Except Jerome changed his opinion later on, Luther is a heretic,
and Cajetan is only ONE Cardinal. Books have been disputed,
yes, but they were never officially excluded from the Bible.
Hi JT,
Maybe it’s just me but I am always mildly amused when Protestants appeal to St. Jerome to ‘prove’ that Luther was only doing what respected Catholic Saints did with regard to the Deuterocanonical Books. Actually the story of Jerome does prove something but from the Protestant point of view, it is completely the wrong thing and way too much of that. The following is based on something of I wrote a long, long time ago (like in the previous millennia).
St Jerome went to Rome in about 360 where he became a Catholic. From there he went to Antioch where he was ordained as a priest. In 382 he became the secretary to and confident of Pope Damasus who directed him to translate from Greek and Hebrew, a Bible in Latin. Jerome worked on this version, known as the Vulgate from about 390 until 405. All of the books of both Testaments were in wide circulation by the time of Jerome and in various translations. After the death of Pope Damasus in 382, St. Jerome’s position in Rome became tenuous. He then spent time in Antioch and Alexandria before settling in Bethlehem in 386.
Most Protestant Biblical historians and most Protestant apologists write of Jerome as if he were the ultimate authority on which books should be included in the Bible and which should not. They revere him because he wanted to keep the Apocrypha in a separate section of the Bible. However, he was overruled and rebuked by Damasus, a point rarely mentioned by protestant Biblical historians. When Jerome was rebuked by Pope Damasus, he recanted his position. “Jerome later withdrew his objections, after being rebuked by the pope.” Fr. Collins (Catholic) and Price (Protestant) , “The Story of Christianity, 2000 Years of Faith”,
Some Protestant historians have said that the Pope “suggested” that Jerome translate the Bible, as if it would seem logical that a Pope would “suggest” that his secretary “volunteer” to do a small little project that would actually take more than 10 years. First of all, is it really possible to think that a Pope would “suggest” that his secretary take on a task that would take more than a decade, or is it more likely that Jerome was ordered by or commissioned by the Pope to do it? Maybe that is how it actually happened. Very few of these Protestant historians mention that Damasus rebuked Jerome, or that he recanted his position, or that Damasus decreed in 382 that the Canon of the Bible was closed and that it included the Apocrypha. Neither do they mention the fact that the Council of Rome in 382 and a council of Carthage in 397 both confirmed the decision of Damasus to close forever the canon of the Bible. (Story of Christ. Page 61) We do know that the same list of books that were confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1545-1563 were the exact list of books that were canonized and held firm for all time by the Roman Synod of Pope Damasus in 382.
Maybe it went something like this: Pope Damasus: “Hey Jerome, If you don’t have anything else to do for the next 20 years or so, how about deciding what books to put in that Bible thing that everybody is always mentioning.” And while you are at it maybe translate whatever books you want in there from the Greek and Hebrew into Latin? That is of course if you have the time and want to, and think it would be fun and all that stuff. I promise that I won’t bother you about it and promise that whatever you decide will be OK with me and all of those Bishop guys. Just think, you get to make all those really cool decisions about that Bible thing and everyone from now until the end of time will be reading what you decide to put in there and how all the word stuff should go. By the way, there’s a Sainthood in it for you and you don’t even have to agree with me or any of the boys or anything.”
Maybe it happened just like that, like the Protestant version. I can see it happening just like that. After all, if I had been the Pope at the time, I’m sure that I would have handled it just like that.
There also seems to be a preference in Protestant commentaries to depict Jerome as ‘revising’ the Bible. This of course would provide an historical precedent for Luther’s wholesale ‘tinkering’ with the Holy Scriptures. As an example, there are many references to Jerome “revising” in “The Book, A History of the Bible, by Christopher De Hamel (Anglican) (page 14 and many others). Again, I’m sure that that is what Damasus had in mind was Jerome, his Secretary, ‘revising’ the Bible. Translating, yes, but not ‘revising’. However, remember, since it was Luther that revised the Bible it would be helpful for someone, especially a Saint to be a previous ‘reviser’ of the Bible. It should also be pointed out that Jerome took decades to translate the Bible, whereas it took Luther only 11 weeks (part time) to ‘translate’ the New Testament. One of these efforts was a painstaking academic effort and the other was a rushed and hurried effort that did not at all do justice to Holy Scripture. I leave it to the each individual to determine (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of course) which was which.
If Jerome was commissioned by the Pope, then the Pope had the last say about whether any books would be eliminated or downgraded. Nothing that Jerome did was “definitive” or downgraded or final in any way until it was made so by the Pope. Which raises the question – who, (specifically and exactly) ‘commissioned’ Luther to translate the New Testament. If in fact, he commissioned himself, the way he did as a Theologian competent to reject and rewrite dozens of Christian doctrines, then – why did he find it necessary to ‘translate’ the New Testament?
More on Jerome shortly.
God Bless, Topper
