This essay explores the theological view of the Early Church Fathers on the Septuagint. The Septuagint, commonly abbreviated LXX, was the first translation made of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek. Its origin of the translation is written in the Letter of Aristeas, a document that appeared in around 2C–3C B.C. The Torah was translated first, and other books of the Scripture including the Prophetic Books and Wisdom literature were included progressively. The Septuagint was the Bible used by Apostles and the early Christians. The use of the Greek Bible provided spiritual soil for the universal Christianity which successfully incorporated Jewish ideas into the teaching of Jesus in the Hellenistic settings. On the contrary, the Jewish religious leaders that would later form the Masorates rejected the value of the LXX as Canon by upholding only the Hebrew texts. In return, church fathers pointed out the intentional blurs of the Hebrew Old Testament, by claiming that, in the text, some of the passages representing the Messianic type of Jesus were altered or taken out.
The essay analyses the writings of Justin the Martyr who defended the historical value of the letter of Aristeas and the supreme place of the Septuagint as Canon of the church. Irenaeus of Lyon also claimed the LXX as the Scripture of the “catholic” church. Most of the church Fathers including Clement of Alexandria supported the inspirational translation of the Septuagint, with firm faith on the legendary tradition gradually added to the Letter. While Origen was the first Christian scholar who compared the LXX with other translations including the Hebrew text then, it was Jerome who insisted canonical value of Hebrew text over the LXX. The outcome was his Latin Vulgate. Augustine, however, persistently opposed Jerome’s translation and use of the Hebrew text. The essay focuses mainly on the debates between the bishop of Hippo and the hermit of Bethlehem.

• 김동주(호서대학교) | Kim, Dong Joo