The result is that these versions of the bible have more old testament books than most protestant versions. Why do catholics have 2 books in their bible that protestants do not have. Their omission in protestant bibles leaves a chronological gap in salvation history. The first part of christian bibles is the greek old testament, which contains, at minimum, the above 24 books of the tanakh but divided into 39 books and ordered differently. The catholic old testament includes 7 additional books e. This entails the hermeneutical strategy of reading the history of christianity, especially the protestant reformation, onto the old testament text. The old testament contains 39 protestant, 46 catholic, or more orthodox and other books, divided, very broadly, into the pentateuch torah, the historical books, the wisdom books and the prophets the table below uses the spellings and names present in modern editions of the christian bible, such as the catholic new american bible revised edition and the protestant revised standard. Exodus enslavement, moses, ten plagues, passover, leave egypt, red sea crossing, mt. Catholics have fortysix 46 books in the old testament, while protestants have only thirtynine 39. The 24 books of the hebrew bible are the same as the 39 books of the protestant old testament, only divided and ordered differently. A protestant bible is a christian bible whose translation or revision was produced by protestants.
Mar 21, 2020 the 24 books of the hebrew bible are the same as the 39 books of the protestant old testament, only divided and ordered differently. Innocent i in 405 also officially listed these books. What are the differences between the hebrew bible and the old. The king james biblewhich has been called the most influential version of the most influential book in the world, in what is now its most influential language and which in the united states is the most used translation, being still considered a standard among protestant churches and being used liturgically in the orthodox church in americacontains 80 books. The method in general was the same as that followed by the authors of the first and third gospels in their use of matthews sayings of jesus and the original mark narrative, or by the authors of samuel, kings, and chronicles in their citations from the older sources.
The canon of the old testament during the fourth, and first half of the fifth, century in this period the position of the deuterocanonical literature is no longer as secure as in the primitive age. The word apocrypha was used by protestants to name books which were included in the old testament of the septuagint but not found in the old testament of the masoretic text. As you may know, the catholic and protestant bibles differ in the number of books that each considers to be divinely inspired. Why did martin luther take 7 books out of the bible. The doubts which arose should be attributed largely to a reaction against the apocryphal or pseudobiblical writings with which the east especially. How many books are in the new testament of the protestant. The old testament is largely an account of gods dealings with israel. In judaism, the collection of inspired books is known as tanakh.
These books narrate the origins of universe, the earth. Perhaps no area in catholicprotestant apologetics involves as many outright falsehoods as the history of the bible. What is the difference between protestant and catholic bibles. Books of the bible simple english wikipedia, the free. These are books which are not held equal to the sacred. The most noticeable differences occur in the number of books included and the order in which they have been arranged.
Tobias, judith, wisdom, ecclesiasticus sirach, baruch, and 1 maccabees and 2 maccabees bringing the total to 73 books. For a detailed discussion of the differences, see biblical canon. He grouped the seven deuterocanonical books of the old testament under the title apocrypha, declaring. For example, the hebrew bible has one book of samuel, while the protestant bible has i and ii. The missing books of the bible catholic education resource. The law torah in hebrew comprises the first five books. Order of the old testament books new testament bible class. Protestant bibles by greg witherow catholic bibles contain old testament books not found in protestant bibles and as such catholics are sometimes asked to explain this discrepancy.
How is the hebrew bible different from the christian old. The additional books in the catholic bible are found in the old. The following table contains a list of the 39 old testament books as listed in a typical protestant bible. Aug 07, 2016 here you can find quick, 3minute guides to every book of the old testament. Below is the protestant canon of the bible new revised standard version. Sirach is the name of one of the books of the old testament, and was written in hebrew between 200 and 175 b. The old testament apocrypha consists of eleven or twelve books, depending upon how they are divided, that the roman catholic church adds to the old testament. Notes were added to catholic bibles as those of the geneva bible. With this background, we can now address why the protestant versions of the bible have less books than the catholic versions. Books of the bible list order complete new and old testament. Thus the first six old testament books were given their final form.
