What Bible do Catholics use?
The Catholic Bible contains the same 27 books of the New Testament as the Protestant Bible, but it also includes several additional books in the Old Testament. These books are known as the "Deuterocanonical" or "Apocryphal" books.
The Catholic Church recognizes the Bible as the word of God, and it is an essential part of Catholic worship and teaching. However, the Catholic version of the Bible is slightly different from the Protestant version, and there are some important reasons for this.
The Catholic Bible contains the same 27 books of the New Testament as the Protestant Bible, but it also includes several additional books in the Old Testament.
These books are known as the "Deuterocanonical" or "Apocryphal" books and include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees, as well as additional portions of Esther and Daniel.
The reason for this difference is historical. The early Christian church used the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Septuagint, which included these additional books.
However, during the Reformation, Protestant leaders rejected these books as being less authoritative than the other books of the Bible. The Catholic Church, however, continued to recognize them as part of the canon of Scripture.
Another important difference between the Catholic and Protestant Bibles is the way the books are organized.
The Catholic Bible follows a different order of books within the Old Testament, which is based on the Septuagint. This means that the books are arranged according to their subject matter, rather than their historical order of composition.
The books of the Old Testament in the Catholic Bible are divided into four main sections: the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), the Historical Books, the Wisdom Books, and the Prophets.
In terms of translations, Catholics can use any version of the Bible that has been approved by the Church. The most widely used Catholic Bible in English is the New American Bible (NAB), which was first published in 1970 and is the translation used in the liturgy in the United States.
The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSV-CE) is also a popular translation, as is the Douay-Rheims Bible, which is an older translation that is still highly regarded by many Catholics.
