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Did the Catholic Church compile the books of the Bible?

I have often met some Christians who, in reply to my question, say that early Christians (in a vague, generic sense) determined and compiled the books of the Bible. I was not satisfied with this type of evasive reply. But some authority should have decided which books are authoritative, and they should have had agreement how to interpret the Bible. In fact, there should have been some authority which sanctioned the doctrines of the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ, etc. Otherwise, early Christians would have been free individually to interpret the scriptures as they saw fit. Obviously, this was not intended, which is why as early as the 2nd century AD, those who disagreed with the authority were expelled, anathematized and banished. There was therefore only one sole authority. If the Catholic Church compiled the Bible, then its interpretations thereof must be deemed authoritative. Please resolve.

I think you are mostly correct about the New Testament. The Old Testament has a slightly different story.

The New Testament canon of the Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible are the same with 27 Books.

The difference in the Old Testaments actually goes back to the time before and during Christ’s life. At this time, there was no official Jewish canon of scripture.

The Jews in Egypt translated their choices of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the second century before Christ. This translation of 46 books, called the Septuagint, had wide use in the Roman world because most Jews lived far from Palestine in Greek cities. Many of these Jews spoke only Greek.

The early Christian Church was born into this world. The Church, with its bilingual Jews and more and more Greek-speaking Gentiles, used the books of the Septuagint as its Bible. Remember the early Christians were just writing the documents what would become the New Testament.

After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, with increasing persecution from the Romans and competition from the fledgling Christian Church, the Jewish leaders came together and declared its official canon of Scripture, eliminating seven books from the Septuagint.

The books removed were Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach, and Baruch. Parts of existing books were also removed including Psalm 151 (from Psalms), parts of the Book of Esther, Susanna (from Daniel as chapter 13), and Bel and the Dragon (from Daniel as chapter 14).

The Christian Church did not follow suit but kept all the books in the Septuagint. 46 + 27 = 73 Books total.

1500 years later, Protestants decided to keep the Catholic New Testament but change its Old Testament from the Catholic canon to the Jewish canon. The books they dropped are sometimes called the Apocrypha.

Here is a Catholic Bible website: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/

With love in Christ.

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SearchByVerseTM LARGE PRINT Catholic Bible (CHURCH APPROVED OFFICIAL DOUAY-RHEIMS VERSION): Fully Searchable By Book, Chapter and Verse! FIRST FULLY SEARCHABLE ... Bible | Search By Verse Bible) List Price: $3.99

NOW IN EASY TO READ LARGE PRINT!THE FIRST FULLY SEARCHABLE CATHOLIC BIBLE FOR THE KINDLE, WITH COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS, FULLY INTERACTIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS & PAGE BY PAGE CONTEXTUAL INTERFACE!This full and unabridged large print version of Catholic Bible, which employs the SearchByVerse™ system, is the only Bible available on the Kindle today that allows you to do ALL of the following:- See EXACTLY which book, chapter and verse of the Bible you are reading on every single page- Search the entire Bible by book, chapter and verse (e...

Catholic Bible: Douay-Rheims English Translation List Price: $5.99

Catholic Bible. English translation of the Douay-Rheims. Contains Old and New Testaments. This book has been formatted to fit on all E-Readers and across the many devices which the Kindle app works on, with fantastic hyperlinks which make for very easy navigation from any page to any page! Contains the following books:Old TestamentGenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel (1 Kings)2 Samuel (2 Kings)1 Kings (3 Kings)2 Kings (4 Kings)1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon)2 Chronicles (2 Paralipomenon)Ezra (1 Esdras)Nehemiah (2 Esdras)TobitJudithEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsWisdomEcclesiasticusIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsBaruchEzekielDanielHosea (Osee)JoelAmosObadiah (Abdias)JonahMicah (Michaeas)NahumHabakkukZephaniah (Sophonias)Haggai (Aggaeus)Zechariah (Zacharias)Malachi1 Maccabees2 MaccabeesNew TestamentMatthewMarkLukeJohnActs of the ApostlesThe EpistlesRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeThe Apocalypse of St...

	The Sacred Bible Modern Catholic Public Domain Edition List Price: $1.99
	Version summary:The Catholic Public Domain Version, including Old and New Testament, formatted for the kindle. The CPDV of the Bible is a translation of the Sacred Bible, Sixtus V and Clement VIII Latin Vulgate edition...

The Catholic Church and the Bible $11.95 Are Catholics biblical illiterates? So goes the frequent question, proving that myths die hard. But Catholics ought to be able to answer the charge made by many non-Catholics in this regard. This book is a response to Fundamentalist critics and an explanation of the Catholic biblical tradition. The Catholic Church and the Bible is a significant scriptural study guide, published from a Catholic perspective and particularly keyed to the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. The well-planned, straight-forward text is clearly outlined to make information easy to find and understand. Main topics include: - The Catholic understanding of the Bible - God's Word and its purpose in the Church - A biblical theology of the Mass, the place of the Bible in the Sacred Liturgy - A question-and-answer section that deals with pertinent and popular inquiries made by Catholics and non-Catholics alike This work should be heartily welcomed by both clergy and laity, for Father Stravinskas sheds new light on Catholic Bible study by writing with candor, clarity and scriptural backing. This is ideal for high schools and RCIA programs. "An excellent tool for the Catholic apologist. The reader has everything in one place: pithy answers plus biblical and magisterial citations. Fr. Stravinskas is the best priest-apologist in the country." "Karl Keating, Author, Catholicism and Fundamentalism Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas is the well-known editor of the The Catholic Answer magazine, a contributing editor to National Catholic Register , and has written over 500 articles for numerous Catholic publications.