We, as catholics, believe that these books are inspired by the holy spirit. Why are there 39 books and 46 books in the old testament. The protestant old testament includes exactly the same information, but organized into 39 books. Why are there more books in the catholic old testament. The protestant old testament contains 39 books and is not traditionally divided into sections as are the tanakh, orthodox old testament or catholic old testament. At the time of the reformation, martin luther and groups of protestants revisited the decision of the ancient councils. The second part is the greek new testament, containing 27 books.
Protestantisms old testament problem catholic answers. The basic reason is that the protestant leaders chose to accept only the books of the old testament accepted as canonical in judaism, which they assumed. Seven books of the bible, all in the old testament, are accepted by roman catholics and eastern orthodox, but are not accepted by jews or protestants. Why were the books of the old testament apocrypha rejected as. The old testament protestant order according to the protestant order, the books of the old testament are divided along a topical arrangement. Likewise, christian bibles divide the books of kingdoms into four books. The old testament is comprised of 39 books in the protestant bible. Frank turek addresses the issue of the difference in numbers of old testament books between the catholic and the protestant bible. The quran calls the first five books of the old testament the tawrat. Martin luther, without any authority whatsoever, removed those seven books and placed them in an appendix during the reformation. The protestant bible has 66 books in total and catholic bible has 73 books. The old testament with the apocryphaldeuterocanonical books.
The protestants reject these books as holy scripture for the following reasons. It does not appear in most protestant bibles although it has always been recognized. Among contemporary christians, the roman catholic church recognizes as deuterocanonical several books that are consigned to the old testament apocrypha by most protestant bodies, whose canon conforms to that of the contemporary hebrew bible. A list of books with brief descriptions of contents. Mar 01, 2014 the books of the canon are not obvious merely from reading them.
Why are the books of the bible placed in a particular order. The 7 missing books of the protestant bible sacred. The version of the bible in use at the time of jesus was the septuagint abbreviated lxx, for the 70 men who translated it from hebrew into greek by the beginning. Why did martin luther remove seven 7 books from the.
In 1534, martin luther translated the bible into german. Just click any books name, and get a highlevel idea of what its about. The roman catholic canon also includes the deuterocanonical. There are supposed to be 39 books in the old testament. The author of the first five old testament books is believed to be moses.
A difference is the order of the books a hebrew bible is as you know often referred to as a tanach. The protestant bible consists of 66 books which are considered to be divinely inspired. The roman catholic canon also includes the deuterocanonical books as part of the old testament these are considered apocryphal by most protestants. Protestants also have shorter versions of the books of daniel and esther.
I have written an article on the difference between the catholic and protestant bibles. The protestant version of the old testament contains 39 books. The old testament has 39 books total, which consist of. Old testament simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The catholic version of the old testament contains 46 books. Catholic old testaments include 1st and 2nd maccabees, baruch, tobit, judith, the wisdom of solomon, sirach ecclesiasticus, additions to esther, and the stories of susanna and bel and the dragon which are included in daniel. What differs between catholic bibles and protestant bibles is the old testament. The result is that these versions of the the bible have more old testament books than most protestant versions.
Tobit, judith, baruch, wisdom, sirach, 1 and 2 maccabees, and parts of esther and daniel. What is the name of the 7 books of the old testament but not. The formation of the old testament canon bible hub. The curious case of the protestant bible catholic answers. The additional books in the catholic bible are found in the old testament and include. The books of the canon are not obvious merely from reading them. The table covers both the old testament and the new testament. They remained in the appendix of protestant bibles until about 1826, and then they were removed altogether. These were the last books of the old testament written, composed in the last two centuries b.
