Yesterday on Twitter a friendly ecumenical dialogue developed around the Witch Test.
The biblical Deuterocanon came up, and the resulting discussion struck me as a perfect teachable moment.
If you’re not familiar with the Deuterocanon, it refers to the parts of the Bible that Catholics and Orthodox accept as divinely inspired but Protestants don’t.
While the deuterocanonical books include some parts of books the rest of which pretty much everybody accepts, the classification mostly refers to the following books:
- Tobit
- Judith
- The Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach
- Baruch
- 1 & 2 Maccabees
Including the Deuterocanon gives Catholic Bibles a total of 73 books, while Protestant Bibles have 66.
The latter of which symbolizes double imperfection in Hebrew numerals.
Ominous.
Anyway, I can attest that each of these books is spiritually salutary and fit for moral and theological instruction.
The most common objection to the deuterocanonical books’ canonicity is the claim that they’re not part of the Hebrew Bible.
Which is misleading for a couple of key reasons.
That’s a screencap from the table of contents for the Septuagint, which was a Greek translation of the Old Testament prepared in the 3rd century BC.
Tradition has it that the Septuagint had 70 translators, hence its academic nickname the LXX.
And it includes the Deuterocanon.
Fun theological trivia: Pious legend held that all 70 translators came up with the exact same translation, despite working independently while having no contact with each other. Some even hold that the translation effort itself was divinely inspired.
Back to the verifiable historical facts, though …
The LXX enjoyed widespread use in the Ancient Near East, and even as far away as Rome.
It was tailor-made for Jews in the Greek-speaking diaspora, which had a larger population than Jerusalem.
And we know that not only was the LXX the go-to Bible of the early Church, Jesus and His apostles referenced it as inspired.
If the LXX was read and quoted by 1st century Jews including those at Qumran and Jesus Himself, where does the claim that the Deuterocanon, which the LXX contains, isn’t part of the Hebrew Bible come from?
Well, it is true that you won’t find the Deuterocanon in Jewish Bibles today.
Which is an irrelevant and pretty weird point in the context of Christian biblical discussion.
Keep in mind that the Old Testament canon was still up for debate in Jesus’ time.
In fact, various Jewish sects had their own specific canons.
The Bible canon used by modern Jews wasn’t closed until the Council of Jamnia late in the 1st century AD.
For those keeping track, that’s after Christ founded the Church.
As the One High Priest, Jesus had plenary authority over the canon of Scripture.
Even if you deny that Jesus delegated His authority to set the canon to His apostles and their successors, it’s self-defeating to claim that people who rejected His authority could have any authoritative claim to determine which books the Church accepts.
There is One Word of God, inverberated in Scripture and Incarnate in Jesus Christ.
The same Jesus is Head and eternal High Priest of the Church.
Saying that any group who deny the Word can determine what belongs to the Word is a contradiction.
Jesus and His apostles cited the Deuterocanon as trustworthy. The early Church used it in the divine liturgy. And the Council of Rome in 382 codified the Christian canon, including all the books of the LXX. The later councils of Carthage and Hippo affirmed it, and the Council of Florence defined the same canon. Which the Council of Trent then solemnly defined.
So read your Bible – your whole Bible, including Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 & 2 Maccabees.
Then read a non-inspired yet thrilling eerie adventure of biblical proportions.