Illustrated Catholic Bible $29.95 Finally, a multimedia Catholic Bible for the entire family! Kids (of all ages) will love the pictures; students will search the Bible and click open the Catholic biblical encyclopedia; parents will enjoy sacred music and consider Church documents about Scripture study (all included in Welcome to the Catholic Church). Included in this disc are the complete Revised Standard Version--Catholic Edition; Hundreds of color illustrations by J. Tissot; Catholic Encyclopedic Dictionary of Biblical Terms; an illustrated Life of Christ; Church documents on Scripture; Liturgical music; Bible maps; illustrated summaries; 10,000 hyperlinks and powerful search capacity.' ' SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 'Windows ??: Pentium 2+ processor or equivalent. 128MB RAM, Windows?? 98SE, ME, 2000, XP. CD-ROM drive. Internet Explorer 6 must be installed on system (does not need to be primary browser). Sound card and speakers are needed for audio.' Macintosh ??: OS X 10.3+. Sound card and speakers are needed for audio.

Handbook of Catholic Apologetics $21.95 Unbelievers, doubters and skeptics continue to attack the truths of Christianity. Handbook of Catholic Apologetics is the only book that categorizes and summarizes all the major arguments in support of the main Christian beliefs, including key distinctively Catholic doctrines . Also included is a Protestant-friendly treatment of Catholic-Protestant issues. The Catholic answers to Protestant questions show how Catholicism is the fullness of the Christian faith. 'An expanded, Catholic edition of the popular book Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Handbook of Catholic Apologetics is full of the wisdom and wit, clarity and insight of philosophers Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. This is an informative and valuable guidebook for anyone looking for answers to questions of faith and reason. Whether you are asking the questions yourself or want to respond to others who are, here is the resource you have been waiting for. '' Topics include: ' faith and reason ' the existence of God ' God's nature ' creation and evolution ' providence and free will ' miracles ' problem of evil ' Bible's historical reliability ' divinity of Christ ' Christ's resurrection ' life after death ' heaven, hell, purgatory ' salvation ' Christianity and other religions ' objective truth ' Sacramentalism ' The Eucharist and the Real Presence of Jesus ' Mary's role in the Christian order ' he authority of the Church ' Communion of saints ' Faith and works ' Catholicism as Complete Christianity'' ' Peter J. Kreeft, Ph.D., is professor of philosophy at Boston College where he has taught since 1965. A popular lecturer, he has also taught at many other colleges, seminaries and educational institutions. Kreeft has written more than fifty books, including Fundamentals of the Faith, You Can Understand the Bible, Catholic Christianity, Because God is Real, Heaven: The Heart's Deepest Longing and Summa of the Summa . ' Ronald Tacelli, S.J., is associate professor of philosophy at Boston College and has published articles in the Public Affairs Quarterly and Dowside Review. '

Catholic Family Bible - Black $79.95 The Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (the Ignatius Bible ), the text used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is now available for the first time as a deluxe Family Bible. This beautiful translation known for its accuracy, readability, and fidelity to tradition, is now printed in large, easy-to-read type, with over 180 full-color illustrations, and many special features including a 16 page Family record on laminated paper; Old Master illustrations of Old Testament heroes and prophets; a ???pilgrimage in pictures??? to important Shrines and the Holy Land; Full color sections with art and meditations on the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross; 48 inspiring pages on the Life of Christ as painted by the Old Masters; Study aids"including a 256 page Biblical Dictionary and Concordance; Deluxe side-sewn binding and beautifully gold-gilded page edges, and much, much more! This extra-large size, glorious Bible with a cushioned, gold-stamped cover will last for generations! Now with the RSV-CE text and this superb quality you'll have a Bible that is sure to speak for generations"clearly and elegantly.

Catholic Family Bible - Ivory $79.95 Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition (the Ignatius Bible ), the text used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is now available for the first time as a deluxe Family Bible. This beautiful translation known for its accuracy, readability, and fidelity to tradition, is now printed in large, easy-to-read type, with over 180 full-color illustrations, and many special features including a 16 page Family record on laminated paper; Old Master illustrations of Old Testament heroes and prophets; a ???pilgrimage in pictures??? to important Shrines and the Holy Land; Full color sections with art and meditations on the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross; 48 inspiring pages on the Life of Christ as painted by the Old Masters; Study aids"including a 256 page Biblical Dictionary and Concordance; Deluxe side-sewn binding and beautifully gold-gilded page edges, and much, much more! This extra-large size, glorious Bible with a cushioned, gold-stamped cover will last for generations! Now with the RSV-CE text and this superb quality you'll have a Bible that is sure to speak for generations"clearly and elegantly.