In theory, Leviticus is Scripture. But you wouldn’t know it from the way it is treated in many churches.
I bring this up because yesterday was one of the few days that Episcopal churches had the option for a reading from Leviticus. It was the OT reading from the Book of Common Prayer lectionary. But of course we are currently in the season of Easter, when we usually replace the OT reading with a reading from Acts. In practice, therefore, this reading is never used.
The other occasion that Leviticus gets read is on Proper 2. Unfortunately, Proper two is only used when Easter falls as early as it possibly can. By my calculations, Proper 2 has not been used since the Episcopal church adopted the new lectionary in 1979.  It is scheduled to be used for the first time in 2008, when Easter is on March 23. But the Episcopal church will switch to the Revised Common Lectionary at the beginning of Advent 2007, so this reading will not be used either.
I have not checked out the RCL and how it uses Leviticus, but I hear there are only a few readings from it.
I think we need to update the old saying about a tree falling in the forest. An appropriate question for biblical scholars is, if a book of the Bible is never read in church, is it still Scripture?
On May 8th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Hi Kevin,
Nice blog.
Another question to juxtapose with yours is “What makes a certain book in the Bible ‘Scripture’?”
To give you hope on this, we do read and I preach/teach Leviticus in our church.