Catholic Bible

The Catholic Bible

Handwritten Bible at Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. This Bible was written in Belgium in 1407 AD, for reading aloud in a monastery.

See here for list of the List of the Books of the Bible with abbreviations

See History of the Bible for historical background and important editions of it.

Structure of the Catholic Bible

• 46 Old Testament books
  • Pentateuch: 5 books
    • "penta" means five
  • Historical: 16 books
    • includes the 5: BIblical Novellas
  • Wisdom: 7 books
  • Prophetic: 18 books
• 27 New Testament books
  • Gospels: 4 books
  • Acts: 1 book
  • Pauline Epistles: 14 books
    • Epistle means "letter"
  • Catholic Epistles: 7 books
  • Revelation: 1 book

Old Testament

Pentateuch

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

Historical Books

• also called "Historical Introduction

Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah

Biblical Novellas

Tobit
Judith
Esther
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

Wisdom

Job
Psalm(s)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom
Sirach

Prophets

• also called "Prophetic Books"

Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

New Testament

Gospels

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

Acts

• sometimes considered part of the Gospels since Acts is essentially Part II of the Gospel of Luke
  • but was separated from the Gospels so that the Gospels would all correspond to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ
  • and Acts would tell the narrative history of the Apostolic period (life of the Apostles)

Acts of the Apostles

New Testament Letters

Pauline Epistles

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews

Catholic Epistles

James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude

Revelation

Revelation

Deuterocanonical books & Protestant exclusions

• "deutero" = second, so "belonging to the second canon"
  • also called "biblical apocrypha"
• the Deuterocanonical books are seven books from later Old Testament writings that were accepted and studied at the time of Christ
  • they also included additions to other OT works, including a Psalm
    • but which later Jews (after 1st century AD) and, later, Protestants, disregarded
    • primarily because of their references to intercessions of the saints, prayers to the dead, purgatory, resurrection of the body and confession
  • Protestants call these books "Apocrypha" and do not consider them canonical
• the books were part of the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament), which was the most commonly used OT form during the 1st century A.D. (times of Christ)
• Martin Luther excluded the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from his canon (list of divine scripture
  • because he claimed these books contradicted sola gratia (salvation by grace alone) and sola fide (justification by faith alone)
  • Protestant doctrines of justification and salvation are called the "five solae"
• see
  • Answering the Most Common Objection to the Deuterocanonical Books | Catholic Answers Magazine
  • The Deuterocanonical Books slide show