The Bible

--The word bible is from Latin and Greek words which mean "books." --The Bible is a collection of books, not a single literary composition. --The books of the Bible are often referred to as "Sacred Scripture" because they are regarded as inspired by God. The Bible is not simply the product of ordinary human creativity and effort. --The books of the Bible are called "canonical" because they are on a list (a canon) of books which the Church officially regards as inspired. --The Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is centered on the Old Covenant of Mt. Sinai. The New Testament is centered on the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. --What does the Bible teach? At this point, it is best to quote from a Church document: "The Books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into the Sacred Writings for the sake of our salvation" (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, n. 11). --If the Bible is inspired by God, then it cannot be in error since God is the source of all truth. Thus we believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Nevertheless, several things should be kept in mind when reading the Bible: 1) We need to know about the human authors that actually wrote the different books (the time and place of the author, etc.). 2) While God is without error, the human authors were not necessarily without error. 3) We need to pay attention to the use of common literary devices employed by the authors of the books (that is, the use of poetry, figures of speech, etc).

The Biblical Canon of the Catholic Church

(Total of 73 books)

Old Testament
The Hebrew Scriptures (39 books): Genesis* Exodus* Leviticus* Numbers* Deuteronomy* Joshua** Judges** Ruth** 1 Samuel** 2 Samuel** 1 Kings** 2 Kings** 1 Chronicles** 2 Chronicles** Ezra** Nehemiah** Esther** Job*** Psalms*** Proverbs*** Ecclesiastes*** Song of Solomon*** Isaiah**** Jeremiah**** Lamentations**** Ezekiel**** Daniel**** Hosea**** Joel**** Amos**** Obadiah**** Jonah**** Micah**** Nahum**** Habakkuk**** Zephaniah**** Haggai**** Zechariah**** Malachi****

Deuterocanonical (7 books):

Tobit** Judith** Wisdom*** Sirach*** Baruch**** 1 Maccabees** 2 Maccabees**

*=Pentateuch/Torah; **=Historical Books; ***=Wisdom Books; ****=Prophetic Books

New Testament
The Christian Scriptures (27 books): Matthew Mark Luke John Acts of the Apostles Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation