Jerome. Jerome. Jerome
The New Catholic Encyclopedia says as much do a search it has been discussed here before. I dont have time to look up for you. It wouldnt do any good any way because you have already made up your mind and wont let the facts get in the way. There is a long list of Catholic scholars and churchmen who did not believe the Apocrapha was cannon from the time of Jerome to the time of Trent. Trent settled the issue. Before Trent there was much controversy and discussion as to what the cannon was.
I’ll look up the NCE, since you think or have been told that it supports your position. None of the protestations about St; Jerome hold water. A great man, a holy Saint, a wonderful master of the Latin of his day, and the only thing that has more of a melodious flow than his translation of the Psalms, is the Hebrew original, (done in Sephardic Antiphony if you ask me.) However saying that Jerome was able to make a statement that was as Authorative as a Council, or the Holy See, is like saying that it would be OK for the Head of the Maryland DMV could sign a Federal Law, because the President of the United States was having lunch. It would be just as valid to say that Gravity did not exist until Newton defined made his definition that it was a Law.
I’ll not only post some quotes, but if you look at the footnotes the sources. The second one was fact checked with a copy from the Protestant Set of Church Fathers that I have, rather than make unsupported comments, I prefer to see for myself. When I’ve been supplied with a Catholic accusation against Protestantism, I confirm from the Protestant source that is quoted. If you want to make Protestant accusations against the Catholic Church, I would think you would want to confirm that the quotes can be backed up.
Kelley, who being a Protestant has a bias against the Catholic Canon, but says this,
*“It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive [than the Protestant Bible]…It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called apocrypha or deuterocanonical books.…In the first two centuries…the Church seems to have accepted all, or most of, these additional books as inspired and to have treated them without question as Scripture. Quotations from Wisdom, for example, occur in 1 Clement and Barnabas…Polycarp cites Tobit, and the Didache [cites] Ecclesiasticus. Irenaeus refers to Wisdom, the History of Susannah, Bel and the Dragon *, and Baruch. The use made of the Apocrypha by Tertullian, Hippolytus, Cyprian and Clement of Alexandria is too frequent for detailed references to be necessary” (Early Christian Doctrines, 53-54). Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Origen, and others at times explicitly refer to certain deuterocanonical books as “Scripture.” *1
*Jerome (347-420) gave us the well-known Latin translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate. In his preface to the books of Vulgate written in 391 he stated his list of Old Testament books.
The first of these books is called Bresith, to which we give the name Genesis. The second, Elle Smoth, which bears the name Exodus; the third, Vaiecra, that is Leviticus; the fourth, Vaiedabber, which we call Numbers; the fifth, Elle Addabarim, which is entitled Deuteronomy. These are the five books of Moses, which they properly call Thorath, that is law.
The second class is composed of the Prophets, and they begin with Jesus the son of Nave, who among them is called Joshua the son of Nun. Next in the series is Sophtim, that is the book of Judges; and in the same book they include Ruth, because the events narrated occurred in the days of the Judges. Then comes Samuel, which we call First and Second Kings. The fourth is Malachim, that is, Kings, which is contained in the third and fourth volumes of Kings. And it is far better to say Malachim, that is Kings, than Malachoth, that is Kingdoms. For the author does not describe the Kingdoms of many nations, but that of one people, the people of Israel, which is comprised in the twelve tribes. The fifth is Isaiah, the sixth, Jeremiah, the seventh, Ezekiel, the eighth is the book of the Twelve Prophets, which is called among the Jews Thare Asra.
To the third class belong the Hagiographa, of which the first book begins with Job, the second with David, whose writings they divide into five parts and comprise in one volume of Psalms; the third is Solomon, in three books, Proverbs, which they call Parables, that is Masaloth, Ecclesiastes, that is Coeleth, the Song of Songs, which they denote by the title Sir Assirim; the sixth is Daniel; the seventh, Dabre Aiamim, that is, Words of Days, which we may more expressively call a chronicle of the whole of the sacred history, the book that amongst us is called First and Second Chronicles; the eighth, Ezra, which itself is likewise divided amongst Greeks and Latins into two books; the ninth is Esther.
And so there are also twenty-two books of the Old Testament; that is, five of Moses, eight of the prophets, nine of the Hagiographa, though some include Ruth and Kinoth (Lamentations) amongst the Hagiographa, and think that these books ought to be reckoned separately; we should thus have twenty-four books of the old law. And these the Apocalypse of John represents by the twenty-four elders, who adore the Lamb, and with downcast looks offer their crowns, while in their presence stand the four living creatures with eyes before and behind, that is, looking to the past and the future, and with unwearied voice crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who wast, and art, and art to come*.2
1
catholic-legate.com/articles/dcbooks.html
2 Jerome, Prefaces of the Books of the Vulgate version of the Old Testament,
Schaff, P. and Wace, H. (Editors): The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 6, WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., pages 489-490.*
recall, that’s not in my Bible…Guess I need to go out into the garden and wander around until DD’s beloved ESV
uch: falls on my:hypno: head.
)— since I’d had the impression that there was a test or something and you may be labeled a heretic if you stated a personal opinion. The opposite was the case. We were encouraged to offer our personal insights into the Scriptures for discussion.
