A Potential Convert's Frustration

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Kristina_P

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I know you all deal with questions about the “Apocrypha” all the time, but I have to express some frustration here. I have been looking for a Catholic Bible and have been unable to find any in bookstores except for huge, unwieldy hardbacks that say “XXXX version, with Apocrypha.” These Bibles have appendices with far more than just seven deuterocanonicals! I don’t expect anyone to get into it here, ‘cause I’m sure you’ve all answered this question before, but can you at least point me to an article that discusses where all these other books came from? I’ve never even heard of most of them. I’ve looked for articles on the Apocrypha and found mostly uninformative, anti-Catholic sites.
[rant]
Also, why is it that most “Christian” bookstores carry NO Catholic Bibles? I live in a moderate-sized city with several Catholic parishes; it’s not as though the stores couldn’t make a profit. Even if the ownership maintained that the Catholic Bible was wrong, don’t you think they’d include it so people could examine the error? The Southern Baptist Church I grew up in had copies of the Book of Mormon and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation in their library so members of the congregation could find out what those nutty door-to-door missionaries believed. I find it very frustrating and insulting that these bookstores carry versions of the Bible to cater to everyone else’s whims (like those who prefer super-inclusive language) and several books that are just downright heretical to both Catholics and Protestants, but heaven forbid they should carry a Bible that contains the Maccabees.
[/rant]
 
Kristina P.:
I know you all deal with questions about the “Apocrypha” all the time, but I have to express some frustration here. I have been looking for a Catholic Bible and have been unable to find any in bookstores except for huge, unwieldy hardbacks that say “XXXX version, with Apocrypha.” These Bibles have appendices with far more than just seven deuterocanonicals! I don’t expect anyone to get into it here, ‘cause I’m sure you’ve all answered this question before, but can you at least point me to an article that discusses where all these other books came from? I’ve never even heard of most of them. I’ve looked for articles on the Apocrypha and found mostly uninformative, anti-Catholic sites.
[rant]
Also, why is it that most “Christian” bookstores carry NO Catholic Bibles? I live in a moderate-sized city with several Catholic parishes; it’s not as though the stores couldn’t make a profit. Even if the ownership maintained that the Catholic Bible was wrong, don’t you think they’d include it so people could examine the error? The Southern Baptist Church I grew up in had copies of the Book of Mormon and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation in their library so members of the congregation could find out what those nutty door-to-door missionaries believed. I find it very frustrating and insulting that these bookstores carry versions of the Bible to cater to everyone else’s whims (like those who prefer super-inclusive language) and several books that are just downright heretical to both Catholics and Protestants, but heaven forbid they should carry a Bible that contains the Maccabees.
[/rant]
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I live in Oregon, which is reputedly either the most, or the 2nd most unchurched state in the nation. It was therefore with some surprise that I have found Borders to have a number of Catholic books, as well as Bibles, available.

Perhaps it has to do with the bookstores you go to, or perhaps it is that the South tends to have a smaller percentage of Catholics to the population of Christians as a whole than other parts of the nation.
 
Yes, it might just be the South. I went to two B&N’s, a Waldenbooks, a Brentano’s, and two or three Christian bookstore chains. The young woman working at the Waldenbooks was shocked to find that they had no Catholic Bibles. She entered the Church about a year ago, and we had a nice conversation. I think I’ll try calling my local parish office tomorrow and asking if they know of a Catholic bookseller nearby. There’s a “St. Peters Rock Book Store” listed in the phone book, but there’s no guarantee that it’s Catholic and not just nutty.
 
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Genesis315:
Here’s a decent Apologetics-style article defending the Deuterocanonicals:
kensmen.com/catholic/septuagint.html

Here’s a big, long intense article on the OT canon:
newadvent.org/cathen/03267a.htm

Enjoy 😃
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Gracias!
 
Kristina P.:
Gracias!
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No prob. I edited my first post just to point out the cool Scripture parallels that are after the footnotes of the first one–the Tobit–Revelation ones are pretty striking.
 
Am I missing something, or do neither of those articles deal with the other apocryphal books like 3 and 4 Maccabees, Bel and the Dragon, etc.? It’s kind of confusing that every Bible I found (except for ones with “Catholic” on the cover) either had only 66 books or had an appendix with about 18 “apocryphal works.” The info on defending the deuteros is great, though. I’ll need it.

[edit] Never mind, just found some parts of the second article that deal with those books. For some reason, the “find” function in my browser wasn’t noticing it. [/edit]
 
Kristina P.:
Am I missing something, or do neither of those articles deal with the other apocryphal books like 3 and 4 Maccabees, Bel and the Dragon, etc.? It’s kind of confusing that every Bible I found (except for ones with “Catholic” on the cover) either had only 66 books or had an appendix with about 18 “apocryphal works.” The info on defending the deuteros is great, though. I’ll need it.
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3 and 4 Maccabbees are non canonical. I believe Bel and the Dragon is actually the part of Daniel that Protestants leave out.
 
