The canon: septuagint/masoretic/vulgata?

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Hi, can you tell me what the catholic canon of the Bible is? I know the book list. The question is about different Bible version families: Septuagint (LXX), Masoretic Text (MT), Vulgata etc. Which of them are inspired by God?

Also how about text variations within a single version family? Though there is no such thing as “single LXX”: there is a number of manuscripts, and they differ.

Also look what I’ve found:

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Thus, we find some Greek Church Fathers quoting the same Old Testament texts, but in very different forms. There is no indication, however, that this troubled Church leadership. The insistence on letter-for-letter, word-for-word accuracy in the Scriptures was a feature that was not to emerge in Christian thought for many centuries, and only then after a similar insistence appeared in Judaism and Islam. As far as most early Christians were concerned, any Greek version of the Old Testament read in the Church merited the term Septuagint.

kalvesmaki.com/LXX/​

To me this seems convincing. This points to the superiority of Tradition and living God over the Scripture. But this would imply that biblical canon in the Church is specified on a level higher than that of symbols. I guess it has been defined on Bible version family (LXX/MT/Vulgata) level.

What do you know about this? Were there any official Church statements regarding the canon before Council of Trent (1563)?

Thanks!
STF
 
The Catholic canon is just the books, the way they are translated is based on the translator and the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

all modern English Bibles are translated from the Hebrew and Greek

the Hebrew text most commonly used is the Biblia Hebraica: Stuttgartensia Edition
the Greek texts most commonly used are the United Bible Society’s Greek New Testament 4th Edition and also the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 27th edition

the King James Version and New King James Version use the Textus Receptus 1550 Stephanus Edition for the New Testament

The Catholic Deuterocanical books are translated from the LXX and Latin Vulgate
the edition of the LXX mostly used is the Vetus Testamentum Graecum: Auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum

As for the Vulgate, the Nova Vulgata is the one currently used by the Vatican.
Many Traditionalists however favor the Clementine Vulgate (Biblia Sacra Vulgatæ Editionis Sixti Quinti Pontificis Maximi iussu recognita atque edita)

When translating from these editions, Catholic translators are encouraged to keep Catholic Doctrine in mind while rendering the text certain ways.

for example:

Isaiah 7:14- “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son…” (RSV-2CE)

the Jewish people usually render it “young woman” instead of “virgin”

No ONE of these editions is considered PERFECT, hence why there are many editions!

(though King James Onlyists will argue otherwise… lol ;))

As for the actually canon, that is based on Tradition. Early Church Fathers had their own lists of canon and some differed a little (some only had the OT and Gospels with no Letters, some included only some of the Deuterocanon in the OT, etc)

The Council of Trent was in 1545, but remember St. Jerome translated the original Vulgate in 382 :cool:
 
The Catholic canon of the Bible is the 73 book canon defined by Pope Damascus at the council of Rome in 382 AD. Books were chosen that did not contradict tradition. The canon was reafirmed at various councils since then including Trent.

Septuagint (LXX) - a translation of the Old Testament by Jews not considered inspired though I believe Augustine thought so - most OT quotes in the NT are from the LXX

Masoretic Text (MT) - a reconstruction (???) of the (Hebrew text) OT. The oldest extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approx the 9th century AD

Vulgata - Latin translation by Jerome of the Hebrew and Greek (404AD), a fab translation but not inspired. The New (Nova) Vulgate is the offical Latin translation of the Church.

Manuscripts differ mainly due to copyist errors and some corruptions. The printing press came 1500 years after Christ’s Passion. For Catholics the variants are of no doctrinal consequence.

Hope this helps.
 
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