The Catholic Bible

Malmesbury Bible, 14th century, Belgium; hand-written

See here for list of the List of the Books of the Bible with abbreviations

Structure of the Catholic Bible

  • 46 Old Testament books
    • Pentateuch: 5 books
      • "penta" means five
    • Historical: 16 books
      • includes the 5: BIblical Novellas
    • Wisdom: 7 books
    • Prophetic: 18 books
  • 27 New Testament books
    • Gospels: 4 books
    • Acts: 1 book
    • Pauline Epistles: 14 books
      • Epistle means "letter"
    • Catholic Epistles: 7 books
    • Revelation: 1 book

Old Testament

Pentateuch

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

Historical Books

  • also called "Historical Introduction

Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah

Biblical Novellas

Tobit
Judith
Esther
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

Wisdom

Job
Psalm(s)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom
Sirach

Prophets

  • also called "Prophetic Books"

Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

New Testament

Gospels

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

Acts

  • sometimes considered part of the Gospels since Acts is essentially Part II of the Gospel of Luke
    • but was separated from the Gospels so that the Gospels would all correspond to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ
    • and Acts would tell the narrative history of the Apostolic period (life of the Apostles)

Acts of the Apostles

New Testament Letters

Pauline Epistles

Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews

Catholic Epistles

James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude

Revelation

Revelation

Deuterocanonical books & Protestant exclusions

  • "deutero" = second, so "belonging to the second canon"
    • also called "biblical apocrypha"
  • the Deuterocanonical books are seven books from later Old Testament writings that were accepted and studied at the time of Christ
    • they also included additions to other OT works, including a Psalm
      • but which later Jews (after 1st century AD) and, later, Protestants, disregarded
      • primarily because of their references to intercessions of the saints, prayers to the dead, purgatory, resurrection of the body and confession
    • Protestants call these books "Apocrypha" and do not consider them canonical
  • the books were part of the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Old Testament), which was the most commonly used OT form during the 1st century A.D. (times of Christ)
  • Martin Luther excluded the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from his canon (list of divine scripture
    • because he claimed these books contradicted sola gratia (salvation by grace alone) and sola fide (justification by faith alone)
    • Protestant doctrines of justification and salvation are called the "five solae"
  • see