Though this Addition therefore has its chronological difficulties, they
need not be regarded as absolutely insurmountable.
CANONICITY.
Before the correspondence of Origen with Julius Africanus, whose letter
is "a model of sober criticism" (Swete, _Patristic Study_, p. 56)--a
correspondence renewed between Eusebius of C?¦sarea and Porphyry[53],
and between Rufinus and Jerome, with less sobriety--we have no record of
the point having been mooted. For, as Bissell writes (p. 448), "We have
no evidence that these pieces were not regarded as fully on a level with
the remainder of the book." Africanus heard Origen use Susanna in
controversy with one Bassus, and subsequently wrote to remonstrate, he
himself being resident in Palestine. Some of his objections in this
famous letter have considerable force, while others are very weak
(_D.C.B._ I. p. 54b).
Origen deems Susanna part of the genuine Daniel, cut out by the Jews, as
he suggests in his _Epistle_ to Africanus. Bishop Gray (_O.T._ p. 612)
describes this Epistle as 'suspected'; but it appears now to be
generally accepted.
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