Grace Thompson
The Catholic Bible contains a different number of books compared to Protestant Bibles. Catholic Bibles include seven books that are considered non-canonical in Protestantism, resulting in a larger Old Testament. These seven books are Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and the First and Second Maccabees. The New American Bible, the version most commonly used by Catholics, counts 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, for a total of 73 books.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of books in the Catholic Old Testament | 46 |
| Number of books in the Catholic Bible | 73 |
| Number of books in the New Testament | 27 |
| Number of deuterocanonical books | 7 |
| Number of books in the Old Testament in Protestant Bibles | 39 |
| Number of books in the Bible in some Protestant traditions | 80 |
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What You'll Learn
The Catholic Bible contains 73 books
The deuterocanonical books are included in the Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. They date from 300 BC to 100 AD, before the separation of the Christian church from Judaism. They are regularly found in old manuscripts and cited by ancient scholars. The Catholic Church considers that the Council of Rome in 382 AD defined the complete canon of the Bible, including the deuterocanonical books. This canon was later explicitly accepted by the Synod of Hippo in 393 AD, the Council of Carthage in 397 AD, and again in 419 AD.
The New American Bible, the version most commonly used by Catholics, presents Jeremiah and Lamentations as separate books, contributing to the count of 73 books. Some scholars see a notable consistency between the two books, in their common subject matter, tone, and vocabulary. However, others point to the poetic style of Lamentations as sharply different from Jeremiah's combination of history, biography, and prophecy.
The Ethiopian "narrow" biblical canon includes 81 books, comprising the 27 books of the New Testament, the Old Testament books found in the Septuagint, and additional books such as Enoch. The Eastern Orthodox Church includes some additional books in its canon, such as 1 Esdras, 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, and the Prayer of Manasseh.
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46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament
The Catholic Old Testament comprises 46 books in total. This is in contrast to the Protestant Old Testament, which consists of 39 books. The difference in book numbers between the two versions of the Old Testament stems from the varying degrees to which the Catholic Church and the Protestant reformers embraced the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.
The Septuagint included several books that were not present in the Hebrew Bible. These additional texts, known as the deuterocanonical books, are considered canonical by the Catholic Church but are relegated to an apocryphal status by Protestant denominations.
The deuterocanonical books encompass a range of literary genres, including historical narratives, wisdom literature, and prophetic writings. They offer valuable insights into the intertestamental period, providing a bridge between the Old and New Testaments. These books include 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, bits of Esther and Daniel, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Azariah, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1, 2, and 3 Maccabees.
In contrast to the Old Testament, both the Catholic and Protestant canons agree on the number of books in the New Testament: 27. This consensus is due to the fact that the New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the early church fathers universally accepted the Greek text as the authoritative version.
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Deuterocanonical books are considered canonical by the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church considers the deuterocanonical books to be canonical. These books are also known as the deuterocanon or the Old Testament Apocrypha. The term "deuterocanonical" means "of, pertaining to, or constituting a second canon". The deuterocanonical books were added to the Bible at the Council of Trent in 1546, though the Catholic Church had been using them since its inception.
The deuterocanonical books are Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and the first and second books of Maccabees, as well as the Greek additions to Esther and Daniel. These books are considered canonical by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East. However, Rabbinic Judaism and Protestants regard them as non-canonical, though they are often included in Protestant Bibles as an intertestamental section known as the Apocrypha.
The deuterocanonical books are included in the Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. They date from 300 BC to 100 AD, before the separation of the Christian church from Judaism, and they are regularly found in old manuscripts and cited by early Church Fathers such as Irenaeus, Cyprian, and Tertullian. These Church Fathers considered the deuterocanonical books to be divinely inspired Scripture, and they used and cited them in the same manner as the Hebrew Scripture.
The Catholic Church holds that it alone has the authority to determine the canon of Scripture. The Church's position is that either the infallible Roman Catholic Church has absolute authority to decide the issue, or there is no final authority and absolute chaos in attempting to define the limits of the canon. The Catholic Church's canon includes 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, for a total of 73 books.
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The Old Testament was published in two volumes, in 1609 and 1610
The Douay Old Testament is significant because it is the first authorised English translation of the Bible for Roman Catholics. Prior to its publication, English-speaking Roman Catholics used translations of the Bible that were not specifically authorised for their use, such as the Great Bible of 1535 and the Bishops' Bible. The Douay Old Testament was translated from the Latin Vulgate, an ancient and respected version of the Bible, and it became the standard version of Scripture for English-speaking Catholics.
The publication of the Douay Old Testament is also notable because it was sponsored by King James VI and I, who was the monarch of both England and Scotland at the time. The King James Version of the Bible, also known as the Authorized Version, was an English translation of the Christian Bible commissioned by King James for the Church of England. It was published in 1611, just a year after the second volume of the Douay Old Testament appeared.
The King James Version of the Bible became extremely influential and was considered the standard English Bible for centuries. It is known for its "majesty of style" and is considered one of the most important books in English culture. The Douay Old Testament, on the other hand, was supplanted in popularity by the Jerusalem Bible in 1966. However, it remains a significant translation of the Bible, especially for English-speaking Roman Catholics.
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The New Testament was published in 1582
The New Testament, the first English Roman Catholic Scriptures, was published in 1582. This publication, known as the Rheims New Testament, was a landmark turning point in church history. It was the first time the Roman Catholic Church authorized the printing of scriptures in the English language. Previously, the Church held a policy of "kill anyone who prints the Bible in English" for over 1,000 years.
The Rheims New Testament was translated from the Latin Vulgate, the only source text accepted by the Roman Catholic Church at the time, despite the original scriptures being in Hebrew and Greek. This translation was completed at the College of Rheims and was met with outcry from Anglican and Protestant Churches, who deemed it grossly inaccurate. They argued that the translation was based on the corrupt "Latin Vulgate" rather than the original Hebrew and Greek texts, and that it was altered to reflect Roman Catholic teachings more favourably.
The New Testament consists of 27 books, while the Old Testament, published later in two volumes in 1609 and 1610, comprises 45 or 46 books. The Bible, as a whole, is considered to have 72 or 73 books, depending on whether Jeremiah and Lamentations are counted as one or two separate books.
The New Testament books were composed largely in the second half of the 1st century CE, with the first book believed to be either the Epistle to the Galatians (written around 48 CE) or 1 Thessalonians (written around 50 CE). The Rheims New Testament leaves, measuring approximately 8 inches by 6 inches, were printed on 100% rag cotton linen sheet, ensuring their excellent condition even after over 400 years.
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Frequently asked questions
The Catholic Old Testament contains 46 books.
The Catholic Bible contains 73 books (46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament).
The deuterocanonical books are seven books considered canonical by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East. These books are: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and First and Second Maccabees.
Yes, the deuterocanonical books are considered part of the Old Testament canon by the Catholic Church.
Catholic Bibles include seven books that are considered non-canonical in Protestantism, resulting in a larger Old Testament canon. However, many Protestant Bibles include these books in an intertestamental section called the Apocrypha, resulting in an 80-book Bible.
