of Christianity Jesus' followers adoptedthe bible of the Jews of Alexandria. The learned men of Alexandria had added to the sacred books somecompositions (Judith, Tobias, Sirach, Wisdom, Maccabees) which were not found in the collection ofPalestine. After the schism of Jews and Christians, Jews would never accept the Old Testament of theChristians and many learned men of the early church (Athanasius, Jerome, Hilaire, Cyril of Jerusalem,Gregory the Great) believed that the Jewish collection was the true word of God. The Council of Trent,against the Reformers, declared for the tradition of the primitive church. In 1943 Rome imposed uponexegetes the task of studying the human character of the bible: its authors, their times, the culture in whichthey lived, as a necessary step of understanding the bible. A likeness for inspiration: the ox which draws theplow: the ox cannot plow unless its strength be applied tot he work by the man, and the man cannot draw theplow by its own strength. God cannot produce a divine book; for this work, God made the man a part ofHimself. The man has a human mind, sentiments, experience, language, the qualities which make it possiblefor him to produce a book. God takes the instrument and applies it to the work of writing. By the use of thisinstrument He writes the book which he Himself wants written. He who put his thoughts in written languageis an author. But God submits Himself to the limitations of the instrument. One cannot carve with a brush,God cannot express thoughts which are beyond the mental capacity of the man who is His instrument. Hecannot through the author of Gn give a scientific account of the origins of the world because this authorknew no science. He cannot write a fascinating story throug...