Q. 1. I recently attended a retreat. The person who presented the retreat constantly referred to the "Hebrew Scriptures." He appeared to be referring to the Old Testament. Can you please clarify this term, the "Hebrew Scriptures?"

A. 1. The "Hebrew Scriptures" is another term for the "Old Testament." I expect that in your group there were non-Catholics, especially non-Christian Jews. In order not to alienate non-Christians, speakers, in the spirit of ecumenism, now prefer to use the term "Hebrew Scriptures" instead of the "Old Testament."

Other than the terms being synonym to each other, there are no differences in the Bible.