Book of Jude

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DJMarshall85

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Can someone tell me about the Book of Jude? Who wrote it, when, etc… The only other Jude i can think of is Judas, and that doesn’t make sense for him to have a book in the bible… I just would like some info on that particular book in the bible… Thanks a bunch!
In Christ,
Dean
 
From Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.'s book, “Inside the Bible”:


  1. *]It is the last of the Catholic Epistles.
    *]St. Jude is the brother of St. James who was the author of the letter of St. James, as well as the Bishop of the Church in Jerusalem and a cousin of Jesus (which makes Jude a cousin of Jesus as well); the author is definately a Jewish Christian.
    *]No consensus on the date of composition, but about 70 A.D. is probable.
    *]Teme: the book is about fidelity to the unchangeable deposit of faith from the apostles in spite of the enticements of false teachers.
    *]Summary: the epistle is most like a homily or exhortation regarding the above.
    *]Theology: primarily an exhortation to keep the faith pure and inviolate in the face of dissenters who are upsetting the faithful, especially in the matter of up upright moral living.

    I hope that Fr. Baker’s words are of some help.

    Donnchadh
 
Thank you so much!!! That really does help out a lot. And, I think I’ll go out and take a look at that book myself(the one you cited), as it seems quite useful.
In Christ,
Dean
 
HE is also described by the name Thaddeus or Jude Thaddeus in the scripture interesting Jude is more literally Judas so there were 2 Judas in the big 12 at one time but the translators naturally try to diffuse further confusion and labled him Jude thus he is the forgotten disciple with the same unpopular name as the betrayer thus he was never prayed to later on in the cult of the saints he became the patron of lost causes since he was the the apostles that was generally forgotten about and never prayed to.

People that prayed to him seemed to have their prayers answered to in extraordianty ways thus increasing devotion to him he is now one of the most popular sainst prayed to after being initially ignored.
Actually he might be the most popular apostle prayed to in modern times. HE might be making up for lost time and yes the Book of Jude is traditionally beleived to be written by the same aposltle Jude. It is short but very important especially in establishing the authority of the early church. Hmm we don’t have a problem with that today?
 
It is also interesting that he quotes from two books that are not included in the OT canon.

Verse 9 is an allusion to The Assumption od Moses.

“9 When Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee.”

Verses 14 & 15 are quotes from The Book of Enoch.

“14 Now of these Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying: Behold, the Lord cometh with thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to reprove all the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness, whereby they have done ungodly, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God.”

Non-Catholics have no explanation of how such could be included in the canon. My thought is that the early church knew what they were doing when they made this part of the canon and it says volumes about the authority of the church to decide what is inspired canon.

Pax vobiscum,
 
The Book of Enoch was popular in early christian circles in fact the Ethopian Christians still have it in their OT canon.

As far as the Assumption of Moses its likely this was a strong story in Jewish Oral tradition. You know the Jews were not protestants they didn’t write every tradition down some where told orally. The Assumption of Moses was never really taken seriously as canonical by anybody but was an apocraphal book its likely the oral tradition was deemed authentic in some parts though.

The book of Jude as short as it is gives us some unique quotes that come out of some rather unique sources. To bad this is the only writings we have from him I am sure he could write some interesting stuff quoting some even more bizarre sources. It didn’t seem to matter to him that some of his sources were not entirely orthodox. He seemed to be looking for the kernals of truth in jewish folklore and not necessarily looking at these sources as some historical fact.
 
You are welcome. Go out and get the book, for it is an excellent source of basic Bible info. Fr. Baker, S.J. also has a TV series on his book through EWTN. It is also called “Inside the Bible.” You can probably order a copy of the show from EWTN.

It is interesting to note that St. Jude uses extra-canonical sources to reinforce his teachings. Though one shouldn’t be surprised, as the Catholic Church, starting with Jesus Himself, routinely quote from works that were very popular in the Alexandrian Jewish community, though they were not, and indeed still are not, popular in the Palestinian Jewish community.

It is one of the reasons I came back to the Church; if Jesus Himself quoted from the ‘Apocryphal/Deuterocannonical’ (sp?) books with routine, how could I reject them?

Granted the “Lost Books of the Old Testament” are not in the same league as these, however there is much tradition (small “t” intentional) which encompasses different parts of their use.

Also, the Book of Enoch that one can read today was translated from the only copies that survived and they are in the Slavonic Orthodox Churches of Russia, Ukraine, etc. I had not known of the Ge’ez Orthodox Churches (Ethiopian/Eritrean/Egyptian Orthodox) using them. However, we are blessed with an Ethiopian Orthodox church here in Denver, as well as a well versed/open Greek Orthodox Church, and three Oriental Catholic Churches as well. I will seek out more info on the Ge’ez use of the Book of Enoch when I can.

Donnchadh
 
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