In the two millennia since the Christian Church has existed, different leaders and sects have often argued over giving canonical status to the extra-biblical books known as the Apocrypha. The books in question are as follows: 1stand 2nd Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Book of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Song of the 3 Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, and additions to Esther. These books range in literary character from the historical to the apocalyptic and contain many stories and wisdoms.
The Apocrypha were not regarded as canon by either the Palestinian or Alexandrian Jews of Jesus’ time. They are now considered canon by neither Jews nor Protestants. However, at the Council of Trent in 1546, Catholics declared 11 of the Apocryphal books canonical. Catholics do not accept as canon 1st and 2nd Esdras, or the Prayer of Manasseh. St. Augustine of Hippo was a major proponent among the early church fathers for the Apocrypha, and he listed forty-four canonical books.
Roman Catholics have put forward many reasons for supporting a canonical Apocrypha, but I will only focus on four. Firstly, the Council of Trent declared the Apocrypha canonical.. Secondly, some early church fathers accepted them as canonical and quoted from them in their teachings. Thirdly, the New Testament quotes from the Septuagint, which contained the Apocrypha. Lastly, the Councils of Rome, Hippo, and Carthage accepted their canonicity. These are only a few of the many reasons Catholics have given to support the Apocryphal books as canon.
The claims for canonicity put forward by the Roman Catholic Church are thoroughly disputed using historical and biblical facts. The Council of Trent whe...
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...ally unverified, historically unfounded, and the decision by Catholics at Trent to include it in the canon was an overreaction to the Protestant reformation. Every instance the Roman Catholic Church gives for accepting the Apocrypha as canonical is easily disputed using known historical and biblical facts. Arguments for the canonicity of these books requires too much stipulation to make a complete argument, and they all largely rest on shaky ground.
Works Cited
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Geisler, Norman L., and Ralph E. MacKenzie. "Chapter 9: Apocrypha." Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995. 157-75. Print.
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The Catholic Church leaders had the elitist mentality that only the Catholic clergies, not the laity, were intelligent enough or had the reasonable judgement to read and interpret the Bible in a correct manner. While they placed a ban on the Bible in the pretense of holding the biblical doctrines pure and holy and preventing the spread of the contagion of heresy, the fact of the truth was that they did not want to lose the control over people.
The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
New International Version: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
The NRSV Notetaker's Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
Metzger, B. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. New York.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.
Church History in Plain Language is written by Bruce L. Shelley. This work focuses on the history of Christianity from 6 B.C. to the current period. It covers some of Christianity’s greatest events, theologians, and the various subsection of Christianity. Other than the events leading up to the death of Jesus, I had very little knowledge of Christianity’s history. After reading through the book, I have gained understanding on the Christian Councils, scholasticism, Christendom, and modern trends of Christianity.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging