Are there 45 or 46 Books in the Old Testament?

[Zeezoo8]

The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. With, according to Father Laux on page one of his classic text “Introduction to the Bible,” forty-five books in the Old Testament (written before the birth of Christ), and twenty-seven books in the New Testament (written after the birth of Christ).

A comparison of my Bible, a New American Bible, St. Joseph Edition, published by the Catholic Book Publishing company, revealed that although Father Laux asserts 72 books in the Bible, my Bible has 73. Again, a comparison shows that in my Bible the book of Lamentations is included as a separate, that is, seventy-third, book. This is also consistent with the numbering at the USCCB website.

What gives?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Due to a tradition ascribing the writings of Lamentations to the Prophet Jeremiah they were sometimes combined as one book. Modern Biblical criticism does not consider that likely and therefore in modern times they are split into two books.
However, whether its considered part of Jeremiah or its own book is ultimately irrelevant since it is considered inspired Scripture.

As the Catechism notes:

IV. THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE

**120 **It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books. This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and 27 for the New.