Friday, July 27, 2012

An Ex-Catholic and the Bible Canon

Another anti/ex-Catholic with the screen name "unmerited favor" has perpetuated the Protestant myth that the Catholic Church "added books" to the Bible. He claimed the Council of Trent added "16 books."

His claim is wrong on 3 points

1) We did not add these books, rather Protestants removed them
2) There are only 6-7 books (depends on how you count them) that are in dispute, not 16.
3) These books were accepted by the Church of Rome officially already in the 4th and 5th Centuries, and were quoted by Church Fathers and Popes before this.

The following quote are taken from James Gallegos quoting the early Christians , note over 1000 years before the Council of Trent, the Council of Rome, Hippo, and Carthage all included the books that Trent "added" according to this former Catholic-now antiCatholic.

"The order of the Old Testament begins here: Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book; Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Joshua [Son of] Nave, one book; Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; Kings, four books [ie., 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings];Paralipomenon [Chronicles], two books; Psalms, one book; Solomon, three books: Proverbs, one book; Ecclesiastes, one book; Canticle of Canticles, one book; likewise Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus [Sirach], one book. Likewise the order of the Prophets. Isaias one book, Jeremias one book,...lamentations, Ezechiel one book, Daniel one book, Osee ... Nahum ... Habacuc ... Sophonias ... Aggeus ... Zacharias ... Malachias ... Likewise the order of the historical [books]: Job, one book; Tobit, one book; Esdras, two books [Ezra and Nehemiah]; Esther, one book; Judith, one book; Maccabees, two books."--Council of Rome,Decree of Pope Damasus(A.D. 382),in DEN,34

"That nothing be read in church besides the Canonical Scripture. Item, that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in church under the name of divine Scripture. But the Canonical Scriptures are as follows: Genesis. Exodus. Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy. Joshua the Son of Nun. The Judges. Ruth. The Kings, four books. The Chronicles, two books. Job. The Psalter. The Five books of Solomon. The Twelve Books of the Prophets. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Ezechiel. Daniel. Tobit. Judith. Esther. Ezra, two books. Macchabees, two books."--Council of Hippo,Canon 36(A.D. 393),in NPNF2,XIV:453-454

"[It has been decided] that nothing except the canonical Scriptures should be read in the Church under the name of the divine Scriptures. But the canonical Scriptures are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, Paralipomenon, two books, Job, the Psalter of David, five books of Solomon [Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach], twelve books of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of the Maccabees."--Council of Carthage III, Canon 47, 397(A.D. 397),in DEN,39-40

If this is not enough evidence that Trent did not "add" books, he is more than free too look at James Gallegos website, look at Council of Florence, which was done by the Catholic Church before the REformation, that affirmed that same canon that Trent would have.

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