Catholic Answers bookstore carries the Ignatius Press Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition for only $20. I got this version because it got a lot of recommendations on this board - I have the New American Bible version because of the full-color apologetics tracts by Dave Armstrong interspersed with the text, but for reading, I prefer the
Ignatius bible.

I think I will get the hardcover eventually, but for now, the paperback is holding up fairly well. I also have a King James Version from about 35 years ago and the New Jerusalem Bible from about 20 years ago. Someday, I want a beautiful “family” Douay-Rheims, even though the prose is rather more difficult for me to follow. (You know the Douay-Rheims is online, right? Searchable and browsable by book and chapter, too. 🙂 drbo.org/

Hope that helps! I loved reading Judith, having seen art of Judith and Holofernes in the Vatican museums - one Caravaggio, in particular, but he was one of my favorites - I had no clue as to what the paintings referred to when I saw them.

I haven’t read most of the other deuterocanonicals, yet, but I’ll get around to them. I’m in the land of the four Gospels and Acts and Romans, right now. 🙂
 
yeah, you have to find a catholic bookstore or better yet a catholic supply house. there has to be one within reasonable distance, be the churches have to get their supplies.

in san diego, there’s 1, oconnors.
 
Thanks, all. I found myself getting very frustrated today and were it not for that sweet girl at Waldenbooks, I think I might have concluded that all bookstores hate Catholics! Thanks, also, for the link to an online Catholic Bible. I have never read any of the deuterocanonicals but, of course, was always taught that they were added by the Church in the Middle Ages to support the “invented” doctrine of Purgatory and the “sale” of indulgences. And this was from well-meaning people who thought they knew history, not from anti-Catholic manipulators!
 
Genesis315 said:
3 and 4 Maccabbees are non canonical. I believe Bel and the Dragon is actually the part of Daniel that Protestants leave out.
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The “Additions to Daniel” not in the Hebrew or Protestant Bibles are:​

Dan 3.24-90
Dan. 13
Dan. 14

that is:
  • The Prayer of Azariah & the Song of the Three Holy Children
  • Susannah & the Elders
  • Daniel, Bel, and the Dragon ##
 
Kristina P.:
I have been looking for a Catholic Bible and have been unable to find any in bookstores except for huge, unwieldy hardbacks that say “XXXX version, with Apocrypha.”
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Have you gone to your local Catholic parish and asked the Priest? My parish always has a stack of paperback Catholic bibles available free. The Catholic Extension Society provides them.
Also, why is it that most “Christian” bookstores carry NO Catholic Bibles? I live in a moderate-sized city with several Catholic parishes; it’s not as though the stores couldn’t make a profit. Even if the ownership maintained that the Catholic Bible was wrong, don’t you think they’d include it so people could examine the error?
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I’ve noticed that too. Catholic stuff at Lifeway Christian Books (the big Baptist-run chain) is located in the “heresies” section. :rolleyes: I’m thinking they refuse to carry Catholic bibles because they are afraid people would examine them and find NO errors. :hmmm:

But most of our local smaller Christian stores (who need every sale to stay afloat) do carry Catholic bibles. Likewise, I’ve found good Catholic bibles at Barnes and Noble and at Books-a-million.

Here are two really good ones: The Catholic Answer Bible and The New Catholic Answer Bible
 
Thanks. I’m definitely going to try to get hold of an RSV-CE. I’ll try finding one in town before I order online, though.
 
Check out the site www.biblechristiansociety.com

There are many short answers to the questions you may have. Also there is a great series of CDs you can order very cheaply. The following CD should answer many of your questions about the inclusion of these books.

**
Sola Scriptura - The Bible Alone?

Protestants believe in the Bible as the sole rule of faith for Christians. Using the Bible alone, John shows that this doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not scriptural; in fact, John shows why it is actually opposed to what is taught in Scripture. John also talks about where we got the Bible and responds to several myths commonly taught among non-Catholics about the Catholic Church and the Bible. He also clears up the question about the Catholic Church “adding” seven books to the Bible.

There are a total of 14 CDs which can be ordered free or for a very small cost. They are all steeped in Scripture. The Bible is cited in the explanation of of all the “seemingly strange” Catholic teachings.

John Martigoni (the speaker) lives in Alabama and has a southern evangelical style of speaking and quoting scripture. He also is a cradle Catholic who was drawn to learn the basis of his Catholic faith. I say this about his style because as a convert to Catholicism, I recognize the difference in speaking styles in the evangelical and Catholic churches. Many Catholics cannot easily tolerate the evangelical style and many evangelicals cannot easliy tolerate the Catholic style.

Please don’t let the culture, style, different word meanings put you off. There is room in the Catholic Church for all who truly seek the truth and strive to follow the teachings of Jesus.**
 
I work in downtown Little Rock!

Guardian Church Goods is a wonderful Catholic Shop

411 WEST 7th, LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201

guardianchurchgoods.com/our_location.htm
I’ve found that the Family Christian Store in Hot Springs has begun carrying Catholic Bibles and Rosaries.

PM me if you want to talk to a convert in Little Rock!
 
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