Martin luther should prove that to protestants, since he was the founder of the protestant reformation, and yet he tried to jettison four books from the new testament. Below, there is a list or table that compares the books of the bible in judaism and in the catholic, protestant, greek orthodox, slavonic orthodox, georgian, armenian apostolic, syriac, and ethiopian churches. Theyre listed in the order they show up in protestant bibles. Did the protestant bible exist before the reformation. Both jews and christians believe these texts to be holy. How many books are in the old testament catholic bible answers. The roman catholic ot and easter orthodox ot include books that protestants consider apocryphal. I have written a short article on this subject if you wish to study it further catholic vs. The books of the old testament enter your search terms. Both the jewish bible and the hebrew canon in a protestant bible aka old testament contain 39 books, whereas a catholic bible contains 46 books in the old testament. The old testament is made up of several collections of books that are found in the jewish bible. Tanach stands for torahfirst 5 books, neviimprophets ketuvimwritings, and that also says something about the order, i. The difference between the catholic and protestant bibles specifically centers around the old testament and the old testament alone. To be sure, there are lots of theological topics on which catholics and protestants disagree, but for sheer number of popular protestant arguments that are explicitly and undeniably false, nothing tops the question of where the bible comes from and how many books it has.
The old testament of the roman catholic tradition, and also the eastern orthodox tradition includes a several writings more than in the hebrew jewish bible or the protestant old testament. That since the catholic old testament contains seven more books than protestant bibles, the catholic church must have added later to justify doctrines that jesus did not teach. In either case, without esther, this isnt a complete protestant old testament, and bp. In christianity, the old testament is the name of the first part of the bible, the one written before jesus christ. The protestant church rejects the apocrypha as being inspired, as do the jews, but in 1546 the roman catholic church officially declared some of the apocryphal books to belong to the canon of scripture. Each book has its own separate chapter index, because waiting for all the chapter links of the old testament books to appear on one page can take a while. By comparison, the books of the catholic bible include all 66 in the previous list plus seven extra books. Protestant bibles comprise 39 books of the old testament according to the jewish hebrew bible canon, known especially to nonprotestants as the protocanonical books and the 27 books of the new testament for a total of 66 books. Such bibles comprise 39 books of the old testament according to the jewish hebrew bible canon, known especially to nonprotestants as the protocanonical books and 27 books of the new testament for a total of 66 books. The catholic church based its bible off the expanded greek translation and early on shifted which books were included.
Since the 16th century, most protestant churches have accepted only works in the masoretic text of the hebrew bible as canonical books of the old testament. So instead of the original 22 books which became 24 books in current hebrew bible versions by separating several books into two and combining others, now christians had 39 separate books that we call the old testament and we also had a new design for the books. In this short essay we will briefly cover the differences between the catholic and protestant bibles and the reasons behind those differences. They ultimately decided to include the old testament books from the septuagint that catholics recognize today. The protestant bible and catholic bible are not the same book. The catholic bible includes seven additional books within the old testament note. Why the catholic bible has 7 more books than the protestant bible common misunderstanding. The protestant reformation, which began in germany in 1517 with the 95 theses of martin luther, gave rise to a new canon of the old testament. The septuagint is a greek translation of the old testament which dates at least to the 2nd century bc, the masoretic text is the modern hebrew version of the old. The books of the old testament are listed below, each of them linked to their chapter index. Jul 11, 2018 perhaps no area in catholic protestant apologetics involves as many outright falsehoods as the history of the bible.
Genesis creation, the fall, the flood, the spread of the nations, abraham, isaac, jacob, and joseph. Protestants have shorter old testaments because the leaders of the protestant reformation removed books from the old testament. The old testament abbreviated ot is the first part of the christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the twentyfour books of the hebrew bible or tanakh, a collection of ancient religious hebrew writings by the israelites believed by most christians and religious jews to be the sacred word of god. Heres a protestant sola scripturist who argues that wisdom actually was in meltios canon, on the basis of the text. Your listing of old testament passages seems to rest on the premise that the protestant reformation has parallels in the old testament, thereby providing biblical justification for the reformation.
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