#deuterocanonical – @fathershane on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

An former catholic (and anti-catholic) turned evangelical christian blogger here on tumblr posted that catholics added the apocrypha to the bible during the council of trent as a response to the protestant reformation. I was under the impression that these books were already a part of scripture and that they were taken out by protestant reformers? Which is true?

You're definitely correct, and I'm afraid our friend has been seriously misled. Luther and Calvin and Zwingli all write about why they want those books removed from the Bible.

The history is crystal clear if you research it; here's a good link if you want to go deeper.

God bless you!

- Father Shane

#bible #deuterocanonical #apocrypha #reformation #protestant #luther #calvin #scripture #christian #catholic

fathershane

Anonymous asked:

Father, we've all heard the sadly misinformed argument that the Church added the Septuagint in the middle ages. While you and others have shown this to be false, it does beg the question: Does the Church have the authority to add books to the scriptural canon? Or was the canon closed forever? Thanks, TMMKC

How's this for an answer? "We added 27 books to the canon of Scripture in the first century, and then it was closed forever." :-)

Okay, just to be nuanced:

God wrote the Bible using human authors as free willing instruments, so it's not just that "we" create Scripture on our own. It's his Word, and it's his Revelation to us.
The basic criteria for New Testament books to be considered revealed Scripture are: 1) origin from Apostolic times, 2) use in the Church's liturgy from the very beginning, 3) doctrinal orthodoxy, and 4) presence on the ancient lists of Scripture.

So when the Council of Trent definitively stated the list of books in the Bible, it wasn't choosing anything arbitrarily; actually, it was just permanently establishing the same list already given in its entirety by Saint Athanasius in 367 AD.

God bless you!

- Father Shane

#bible #scripture #athanasius #greek #septuagint #deuterocanonical #medieval #middle ages #trent #renaissance #church #christian #catholic #canon

fathershane

Anonymous asked:

Father,I was wondering.. I know that this verse:Wisdom of Solomon 7:26"For she is the refuge of eternal light, the spoltess mirror of the power of God, image of his goodness."is about Sophia (or Wisdom of God).. but could it not also be used to describe Mary? I read a poem once that said Christ is the Sun and Mary the moon, she constantly reflects the light of God to the world. Wouldn't that make her a "spoltless mirror of the power of God, image of his goodness"? And, as the Madonna, we see her holding her son, Christ, in her arms.. could that not make her "the refuge of eternal light"? God Bless you.

Sure, definitely. Many of those images in the Old Testament are very flexible and pliable, and we can read different truths in them at different levels. This reflection is beautiful... thanks for sharing it!

God bless you.

- Father Shane

#bible #mary #virgin mary #deuterocanonical #sophia #wisdom #god